Kids and Pro Wrestling

Thirteen-year-old Matthew stares at the display of World Wrestling Federation action figures in Toys'R'Us as if he were gazing at fine art in a museum gallery.

"I'm a collector," he explains. "Some of these figures are pretty rare."

Collecting plastic figures is just one aspect of Matthew's intense relationship with wrestling. He wrestles with friends at school. They discuss the story lines from last week's shows in the lunchroom and at the lockers. He says he's been watching wrestling shows "all my life."

"My grandmother and my uncle got me into it. I like it because I grew up with it. It's like a live soap opera. There's a story and you catch on to it."

Adult Programming for Kids
If the TV rating system is to be believed, the wrestling shows on cable and broadcast TV aren't intended for Matthew and his friends. The WWE Smackdown is rated "TV14," intended for viewers ages 14 and up, with additional warnings for suggestive dialogue, coarse language, and violence. But the direct marketing of wrestling toys to children, coupled with TV wrestling's cross-generational appeal, sends a decidedly different signal. Of the dozen children interviewed in a Kmart and Toys'R'Us in Boston, all but one said they enjoyed watching wrestling, and most said they watched with parents or older siblings.

"It depends on the kid's maturity level," reasons Matthew, when asked if young children should be watching. "If they can separate it and say it's fake, then it's okay."

Reality vs. Fantasy
Can kids who still believe in the tooth fairy separate fact from fantasy when they watch big fights on the small screen? Experts in early childhood development say the answer is no.

"When parents watch fights with children, the message is that they are sanctioning the violence," says Diane Levin, professor at Wheelock College and author of Remote Control Childhood: Combating the Hazards of Media Culture. TV wrestling is nothing new and parents may have grown up watching Hulk Hogan themselves. But both fans and foes agree that the sport has changed dramatically in the past few years. World Wrestling Entertainment(WWE) matches in particular have become more violent and sexually charged. Levin, who has studied the effects of Power Rangers and other superheroes on children's play, asks parents to bear in mind the following:

• Wrestlers don't need weapons to hurt you. "It's much harder for younger children to deal with the aggression. You can take away a weapon, but you can't take away their bodies."

• Costume changes send young viewers a signal that superheroes are about to fight or use special powers, but wrestlers undergo no such transformation. The absence of special costumes or effects makes it harder for kids to distinguish fact from fantasy. "Adults tell them it's fake," Levin points out, "but it's real people doing the fighting and kids can't sort it out."

• Parents who ban the TV show but allow kids to play with wrestling toys, Levin believes, may be well-intentioned, but end up sending mixed messages. "The toys say 'this is what you can do in play.' They are a powerful teaching tool."
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