Mothers’ Perception and Parenting Style regarding Effect of Cartoon Movies on Preschool Children

Background: Cartoons are one of the daily habits of children, that has positive and negative effects on the health of children. Aim: Was to assess mothers ’ perception and parenting style regarding effect of cartoon movies on preschool children. Research design: A descriptive research design was utilized to conduct this study. Setting : The study was carried out at 10 nursery schools in Baha City. Sample : Simple random sample was used in this study. Tools: It include three tools were used, tool (I) An interviewing questionnaire was used, a):to assess child characteristics , b): sociodemographic characteristics of studied mothers , c): health problems of studied children , d): methods used to prevent negative effects of cartoon movies, e): mothers’ knowledge regarding cartoon influence on their children . Tool (II): Likert scale to assess mothers’ attitude regarding effects of cartoon on children, Tool ( III): Likert scale to assess parenting style. Results : 50.8 % of studied children aged from 4 to less than 5 years and 51.3%of them were male. While 48%of studied mothers aged from 20 to less than 30 years and 57.3% of them had university education, also 48 % of them had average knowledge regarding effect of cartoon movies on their children. In addition, 66.3% of them had positive attitude regarding effects of cartoon movies and 45.3% of them were using autocratic parenting style. Conclusion: There was no statistically significant relation between mother’s parenting style and their total knowledge. Recommendation: Developing educational health program for all mothers to improve their knowledge, attitude, and their practices toward effects of cartoon movies on their children.