A 10-year-old boy from Everett, Washington, is in Children's Hospital in critical condition after convincing five of his friends to bury him, head first, in a one-foot-deep sandbox. Apparently, the boy was imitating something he had seen on Naruto.

The boy was buried from his head to his chest. At some point, he began thrashing about, but the other kids assumed he was playing. They eventually figured out something was wrong and pulled the boy out of the sandbox. They called for adults in the home, and CPR was administered until the medics arrived.

When will it be realized that the things children see they copy. They do not have the same understanding of fantasy and reality as children. They belive it.

Poor, Poor little boy, and the trauma of his friends too.

If parents are going to allow their children to watch these types of shows they need to explain the difference between TV and reality!

My son is 9 and he understood that what you see on TV is not real and you can't do what they do at the age of 2.... still he's not allowed to watch anything violent and violent TV games are a huge no no in our house. I'm not sure what Naruto is or if it's even violent, but still - kids need to know the difference between what Bugs Bunny can do and what they can do.

As far as I'm concerned they can throw all "Jackass" style movies and television shows in the trash. Even some of the videos sent in to "Funniest Home Videos" can be disturbing. Especially since it's considered family viewing. The "Don't try this at home" warnings don't mean squat to small children.

When I saw this news item, it struck me that the child in question is 10 years old, because that's how old my oldest child is. She definitely has a grasp on what is reality and what isn't. I even feel that my 7-year-old son has a good grasp of understanding the difference between fantasy and reality.

I haven't really had a chance to watch Naruto yet myself (I currently have a DVD box set on hold through my local library system), and I hope to be getting my hands on it later this week. The main thing I know about it is that it involves ninjas.

After I watch that Naruto DVD set, I will be posting an overview of the property at the Anime section here at BellaOnline, as well as a review of the box set. Hopefully after I get an overview article about Naruto up, it will give a better understanding for those not already familiar with the property.

We watch "Naruto" - and by "we", I mean my 16 yr old son and I. I started watching it because Michael was talking about it, and I had some reservations about it - so I wanted to check it out, and actually have gotten kind of hooked on it.

I will NOT let my 5 yr old watch it. It is too violent. We don't even like for him to watch "Power Rangers", because when he does, he goes around imitating the kung-fu stuff, and gets too wild, and someone is going to get hurt.

That being said, my 10 yr old daughter can watch Naruto with us (she's not quite as interested in it as we are) - but she would not attempt something this silly (only word I can think of). At 10 I believe most children do have a good grasp on what is real and what is not.

Because if they didn't, then watching Bugs Bunny or Tom and Jerry could cause just as many accidents.

I think it comes down to the basics of...know what your child is watching & know what your child is doing. Too many parents use the tv as a babysitter, and have no idea what their kids are looking at - just as long as they stay quiet.

Michelle, you make some very excellent points, and I agree wholeheartedly with you.

And I especially agree with your last paragraph, of knowing your child is watching and what your child is doing.

When we get the Naruto box set from the library, my husband and I will be watching it together after our kids have gone to bed. With the anime properties that we don't know much about, or know that they're not appropriate for children, we always make sure to watch when the kids are in bed. For the properties we don't know, if we decide the kids could handle it, then we will let them watch.

When it comes to non-anime things, like when a new cartoon is debuting on one of the kids' networks and our kids are expressing an interest in seeing it, we will watch the premiere episode with them to have an understanding of what the show is about and whether or not it would be appropriate for the kids to watch again.

While I do admit that at times I have to use the TV as a babysitter, especially when I'm writing, my computer is actually located in the same room as our family's TV, so I know exactly what's on.

I'm sad to report that the 10-year-old boy died yesterday afternoon at 3:35 p.m. PDT at Children's Hospital in Seattle. The family has said he passed peacefully with his loved ones at his side.

Oh NO! that is awful. How sad. Poor little boy. I have no words to say.

How horrible, sad, and senseless.

I cannot imagine what that family (and the families of the other little boys) must be going through right now.

A young life lost and others left emotionally scarred for no good reason.

I'm actually going to be posting an article about anime and children on Wednesday, in response to this tragic event.

First off, this was a tragic event. No matter what I think of the parents' childrearing skills, I feel bad for them and know that they must have an unbearable guilt weighing on them right now.

One thing that no one has stressed is that Naruto is an animated series. While I think that shows like wrestling or Jackass rightfully need warning labels, I don't know a kid over the age of five who needs to be told not to try something they saw on a cartoon. The fact that cartoons are drawn on paper or created on the computer tells most kids that feats in them are fantastical and shouldn't be attempted by mere mortals. I didn't read the article about the 10-year-old, but I'm wondering if he had some sort of mental challenge where he couldn't distinguish the difference.

Since the boy and his family live in Western Washington, this story got a bit of coverage in the Seattle area (I live about a half hour or so from Seattle). According to local reports, the boy was described as, a "really energetic kid, hyper kid and really outgoing" by a neighbor.

His mother apparently worked for one of the local stations, and the boy appeared last fall on a local afternoon talk show program, where he was able to show off his cooking skills.

From what was written, it doesn't appear that he had any mental challenges. However, since I didn't know him personally, I can't say anything for sure.

In response to the recent tragedy of the 10-year-old boy who died after imitating something he had seen on Naruto, I wrote and posted an article at the Anime section.

Children and Anime
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