It features a cowardly dog with an insatiable appetite for snacks and giant sandwiches. And yet, Scooby Doo is officially the healthiest of all children's television programmes, according to a government survey.
Department of Health "consultants" spent 200 hours watching children's TV in an attempt to assess which characters were most active. Scooby Doo topped the chart, beating shows such as Shaun the Sheep, Bob the Builder, and Tom and Jerry. Characters were awarded extra marks for good behaviour such as walking short journeys and playing sport.
"Because most of the action in the cartoon shows Scooby and his gang running away from monsters, they topped the list," explained the Daily Telegraph. But it seems health officials might be somewhat embarrassed by the result.
"Officials at the health ministry were at pains to insist they were not holding up Scooby Doo, famed for his love of Scooby Snax, as a healthy role model," added the Telegraph. "They say the survey was just a 'fun talking point'." They would have got away with it if it wasn't for those pesky journalists.
Meanwhile, another energetic children's character has been blamed for damaging children's concentration.
A US study concluded that watching programmes such as SpongeBob SquarePants might compromise toddlers' "executive function" – their ability to pay attention, problem-solve and control their behaviour, reported The Guardian. Researchers observed 60 four-year-olds after they had watched nine minutes of SpongeBob and nine minutes of a slower-paced educational cartoon. "The children's executive function was found to have been negatively affected by SpongeBob," added The Guardian. Here comes the science bit: "It is possible that the fast pacing, where characters do things that make no sense in the real world, may disrupt the child's ability to concentrate immediately afterwards," said Angeline Lillard, the psychology professor behind the study. In the past, the programme has been criticised for peddling global warming "propaganda" and promoting homosexuality. And you thought he was just a harmless, trouser-wearing sea sponge.
Reading can get you into trouble, kids – perhaps not the message envisaged by organisers of a campaign to encourage children in the London borough of Bromley to explore the world of literature during the holidays.
Yet eight-year-old Jamie Rogers might think twice before he next pops into the library after he was sent a letter threatening him with debt collectors over an overdue book, which he'd taken out as part of the Bromley Libraries Circus Stars scheme. The lad burst into tears when his mum explained what the letter meant, reported local paper The News Shopper. "He thought we were talking police and we'd have to go to court," she said. Oops.
