A team of psychologists are making the claim that characters like Mickey or Winnie the Pooh are bad for learning because real animals don’t talk or wear clothes.
Specifically, the study claims kids 5 and under are most affected by the characters.
The researchers go on to claim that reading books or watching shows with talking animals affects a child’s ability to learn actual facts. They would also have a hard time understanding that real animals don’t wear clothes or talk.
Many parents are upset by the claims because they let their kids watch those shows and read those books and had no issues.
Their solution: let kids between 3 and 5 read ‘factual’ animal books.
Mickey Mouse is approaching 90 years old himself, so many of those parents may have grown up watching Mickey too.