More On Children’s Shows
Two weeks ago, I began a listing of children’s shows that children watch on a daily basis. These programs are offered to us as a form of entertainment and education for our kids. Now, my children used to watch these frequently, they no longer do because of our TV situation in the house.
It was only after our great exodus from Eqyptv, that I began to realize how crazy some of these television shows really are. Now, I know that some of you may be taking all of this a little personal; you may even feel the need to…defend some of these shows. Fair enough, but how do you defend “The Big Comfy Couch, “with this guy in it? His name is Major Bedhead…and he scares me!
Please don’t read too much into this next comment. While I think that “Dora The Explorer” is, for the most part, a pretty good show for the children; you have to admit that there is a great deal of irony, given the political climate these days, in a show who’s main character is Hispanic, has all of her belongings in a backpack, always carries a map, and who is determined to teach your child how to speak Spanish. Please don’t tell me you never noticed this! Even though it does happen to be one of my favorites.
As you begin to really pay attention to what your children are watching…you know, as educational programming, you may begin to get alarmed; wondering if any permanent damage has been done to their fragile little brains. Well, don’t; and try to remember all that we survived as children.
While we were the audience of such great shows like the original “Sesame Street,” “The Electric Company,” and our beloved “Mr. Rogers,” there were some outlandish shows being watched that could have undermined our very success as a free nation. Point and case; “H.R. Puff and Stuff.” This ladies and gentlemen, was a serious acid trip by Sid and Marty Krofft, that would rival any quacked TV show of today. This show, if you remember aired on NBC from 69-71, and it was weird. My wife still to this day, will talk about her memories of “Puff and Stuff,” and now that I think about it, her watching it seems to explain a few things about her.
Then there was “Sigmund and The Sea Monsters!” Not even Barney can compete with this little piece of magic. Please, just go online and watch an episode, it will amaze you. And just when you think that we were all saner in our younger years as a people, there was “The Banana Splits,” another show from our wonderful past.
If you watched this one as a kid, you have probably spent a little money on therapy at some point in your life. I think it would be a lot quicker for our therapists to just simply ask us to list the shows we watched as a child, and then prescribe some medication to reverse the effects they had on us!
As children’s shows are a big part of our childhoods; and we all have memories of them at some point in our lives, we need to be honest about their effects on our culture. While some are beneficial and fun for our precious little children…others are sucking out their brains! Just thought it needed to be said.
Jason, father of six