I’ve been exposed to a lot of kiddie shows on TV lately. Been watching them together with Regine. I’m not sure if Regine really likes them but like any contemporary parents out there, we routinely assume that she does. (but hell, she likes to watch ANYTHING colorful).
Watching these kiddie shows kinda made me realize, on what had I missed during my childhood. I never get to watch a lot of kiddie shows when I was a kid. The TV was never available to me as my mom would hog up the whole tube watching Hong Kong soap operas and western horror movies (golden age of the VHS and Atari) – way until I started schooling. I never got to learn about nursery rhymes. Mom never bought me any nursery books nor taught me any of those children songs. Instead, I was fed with heaploads of Beatles, Bee Gees and some Freddie Aguilar shits. That’s why I grew up loving these old people.
(I can still remember… I actually bored to sleep in my Year 1 & 2 music classes. While my classmates would get delirious stomping their feet and flail their arms in unison like retards, I already knew how to sing the whole length of The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” and mimic that chicken head bob to that popular “Beat It” tune by Michael Jackson – I kid you not)
So when I finally get to watch these kiddie shows with Regine, I kinda realize how weird these kiddie shows are. Weird as in – not conforming to the laws of nature. Yes… I somehow think, the shows aren’t teaching our kids the right stuff. Take for example, one of the shows has this couple of grown up hosts (one of them is a quasi-midget babe with this set of unusually large bosom) that teaches kids how to sing. I know singing is generally ok, but these people are like OVERDOING it. The slightest thing that they happen to find interesting, they would go “Hey let’s sing a song about it!”. They see a cow? They’d sing about cows. They see a dog? They’d sing about dogs. Like, what the fuck man?? I suppose when we didn’t get enough annual increment, it is alright for us to jump up on the table and pull a head bang stunt bellowing heavy metal tunes to vent our anger? That’s just not right.
Then there are those fake animal icons. Bears that talk, for example. I mean… come on… we all know bears… they don’t talk. We’d be damned if they talk. Bears in fact, are extremely territorial and therefore are considered fucking dangerous. Even if they could talk, we should by all means stay away from bears. They’re wild animals and should be left alone. So why do we still give bears so much credit when they just don’t really care? Is our civilization so fucked up that we’re so ashamed to use our own kind to educate our kids? Things that I don’t understand.
I personally have seen a real example of these fake animal icons influencing the young in the wrong way. There was once my mom caught a rat in a cage. Determined to rid the vermin for good, she left the cage under the hot sun to give that animal an overdosage of sunburn. But my 5 year old cousin saw that cage and wanted to free that animal – insisting that the ‘mouse is harmless’ and ‘is friendly’. Being a very direct person, I broke the bad news to him “Kelvin, that thing is not a mouse. That’s a frigging rat. Rats have rabies and they’re mean animals.” Of course, he didn’t know what’s a rat. He only knew Mickey. But unfortunately, little Kelvin overlooked that the Mickey he saw wasn’t the same one that wears a cute red dungaree. Instead, that Mickey Rat had blotches of skin rashes on it and ranked like a clogged monsoon drain. Ugghh. (he finally left that vermin alone after couldn’t stand the hot sun)
So what’s the point really… when we can teach our kids the real stuffs, why do most of us still circumvent the facts of life with fictional characters and ideologies? I don’t know man, it seems like everyone’s doing it. Maybe it’s a trick to make the kids want to learn. But if it comes at the cost of obscuring some of the important truths for a much less important one, I’d rather teach her myself than letting that fake bear do it, right? At least daddy will tell her about how stupid it would be to think that bears could talk.
Come think of it, maybe I should write an early-learning education book for children… hmmm… for charity.
(lucky that my Regine couldn’t understand what the TV shows are about yet. When she starts to show signs of comprehending dialogs, I’m gonna switch her to Discovery channel to watch real bears)
As long as you don’t starting showing her some Pukimon or Kotemon – she’ll be alright. Once she started tugging at your pants for that shiny colourful dandy-looking-but-completely-pointless ball, you’re gonna have a lot of work in your hands.
My brother is going through that right now. Geez, thanks a lot, Disney Channel.
i hope you didn’t show her barney the purple gay dino :P
..not forgetting Teletubbies :S
It’s not about education dude, it’s about the fact that there is a shit load of money to be made in the children entertainment industry. Who cares whether or not a bear can talk or not, but those buckets of gold are certainlyu lurking behind the woods and that’s what the studios are going for. ;)
GOSH….Teletubbies is the WORSE!
*PUKE…
silencers – Yeah, I remember ‘Pukimon’. Reminds me of a kid that my aunt used to babysit years ago. We always called that little girl ‘Pukimon’ for her rotund shape.
phangan – Each time Barney comes on TV, I’d go “DEARR!! SWITCH THE CHANNEL!! SWITCH THE CHANNEL!! QUICK!! QUICK!!”
ray – Never seen Teletubbies on TV before. But I’ve seen the toys though. Freaky… but I think Barney is freakier.
rasa malaysia – Yeah I think you’re right. It’s about the money. That’s why we see shitloads of school teachers nowadays teaching craps at schools, and only deliver their proper lectures in their private tuition classes.
christina – If you’ve seen Barney, you’d change your mind. God I fucking hate Barney.
Switch her to anime!
Your mom fed you the Beatles and the Bee Gees? Damn, she knew what she was going on about. Kind of like how I first listened to Winds of Change when I was six, and loved it ever since. Still, in terms of children entertainment, Sesame Street’s pretty decent actually, considering that I grew up on the stuff.
I don’t know if this is true, but someone told me that one of the teletubbies is gay. This is supposedly to teach kids tolerence and shit like that.
Vincent- errr…really meh? oh well, they don’t look gay, just FREAKY and GROSS.
I think generally everyone hates Barney. Except for my cousin. He’s a sissy boy and he loves Barney. I told my grandfather when he grow up he’ll be the sissy boy that boys beat up in school. Which turned out to be true. And the boys actually took his lunch money.
Moral of the story: Watching Barney makes kids become sissys…………………
swallow – You were only SIX when you first heard “Winds of Change”? Wow. I was already in my early secondary when this song came hot on the charts. “Winds of Change” remains the only song I like from Scorpions (that and another song called “Still Loving You”…)
vincent – One of them is gay? I thought all of them are gay!
shar – Watching Barney will cause hemorrhaging of the brain and lead a slow painful death. And then victim’s corpse will explode.
oh no..not barney…fucking gay purple kiddy molesting dino..
and teletubbies just scares me…i dunno…even now at the ripe old age of 19 watching them just disturbs me..
hey sesame street should be good…she may grow up loving big birds~
I get what you mean. I actually have an idea to write a book to “open” kids’ eyes to all the fairy tales you see out there. Like how if Sleeping Beauty were to have slept a 1000 years, then it means that that prince is actually 1000 years younger than she is, no?
While I agree with Shar, careful choice of anime is important. But Regine is too young and not ready for anime. Daddy has yet to teach her how to appreciate the finer values behind anime, lol.
nicholas – Sesame Street was perceived as ‘good’ because it’s the ONLY kiddie show in the 80′s, back when we have only 2 watchable channels…
danielle – If someone were to sleep for 1000 years, that person would become a fossil. It’s not normal to kiss fossils. ;-)
silencers – Ahh we all know what anime would eventually lead to. Hentai and all the psycho ass shit eating bondage sex. Ugghh no thanks.
Hee hee heee…..
I dun get it what kids see in anime (i am not a fan), but after my stupid hair salon dude layered my fringe ppl started saying that my hair looks like the hentai girls. This shows how many ppl I know watch hentai….ewww….
nicholas – interesting. When I was young, I used to point at everything yellow and yell ‘Big Bird’. It used to amuse my grandfather a lot until we were at the temple and I did that to the Chinese medium.
I sense some hidden meaning behind Nicholas’ words. Didn’t see it, Mike?
shar – but why lar would your hair stylist layer your fringe to look like a hentai girl? you look hentai meh? heheh
swallow – you mean the ‘big bird’ euphemism? No I didn’t see it. What’s a big bird? ;-) (you don’t need Sesame Street to teach a girl how to like big birds, do ya?)
Michael, i learn never to piss stylists off or they might do an ‘opps’ moment then u will end up with a crew cut. Besides, it was my first time ever paying more than RM10 for a haircut and i just let him do watever he wants to do.
The only thing i have in common with hentai chicks besides the hair….is….my…..chest
ok show it shar.. :P
pay per view, Bongkersz
just send in the quotations :P