now, a lot of children’s programing is fun, entertaining, ingenious work (for example:
but i’m not in such a good mood today because, frankly, most newer kids stuff (at least that i’ve seen on youtube w/ my toddler) is crap.
that’s not to say that much of it may, literally & technically, be very “developmentally appropriate,” & actually passably fun for kids to watch. but i believe that much of contemporary children’s programming breaks the “let’s warch this together” dynamic. the drivel may be fine for a little kid, but it’s painfully horrible viewing for his papa (just like watching frontline is a little frustrating for my 2-year old).
case-study number one: the (damn them to darkest hell & send the youtube clips with them) super simple songs. this stuff grates across the chalk board of my mind, rubs sand in the reopened wounds of my childhood memory, & vomits in the lap of my aesthetic sensibility.
make it stop.
honestly, i don’t care if it works. my child will learn the alphabet (in fact, the ability of an annoying song on the computer to teach a concept in a meaningful, integrated way seems debatable at best).
but i also would like him to gain real-world, diverse aesthetic experience and to fill his childhood w/ shared experience, w/ parents and others, even when a tv (or computer in our case) is a part of that experience. i don’t particularly want to waste his time (& mine) on “developmentally appropriate” moronics that reinforce the disconnect between kids’ stuff (education, & later, school), and real life.
anyway, case-study number 2: nursery-rhyme cartoons from india’s rajshri tv.
thank you, friendly neighborhood predator rhyme-man!
as awful as these clips are (& this one is pure evil:
these are at least terrible & twisted enough to be entertaining. which is luck, because there are tons and tons of them that, once a kid learns how to navigate youtube, continue to cycle endlessly through my browser.
well, i’m starting to feel like an aging parent, but i just don’t think you can beat the classics.
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have you seen the old Phillip Glass pieces for sesame street from the 80′s?
Comment by mstyer Tuesday, 10 March 2009 @ 13:53[...] Friday, 5 February 2010, 16:30 Filed under: -of funny, -of jgrimsrud, -of kiddos i’ve written & ranted before about kids’ programming in the past, mostly about grumpy old takes on the new (vapid, [...]
Pingback by -of kids’ shows « the state Friday, 5 February 2010 @ 17:15