A Flash Back To My Childhood

This morning I was checking out my Facebook timeline when a friend posted something that brought back a rush of childhood memories..."It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor".  I'll pause while you reflect on your memories...I know the same is happening for you.

Insert Memories Here.

Ok, that was long enough...As soon as I saw that, the whole song popped into my head and I started singing it to William.  Oh my the giggles I got...he LOVED it!  Ben was more like "mom stop singing mom please don't sing" but after a few minutes he was having fun too.  After about ten minutes of off key singing I decided to hit YouTube and search out some of my favorites from childhood.  First we found the theme song for Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.  And we played it a few times.  Both kids just sat and watched, loving it.  Next up was Fred Penner, then I did a search for Raffi and found a whole concert.  We watched the whole thing, and enjoyed every second of it.  Both kids full of smiles and laughter...enjoying the songs and Ben singing along.  Williams' sleepiness took over about half way through and he's now dreaming Sandwiches and Baby Baluga. 

Ben was amazed at how many of the songs he knew...from me singing them to him back when he liked it when I sang, and from songs they sing at school.  Amazing just how timeless the Brush Your Teeth song can be.  We even got up and danced to a bunch of them...No better way to spend a morning...singing and dancing with your kids.

But it got me thinking...when I grew up, and most of you too...we had 12 channels, and one TV in the house.  We were lucky to watch 2 TV shows before a grown up came in to watch the news, or wrestling, or in my case, my Nan had to watch her soaps.  It didn't really matter anyway because after 11am there weren't any shows on for kids.  Our TV was limited, because there just wasn't anything on. 

Now I grew up in Canada, and we had two channels that showed kids shows in the morning.  CBC and PBS.  My mornings were spent with Sesame Street, Mr. Dressup, Mr Rogers, The Smurfs, Fred Penner, Under The Umbrella Tree, The Elephant Show (Sharon, Lois, and Bram) , and on Sundays, The Fraggles.  I also have fond memories of Muppet Babies, I still have a story book and Ben has watched many episodes of it on YouTube as well.  

I'll never forget the morning that The Smurfs blew up my Grandmothers TV.  She was sporting an old floor model TV, (this was in the pre remote era) My sister was up early watching the Three Apple High creatures when she came running in the bedroom and said the TV was smoking!  We ran out to see and sure enough...The Smurfs destroyed the relic.  And we were cartoon free for a few mornings. 

Now kids have an unlimited amount of shows designed to brainwash entertain them.  And when they get tired of one, they can just move onto the next.  I have at least 5 channels that are purely dedicated to cartoons and kids shows.  At 2 months old, you could put him in front of Dora and he would watch her contently...and at almost 5, he still does.  It's like she's his second mother, only he listens to her.

But it's not just the Shows available, it's all the gadgets we have to watch them!  DVR, TiVo, YouTube, I Phone... even kids don't have to miss a show.  Just set it to record and it'll always be there for them.  Like a pacifier or sookie blanket.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm really not knocking it.  I let my kids watch too much TV, play too many Video Games, and I do use it so I can get some work done.  Ben is playing Mario as I write this, so I can write this.  Just sometimes I miss the simpler life.  When keeping your kids entertained was forced upon you...not done for you.

Anyway, I spent my morning singing, dancing, and playing with my kids, with old school TV shows playing in the background, not doing the work for me.  And I loved every second of it. My only complaint...It ended too soon. 

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