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Nitpicking Children's Programming
I'm a stay-at-home mom with a 15 month old, and I end up watching a fair amount of children's programming throughout the day. I make a pretty concerted effort to keep it to specific times and specific shows and to also make time for mommy-tv during the day. Some days though, I end up with shows on that just annoy the crap out of me, usually because I don't feel like changing the channel or he's finally chilling and I don't want to jinx it.
Today I ended up watching Dora the Explorer. I don't like Dora the Explorer. I have a tendency to nitpick children's programming because I feel like I had a lot of quality kids shows growing up and a lot of the kids shows now are total crap. Maybe it's just that they're over commercialized...or probably I'm just getting older and nostalgic. Whatever the case, here's my beef of the day with Dora.
Swiper. If you aren't familiar there's this ferret...or weasel...or something in Dora's little group of pals and his name is Swiper. His name is Swiper because he...you guessed it...swipes things. He's always stealing Dora and her friends' junk. And they say "Swiper, no swiping. Swiper, no swiping. Swiper, no swiping!" And he doesn't steal it. Or else he does steal it and the deal is that they have to go get whatever it is back. I suppose I get that he represents that kids take crap from other kids and here's how you deal with it.
My friend Alice says that Swiper teaches kids to be tolerant. Her husband argues that Swiper sucks because they way Dora and her friends deal with him teaches kids to allow themselves to be victimized by kids who are being asinine. In other words, being nice to people is one thing, but you don't have to be perpetually kind to people who steal stuff from you. I don't know. Maybe I need to watch the show more. I'd rather not though, I also find the show overly patronizing.
So anywho, what do you think of Swiper? Or, if you don't have any Swiper thoughts what are some of your personal beefs with children's programming?
Today I ended up watching Dora the Explorer. I don't like Dora the Explorer. I have a tendency to nitpick children's programming because I feel like I had a lot of quality kids shows growing up and a lot of the kids shows now are total crap. Maybe it's just that they're over commercialized...or probably I'm just getting older and nostalgic. Whatever the case, here's my beef of the day with Dora.
Swiper. If you aren't familiar there's this ferret...or weasel...or something in Dora's little group of pals and his name is Swiper. His name is Swiper because he...you guessed it...swipes things. He's always stealing Dora and her friends' junk. And they say "Swiper, no swiping. Swiper, no swiping. Swiper, no swiping!" And he doesn't steal it. Or else he does steal it and the deal is that they have to go get whatever it is back. I suppose I get that he represents that kids take crap from other kids and here's how you deal with it.
My friend Alice says that Swiper teaches kids to be tolerant. Her husband argues that Swiper sucks because they way Dora and her friends deal with him teaches kids to allow themselves to be victimized by kids who are being asinine. In other words, being nice to people is one thing, but you don't have to be perpetually kind to people who steal stuff from you. I don't know. Maybe I need to watch the show more. I'd rather not though, I also find the show overly patronizing.
So anywho, what do you think of Swiper? Or, if you don't have any Swiper thoughts what are some of your personal beefs with children's programming?
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