Yet Another Cycling Forum
Random Musings => Miscellany => Kidstuff => Topic started by: Wowbagger on 25 September, 2014, 10:25:59 am
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I am getting a fairly hefty weekly dose of children's television when looking after grandchildren, and it's pretty weird. Quite a lot of it is "In the Night Garden" stuff where all kinds of nightmare creatures come to life and take on cuddly personae. An awful lot of other stuff seems to depend on being able to fly. Many of the old animated favourites such as Postman Pat and Fireman Sam have become computer animations where anything is now possible. There are two remarkable little Bart Simpson lookalike aliens who ride around on miniature flying saucers trying to make sense of everyday things.
At least Bagpuss has, hitherto, remained sacrosanct.
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Just stick to "Pointless". Much safer.
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Peppa Pig gives me The Fear.
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Funnily enough, barakta and I ended up watching an episode of newfangled Postman Pat in Gaelic last night. We made up the plot as we went along, Magic Roundabout style.
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Wait till you see the US version of Thomas the Tank Engine - shudder.
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Kid's telly is one of the curses of parenthood. I was lucky when mine were watching such nonsense in that we had two downstairs reception rooms each with a telly. Grown up programmes in one room, kid's telly in the other.
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I visited the Museum of London a couple of weeks ago, and by far the most interesting exhibit for me was a tiny TV set showing episodes of The Woodentops and The Flower Pot Men. It was like finding a long-lost teddy bear. Myself and another punter of similar age both stood there transfixed.
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Yeah, it's not all bad...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6xEl_7t8TM
http://youtu.be/t6xEl_7t8TM
(Johnny Ball's gone downhill since he started needed explaining as "father of Zoe Ball" and went around spouting bollocks about climate change, but his programmes left a lasting impression that there was SCIENCE and a story in pretty much everything.)
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Dr Who is very good children's television.
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The Clangers were excellent, as was all the Postgate stuff really (what a shame that Postgate now probably means "scandal in the mail room"). I liked Rubarb and Custard too, probably for the bouncy music and absurdly psychedelic colours rather than great intrinsic quality. And of course Captain Pugwash. Not forgetting the Wombles - I believe they greatly influenced one forumite in her career path and overall philosophy of life.
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We brought our sprogs up TV-free. Their nanny thought we were a very odd family (she was probably right) but now she has children of her own, she's copied us and is a big evangelist for tv-free child raising.
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We didn't have a telly until I was school-age, at which point it was new and exciting and endlessly fascinating. My parents, who'd gone about a decade without one, didn't seem that fussed.
As the years went on, I became less and less interested, while the rest of my family began to use it as wallpaper. It didn't seem to do them any harm - the alternative, after all, might have been to talk to each other.
I'm not sure what that proves, other than that people are individuals. But I can't help thinking that a TV-free upbringing is more for the parents' benefit than the children's.
Kids of today will have a fundamentally different television experience to the one we did. For a start, they'll never know a world where some unknown man in an office somewhere chooses what's on. They probably won't even have to fight with the rest of the household over what to watch. They'll be able to watch the good stuff over and over. And technology that looks ostensibly like television to us old people will also provide them with a whole gamut of more interesting things to do than passively watch video.
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I remember well the sneaky way I'd have to get downstairs on Saturday at 9.29, often much earlier to beat my sister downstairs, just so I could be sure that I could watch TISWAS instead of her Norma-straight-woman Swap Shop.
And Scooby Doo actually has proper dialogue these days? WTF?
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Zoinks!
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I was brought up television-free (one of three girls, in a school of over a thousand, who didn't have a TV - the others were my sister and a girl who belonged to a nut job religious cult and had bigger problems than television.) I'm not sure it was the best thing for me as social focus was very much on what we'd all seen on TV the previous night, and I hadn't. I didn't get the in-jokes or the catchphrases and I didn't know who half the celebrities were, and the others thought it was hilarious if I didn't know and even more hilarious if they could catch me pretending I did. I didn't know the steps to any of the dances on Top of the Pops and I couldn't join in with the things everyone else just seemed to know. Given that my social skills were already pretty poor, I could have used the help.
Having said that we still don't have a telly and I don't think it will matter to Zydrate. Now that there's a choice of hundreds of channels rather than four, and everything's on catch-up and iPlayer and Youtube, the social element of it has either gone or can be accessed online. When I was five, the girls all went home, watched My Little Pony, and then re-enacted it (with heated arguments over whether they were getting the words and actions exactly right) in the playground. That was only possible because everyone watched the same thing, and they don't now.
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But I can't help thinking that a TV-free upbringing is more for the parents' benefit than the children's.
Certainly was in our case! We didn't have a tv and certainly weren't going to get one for newly arrived sprogs. Our child-rearing policy has always been along the lines of "I was here first - fit in!".
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We didn't have a tv until I was 12, except for a year when I was about 5. I quite enjoyed being able to put a different favourite tv program every time someone asked me for their 'graph'. I did the same with football teams. I was pleased when we got one though. We don't have one now and when the children at work are watching it, Nye is mainly interested in stealing the remote and pressing all the buttons. The do watch American teen stuff which is a bit dull though.
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TV pretty much entered the house when I did, and, being ill so often, I got to see a lot of it. I loved TV, but found I didn't miss it when I went to University (and had no prospect of affording one), so that was fine.
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We have a telly, but basically never watch it. For a start you have to move the tandem to see it properly. It gets used, a bit, for playing Wii games. I pay my TV license because of a kind of combination of being terribly law-abiding and all that (so I am 'allowed' to iplayer live if I ever want to and haven't broken the roolz on the 2 or 3 occasions annually that we switch the goggle box on to watch something) and a kind of charitable donation to the country :)
The Cubs don't seem to give a monkey's. And why would they? There's a whole internet full off Stuffs to Watch. They've transferred the bickering to who gets to pick the youtube video to watch instead.
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We have a telly, but basically never watch it. For a start you have to move the tandem to see it properly.
A rather brilliant pair of sentences, I think.
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Having had kids some distance apart, I've dipped in & out of TV at various times. Of course, as a kid, I think I had the golden age of children's TV: Pogle's Wood, Ivor The Engine, The Clangers, Dangermouse, Blue Peter, Play School etc.
Coming back to it, I was pleased that Sesame Street was daily fare that Our Kid loved. But there wasn't much else of any quality that I saw. A few years later, when TGL was small, there was Teletubbies, which was good, and Tweenies, which was awful. And loads and loads of crappy USian animation.
Simpsons was something I enjoyed.
Now, we have In The Night Garden, which seems to be good on diversity, but a bit baffling, Balamory, which grates a bit, that thing with Bernard Cribbins, and Justin Fletcher's whole range of programmes, which are amazing.
So there are good programmes from all ages.
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I couldn't cope with TV as a child, I couldn't read fluently till I was 6.5 (and then I just went woosh) probably because I still had language delay and stuff. I didn't even know there was such a thing as subtitles till I was about 12. I used to get cross cos my siblings, cousins and friends would relax by sitting in front of TV after school etc and it was just more audio and hard work for me so I'd have tantrums and sulk a lot cos everyone was being BORING! I loved cartoons like Tom & Jerry and some stuff like old Thomas the Tank Engine but they were hardly ever on, we got lots of them at Grandparents cos they had TWO VCRs and my Grandpa made compilations of cartoons and thomas for us. This sort of stuff didn't need much sound processing to make sense as it was all quite visual or had BBC voice over voicing.
Once I learned to read I mostly sat in a corner with my face in a book and only watched the TV intermittently. I did watch a few of the better programmes (round the twist, girl from tomorrow) and the dreaded neighbours (basic social skills fodder) but couldn't really be arsed with it on the whole.
My friend's children are 2.5 and 6 and they mostly watch MythTV recordings on repeat of the stuff my friend can bear them to watch, so less of the sexist shite and more Octonauts and Nina and the Neurons etc. I'm not sure the kids know TV is broadcast and if there's a programme my friend hates she can say the MythTV box won't record it and the kids haven't worked out that isn't strictly true yet. I think it also helps that TV is at certain times of day, so first thing in the morning and for a bit after school rather than just on all the time. Also means that when she's having a bad health day a day in front of the recordings for longer than usual is seen as a treat.
With iPlayer et al being broadcast TVless is probably less of an issue these days.
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Peppa Pig gives me The Fear.
Unfortunately, my son looks like her brother, George.
Poor wee mite.
Don't worry about it, Charlotte, within a couple of years you'll be over your fear and have an unhealthy daily diet of all the weird psychedelic shit they love.
You'll probably even know who the Wattingers are.
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You'll probably even know who the Wattingers are.
They appear to be a "backwoodsman slaughterhouse steampunk blues" band from Devon ???
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Funnily enough, barakta and I ended up watching an episode of newfangled Postman Pat in Gaelic last night. We made up the plot as we went along, Magic Roundabout style.
I have my own version of Postman Pat I made up for the kids when they were young teenagers.
It's Postman Prat and his black and white Rat. Prat spends most of of the time in the back of the van, stoned out of his gourd. The Rat swears a lot.
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I'm not sure the kids know TV is broadcast
When I was very little -under five, which is about when we got a TV - there was an occasion when my mum said, "We're going to Andrea's and you can watch The Magic Roundabout on television" to which I replied, "But Andrea's television doesn't have The Magic Roundabout, that's on Simon's television. Andrea's has Play School." I genuinely thought each television set only showed one programme!
Funny how that has stuck in my mind though I can't remember who Andrea and Simon were. :-\
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Funnily enough, barakta and I ended up watching an episode of newfangled Postman Pat in Gaelic last night. We made up the plot as we went along, Magic Roundabout style.
I have my own version of Postman Pat I made up for the kids when they were young teenagers.
It's Postman Prat and his black and white Rat. Prat spends most of of the time in the back of the van, stoned out of his gourd. The Rat swears a lot.
This is how they got the idea for Yodel, isn't it?
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Funnily enough, barakta and I ended up watching an episode of newfangled Postman Pat in Gaelic last night. We made up the plot as we went along, Magic Roundabout style.
I have my own version of Postman Pat I made up for the kids when they were young teenagers.
It's Postman Prat and his black and white Rat. Prat spends most of of the time in the back of the van, stoned out of his gourd. The Rat swears a lot.
I made up Squashed Flat Pat to explain the dangers of crossing the road to my six year old younger sister.
We don't talk much these days.
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It's Postman Prat and his black and white Rat. Prat spends most of of the time in the back of the van, stoned out of his gourd. The Rat swears a lot.
Didn't Spitting Image do a song about Temporary Postman Pratt (and his Jesus And Mary Chain albums)?
He ran over the cat.
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But I can't help thinking that a TV-free upbringing is more for the parents' benefit than the children's.
Hell yes.
Who is the grown up in this house anyway? Not only do I not want to watch that shit, I don't have to, and didn't have to.
They watch crap indiscriminately online now, but at least they wear headphones...
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I was brought up TV-free. I am still TV-free.
5 of my parents' 6 kids are TV-free.
Many of their kids are in schools where others are also TV-free so I don't think they'll feel left out.
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My interaction with Children's TV is mostly in the guise of making it, so I don't watch. However, I have to say that working with The Muppets (actually Sesame Foundation) on The Furchester Hotel was the most fun I've had getting a show ready. The crew day where we got a special 'live' performance just for us was also great, and yes, I still have a piece of a Cookie Monster cookie - specially made to an extra-crunchy fat-free recipe which doesn't leave greasy marks on the fur.
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Funnily enough, barakta and I ended up watching an episode of newfangled Postman Pat in Gaelic last night. We made up the plot as we went along, Magic Roundabout style.
I have my own version of Postman Pat I made up for the kids when they were young teenagers.
It's Postman Prat and his black and white Rat. Prat spends most of of the time in the back of the van, stoned out of his gourd. The Rat swears a lot.
I made up Squashed Flat Pat to explain the dangers of crossing the road to my six year old younger sister.
We don't talk much these days.
I was told the USAnian edition of Postman Pat is Mailman Mick. In which case, does he have a black and white dick? :o
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Somebody (Victor Louis Smith from memory) did a song to the tune of Postman Pat once.... A snatch of which might have gone a bit like this
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My postman's crap,
My postman's crap,
My postman's crap,
He's a miserable chap,
Early in the morning,
Well, not very early in the morning,
In fact sometimes at the crack of noon,
He <somethings> with his postbag in his hand
or not, ... my memory is hazy on the matter... I do remember a line like "... 'Photographs - DO NOT BEND' - Oh yes they do!" in there somewhere.
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There is a cartoon called Bing. It is for very young children. Our grandson, who can clearly understand sentences like "Your dinner's ready!", does not otherwise use a lot of language.
Bing's characters have the bodies of animals and the adults who look after them are represented by soft toys. Bing is a rabbit and its adult is called Flop. Flop's voice, and the narrator, is from one Mark Rylance, upon whom Mrs. Wow has a crush. The programmes all have a little moral to the tale and at the end and Bing talks us through in case we missed anything.
In a programme we watched on Thursday, Bing caught his finger in a letter box and was rather crestfallen. Our grandson dissolved into floods of tears and lay face down on the floor and sobbed. I thought he had hurt himself, but his dad told me that he always does that at that stage of that particular episode. Such empathy! It was tragic.
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Oh dear, we recently saw Mark Rylance getting killed by a bull in "The Gunman". Please give Mrs Wow my condolences :'(
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I quite enjoy the kids TV. I still greet Miss Dan the Elder with "hi hi de li" when I get home, and tell them that there's "runny grovels" for tea from time to time - much to their annoyance, as they are now far too old for Waybuloo or In the Night Garden :)
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There is a cartoon called Bing. It is for very young children. Our grandson, who can clearly understand sentences like "Your dinner's ready!", does not otherwise use a lot of language.
Bing's characters have the bodies of animals and the adults who look after them are represented by soft toys. Bing is a rabbit and its adult is called Flop. Flop's voice, and the narrator, is from one Mark Rylance, upon whom Mrs. Wow has a crush. The programmes all have a little moral to the tale and at the end and Bing talks us through in case we missed anything.
In a programme we watched on Thursday, Bing caught his finger in a letter box and was rather crestfallen. Our grandson dissolved into floods of tears and lay face down on the floor and sobbed. I thought he had hurt himself, but his dad told me that he always does that at that stage of that particular episode. Such empathy! It was tragic.
They clearly have their market right. The duck loves Bing and got quite upset when a balloon floated away in one episode. It's vastly annoying (I haven't the faintest idea who narrates it) but well targeted. :)
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It has occurred to me, warped individual that I am, that some "Bing" episodes in which Flop has an affair with Amma (Sula's "minder") would be Very Amusing Indeed.
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My daughter thinks that Flop and Amma are not well suited for an affair. She thinks that Flop and the lady who runs the greegrocer's are probably getting a banana under the counter.
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Is Pingu still on. I love Pingu.
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Does Mrs. Pingu know?
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Today has mostly been spent in the company of a children's television.
There is a problem. Every programme I have seen, with othe notable exception of the Twirlywoos (great programme), every single one has bedn dominated by the subject of snow.
Quite apart from the small problem that there has only been the one White Christmas in the 61 I have spent in this country (that' all of them) there is also the small problem that the temperature outside has hardly dipped below 10 deg C for the whole of December.
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Today has mostly been spent in the company of a children's television.
There is a problem. Every programme I have seen, with othe notable exception of the Twirlywoos (great programme), every single one has bedn dominated by the subject of snow.
Quite apart from the small problem that there has only been the one White Christmas in the 61 I have spent in this country (that' all of them) there is also the small problem that the temperature outside has hardly dipped below 10 deg C for the whole of December.
Global warning innit? You should start a campaign ;D
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Quite apart from the small problem that there has only been the one White Christmas in the 61 I have spent in this country (that' all of them) there is also the small problem that the temperature outside has hardly dipped below 10 deg C for the whole of December.
Perhaps the programme wasn't made with you in mind. I remember several white Christmases, but then, I live further north than you.
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And anyway, how are today's kids to learn about snow, if not for television?