Curious about Curious George

The girls are in a Curious George phase.

We go through different shows around here. I always feel better when they are from PBS, as though that somehow negates the fact and I generally believe that t.v. Shows can rot their little brains. I’ve become selfish enough with my mornings, however, that I value the 1/2 hour or so of quiet wake up time provided by a show more than I value their intellectual development.

PBS at least gives a good showing toward educating them well.

Anyway, I remember liking Curious George quite a bit when I was a child so when Mia and Maggie started enjoying the show I was subtly pleased. But as the show has gone on I’ve become somewhat suspicious of George and the Man in the Yellow Hat.

My concern started during the episode where George let all of the chickens and ducks out of the coop. Internally I thought, “George, that was stupid! Why did you even touch the latch in the first place?! Where’s the Man in the Yellow Hat to scold you?” By the end of the episode George had relocated all the fowl animals and he was on his way, no scolding delivered.

The episode that really has me bugged involves George’s fascination with gift wrap. When he opened every gift-wrapped box in a window display I thought he was rude. I watched in unease as he went to a department store and unwrapped all of the presents that the clerks were wrapping for their store display.

The kicker was when he took himself home to his apartment and proceeded to unwrap the wallpaper off of the bathroom right before the Man with the Yellow Hat hosted his boss for dinner!

The Man with the Yellow Hat just took it all in and went to answer the doorbell.

I’m pretty sure that there might be a homicide, followed by a cardiac arrest if my kids did the same thing to me!

My parents have pretty much banned us from watching Monsters, Inc. in front of them. They think that it’s an awful show because of the scene where Sully tries to flush the mobile, etc. from Boo’s room down the toilet. They have warned me numerous times that that scene will end up costing us more than $100 from a plumber down the road as the girls try to re-create the excitement on their own.

All this to say, do you think that I should be concerned? My heart rate rises and I now look at each TiVo’d episode with suspicion, but I also don’t have the time to preview each on before showing (or don’t make the time, I admit it laziness is my strong suit right now).

Do these types of mistakes help kids understand that what might happen will be a problem or do they just encourage them to copy the misbehavior themselves?

On a different note, my mom and dad are coming out today to spend Thanksgiving with us. Mia has been excited to see them and keeps announcing that she “Can’t Wait!” to see Grandma and Grandpa.

Last Sunday she refused to eat breakfast and then was whining about being hungry on the way to church. Isaiah and I kept telling her that she was going to have to wait until we got to church before we found her a snack and that she should remember this little episode next time she refused her breakfast. She was distraught.

Finally, she belted out - “But I can’t wait until we get to church for a snack! I am hungry right now!... This is the bad kind of can’t wait, not like the good kind of can’t wait with Grandma and Grandpa!”