But more often than not, these month long projects lead me to very fun activities. And that was most certainly the case yesterday. Because yesterday morning, I got to watch cartoons.
Like most well adjusted people that I know, I grew up watching cartoons. Great shows like Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and Tale Spin. Jem and the Holograms, Muppet Babies, Transformers, and G.I. Joe. Thundercats, Masters of the Universe, Animaniacs, and Inspector Gadget. Scooby-Doo, Rocko's Modern Life, The Ren and Stimpy Show, and the classic Doug. Teenage...Mutant...Ninja...TURTLES!
I've been worried that the cartoons that my children grow up with will somehow be lesser than those that I watched when I was a kid. Nostalgia will do that to you, making the things that came from your time somehow better than what's going on today (I'm afraid of the rate that these adult insights seem to be occurring lately...am I growing up?). So I wanted to investigate what was in store for Nugget. I decided to stick with cartoons that only very young children would watch (your Disney and Nick Juniors, to be specific).
To be honest, I don't remember the cartoons for this age range, besides Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry. I didn't have the Disney Channel growing up (only during those "Free Weekends" where the cable company would try to lure parents into caving and buying upgrades to keep their kids happy...my parents never caved). Nick Jr. really only came on the scene after I had moved on to more sophisticated cartoons (I'm thinking about Ren and Stimpy singing about LOG now...). The only shows I remember seeing when I was little were things like Sesame Street and the endlessly wonderful Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood.
So because I didn't have a framework of comparison or really where to start, I went to Netflix to see what was popular. I came up with two shows to check out, Handy Manny and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
Handy Manny is a Disney Junior show (ha, take that cable providers, no more "Free Weekends Only" for this guy!) that revolves around Manny, a young handyman living in a town full of colorful characters. He talks to his tools (and the tools talk back), and he spends his days having adventures and fixing things around town.
I thought it was great. The theme song was incredibly catchy, and I loved the message that the show tried to get across. It was all about team work and being respectful. Planning and thinking ahead were seen as virtues, whereas impatience and acting without thinking were shown to be poor choices. Manny was very polite to everyone he met, and he was quick to share all that he had. He's Hispanic, and actually uses a lot of Spanish vocabulary. So children that are watching it are not only learning great lessons about how to act in society, they are also learning a language that many of them will have to use in their day to day lives. It was all done in a way that was not overly annoying or cutesy. I could definitely let Nugget watch this one and not want to throw the TV out of the window.
I did want to address something that I thought was a little disturbing when doing research about this show. Apparently, there's a faction out there that see Manny as a bad influence because he is, and I quote, "Learning our children mexican." So I'll just let that one lie there and move along without addressing how stupid it is...
Another thing that came up that I would like to address is that somehow the show is seen as a negative stereotype because Manny's a handyman. First of all, the town of Sheetrock Hills would fall apart without him. Second, why is being a handyman a bad thing? Third, most of the people in Manny's town are Hispanic (INCLUDING MOST OF HIS TALKING TOOLS). That means that if you are worried that kids will see being a handyman as the only profession for someone like Manny, then you are obviously not noticing the Mayor.
Elizabeth brought up a great point about this too. Kids don't know what jobs are or that there is some sort of societal hierarchy attached to them. They also really don't have any understanding about what a "job" is. They just know that doctors have red crosses on their foreheads and astronauts get to go to space and teachers are the most amazing, learned people ever and that construction workers get to drive cool trucks. Being a Prince or Princess is an actual career goal for some little kids. My dad wanted to be a garbage man because you got to hang on the back of the trucks. For goodness sake, I wanted to be a NINJA TURTLE when I was little. Not a ninja. No, a TURTLE that was a ninja.
So let's not think too seriously that the show about a polite kid with a talking screwdriver is brainwashing our kids, deal?
I thought it was great because it was interactive. Jake and his friends will look at the audience (your kids) and ask them questions. There's a lot of singing, and a lot of call and response. At one point, Jake had me pull down on the level that opened the door to his crew's secret hideout. It encouraged make-believe and activity, which I thought was remarkable for an entertainment that usually only requires you to tune in and turn off.
I can also see Nugget using "COCONUTS!" as a curse word if he watches this show too often.
Two great options right off the bat, not too shabby if you ask me. This doesn't mean that all of my fears about quality programming are calmed, but it is a definite step in the right direction. If there are any parents out there with recommendations, I'm looking for more. I'm already excited to show Nugget Avatar: The Last Airbender and Gravity Falls and Adventure Time, but are there others? Let me know!
Now, back to my own cartoons. Archer isn't going to watch itself!
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