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In a message dated 8/27/02 6:21:58 PM, winnierfm@... writes:

<< One day I was
watching the video with him and heard the following "Thomas and Henry felt
sorry for James but they teased him anyway." Well, I don't want my son to
learn that it is ok to tease people no matter what the circumstances. For a
while, I took the videos away. >>

Holly watched a Shari Lewis video the other night she hadn't seen. Kirby
used to watch it all the time, and it ended up on a high shelf. It was 101
Things for Kids to Do (or some such).

Even in a video that was all little magic tricks and science tricks and math
tricks, with nobody onscreen except Shari Lewis herself and sometimes one
sock puppet, Holly was still surprised at the amount of insult. Little
stuff, but Holly's not used to it. Saying something or someone was "dumb" or
"silly.

For Shari Lewis, who was probably born in the 1920's, it was so mile as to be
sweet. Here she is, doing a video for children, having spent large chunks of
her life doing children's television programming, and yet Holly thought it
was teaching bad habits to kids.

I think Holly was right.

When I was little I just didn't like her show but never knew why.

When Kirby was little and she came back on TV after a long hiatus (maybe to
raise her child(ren)?), Kirby and Marty liked "Lamb Chop's Play Along," and I
liked the music, but I frequently would point out that it was too bad Lamb
Chop wasn't nicer to Charlie Horse, or whatever it was.

Same with other shows they watched. We discussed the characters on Muppet
Babies, that they're living in isolation from adults and the outside world,
and so have to fantasize and they often get it wrong because they're always
just in "the nursery."

(I guess that was an unschooling way to watch Muppet Babies!)

Ninja Turtles. One of them, Raphael, was hot-tempered, and that was part of
the plot. He had a hard time being calm and patient. So sometimes if such a
problem arose, that was an example given. Michaelangelo seemed goofy, but
he was always aware of being honorable.

Having talked about characters like that when they were little, it was no
stretch or change to do the same for dramas and musicals and sitcoms.

I used to turn West Side Story off, casually, sometime while Anita was out
looking for Tony. Years passed. One day I wasn't in the room and the show
played out.

ooops.

Holly says there was a bit on "Friends" in which Phoebe is watching "Old
Yeller" with some people, and at some happy fade, she says "The End!" and
gets up happily. The rest, Holly says, are surprised, and it turns out her
mom had always turned it off at that point. <g>

Sandra

Heather Woodward

I used to turn West Side Story off, casually, sometime while Anita was out
looking for Tony. Years passed. One day I wasn't in the room and the show
played out.

Sandra,

Did you do this discretely? or did you talk about it. Did she ever ask why when she figured it out at a later date?



----- Original Message -----
From: SandraDodd@...
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 8:59 PM
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] dangerous subject matter



In a message dated 8/27/02 6:21:58 PM, winnierfm@... writes:

<< One day I was
watching the video with him and heard the following "Thomas and Henry felt
sorry for James but they teased him anyway." Well, I don't want my son to
learn that it is ok to tease people no matter what the circumstances. For a
while, I took the videos away. >>

Holly watched a Shari Lewis video the other night she hadn't seen. Kirby
used to watch it all the time, and it ended up on a high shelf. It was 101
Things for Kids to Do (or some such).

Even in a video that was all little magic tricks and science tricks and math
tricks, with nobody onscreen except Shari Lewis herself and sometimes one
sock puppet, Holly was still surprised at the amount of insult. Little
stuff, but Holly's not used to it. Saying something or someone was "dumb" or
"silly.

For Shari Lewis, who was probably born in the 1920's, it was so mile as to be
sweet. Here she is, doing a video for children, having spent large chunks of
her life doing children's television programming, and yet Holly thought it
was teaching bad habits to kids.

I think Holly was right.

When I was little I just didn't like her show but never knew why.

When Kirby was little and she came back on TV after a long hiatus (maybe to
raise her child(ren)?), Kirby and Marty liked "Lamb Chop's Play Along," and I
liked the music, but I frequently would point out that it was too bad Lamb
Chop wasn't nicer to Charlie Horse, or whatever it was.

Same with other shows they watched. We discussed the characters on Muppet
Babies, that they're living in isolation from adults and the outside world,
and so have to fantasize and they often get it wrong because they're always
just in "the nursery."

(I guess that was an unschooling way to watch Muppet Babies!)

Ninja Turtles. One of them, Raphael, was hot-tempered, and that was part of
the plot. He had a hard time being calm and patient. So sometimes if such a
problem arose, that was an example given. Michaelangelo seemed goofy, but
he was always aware of being honorable.

Having talked about characters like that when they were little, it was no
stretch or change to do the same for dramas and musicals and sitcoms.

I used to turn West Side Story off, casually, sometime while Anita was out
looking for Tony. Years passed. One day I wasn't in the room and the show
played out.

ooops.

Holly says there was a bit on "Friends" in which Phoebe is watching "Old
Yeller" with some people, and at some happy fade, she says "The End!" and
gets up happily. The rest, Holly says, are surprised, and it turns out her
mom had always turned it off at that point. <g>

Sandra

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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In a message dated 8/27/02 10:21:44 PM, bacwoodz@... writes:

<< Did you do this discretely? or did you talk about it. Did she ever ask why
when she figured it out at a later date? >>

I'd just distract them or change the tape discretely. It wasn't just Holly,
the boys didn't know either! At that point in the movie it's getting to be
chatty anyway, more subtle and verbal, and there aren't anymore great songs
left.

As soon as she saw it she knew why she'd never seen it. It didn't upset her
at that point. By then she knew all the songs and had a nice picture of Tony
and Maria having a little bus ride and living happily ever after (if even
that).

Sandra