Technology, loose morals and the constant need for the next best thing is erasing childhood memories faster than ever.
When I was a kid, I remember watching shows on Nick at Nite that my parents had watched. (I Love Lucy, Bewitched, The Andy Griffith Show.) Of course there were newer shows too, but those classics were on nightly and it was something that bonded our generations. Wholesome television my parents didn't mind us all watching together and nothing they worried about me watching.
My childhood was also filled with cartoons like Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, David the Gnome and The Lil' Bits. A healthy mix of Nick Jr. and Disney. (Back in the days when my parents had to pay extra for Disney for me.) And after school? Lamb Chop's Play Along and Full House.
However, when I was singing The Song That Never Ends randomly a while back, a kid asked me where that song came from. They knew it, but were too young to have seen Lamb Chop. It hit me. The younger generations don't know Lamb Chop. The next ones won't even know the songs. A small part of my childhood innocence was crushed with this knowledge.
Care Bears and My Little Pony Tales have been remade into moronic loud brash cartoons without the original themes of caring for others and generosity and honesty. Now they're just like the rest of the garbage Cartoon Network cranks out on whims. Even Cartoon Network used to have some shows of quality. Now its all the Adventure Time nonsense that I don't even intend to allow my children to watch! Some of it is massively inappropriate for children to be watching. I don't like it.
I'm realizing all the time that I'm going to be that parent who no one wants to go to their house to sleepover because my kids won't be allowed to watch the crap that people think is alright to show their kids now. It just won't happen.
I can remember the first time I heard the word "crap" in a cartoon on Nickelodeon. Helda said it on Hey Arnold, and I was so shocked by it and then I realized if my parents new that a cartoon said crap I'd never be allowed to watch it again.
Nowadays I hear the words crap, fricken, etc in cartoons or ass and bitch thrown around freely on sitcoms that come on all hours of the day and night that I fear what it will be like by the time I have children.
It may be a wise investment to keep buying my Disney DVDs and seasons of the shows I watched as a kid. I have a feeling thats what my kids will be watching. Not Hannah Montana and ICarly.
I agree with this, but it also makes me want to say "Get off my lawn!"
ReplyDeleteAt least Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't that bad.
You aren't alone. And there are so many inappropriate shows out there now. I know I can't keep him innocent for forever, but I also don't want him to be the 5th grader getting called into the office for sexual harassment (I need to find the link, but I just read about this!). Kids are exposed to too much, too early these days.
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