Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Natural Cute > Artificial Cute

Last night I saw a video of a tiny lion cub roaring. It was adorable, so I left the window up so I could show my daughters in the morning. They had a hard time deciding what it was. “Is it a doggie?” my three year old asked. “Khht!” my one year old insisted, pointing at the screen. “It’s a lion,” I told them, “do you want to watch a big one?”
They tumbled over onto the couch, and we watched a lion and lioness roar at the San Diego Zoo. I explained about a lion’s mane while trying to make sure they didn’t fall off the couch, and my one year old made enough surprised exclamations to almost cover the animal’s vocalizations.
I want to see doggies!” my daughter said when the lions were done roaring. My kids can watch animal videos all day long. They can watch anything all day long, really, and they will if I let them.
I guess the reason that educational cartoons are still made is because watching puppies tumble and play won’t necessarily teach a kid sportsmanship. Plus, there’s all the merchandise to be advertised and sold. Although there’s quite a bit of money-making potential with all the doggie accessories that are around today.
So if you’re like me and you can’t stand to watch another episode of [insert most popular children’s program here], head over to youtube and search “puppies.” Four hours (sometimes even four minutes) of watching videos will not only make your kid forget about that show they were begging to watch, but also won’t drive you absolutely insane.

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