A little something for the parents in my readership

[thatcrazycajun]

One of my favorite satirical songwriters, Rob Paravonian (the "Pachelbel Rant" guy, whom I had the incredible good fortune to meet in person and hear live when I lived in NYC's East Village some years back) has penned an amusing little ditty about the real reason so many young children spend so much time being entertained by the likes of Barney the Dinosaur, Thomas the Tank Engine, the Wiggles et al. Since I seem to have an awful lot of folks on my f-list who are (or have been) parents of very young children, I thought I'd share it with you via YouTube.
--> "Children's Song"
(The proprietor of this blog assumes no responsibility whatsoever for any guilt you may feel about parking the rugrats in front of the electric babysitter too often.)

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

When I was a boy.... (now, there's a line for a filker.. :)

We didn't have no freakin' Nintendo. Hell, we didn't even have a TV for several years.

(Pick your teeth up, they'll get fur on'em on the floor.)

We had *books* and *magazines* and *chores* and *homework*, no, *real homework*, not just busywork, which often involved *more books*... And I had a *bicycle* (and a safe place to ride it) and big cardboard boxes to make forts out of and when we moved to the burbs we played whiffleball until dark with the neighbor kids, and football in the winter, and we played *outside*... and we also had train sets and Tonka toys and Fischer Price and the neighbors had a fire truck and a slot-car set...

But most of my fun was had with my nose in a book, off on The Other Side of the Mountain or in Hobbiton or Watership Down or that place in Northern Alabama where that cat named Boo Radley saved Scout's life... or on a nuclear sub envisioned before 1900....

We ended up watching our share of the tube; decent shows like Sesame Street and the Electric Company and Hodgepodge Lodge, or M*A*S*H and the Monday Night Mystery Movie and Masterpiece Theatre and Evening at Pops...

Teletubbies is evil, and Barney Must Die. Only time I've *ever* been tempted to reach for a weapon what I wasn't being menaced by a two-legged rat, I passed a dude hawking a whole wall of Barneys on the side of Buford Raceway. Didn't give a damn one way or the other about the dude. Wanted purple mayhem.

[baggette.livejournal.com]

I Love you, man

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Yaknow, NYC is on my List O'Places To Visit...

[baggette.livejournal.com]

I visit there, often. But I LIVE in Maine.
Is that on your list?

I love to have company

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

You're still not getting his Bud Light.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

That's because I don't frelling *have* a Bud Light... I drink, y'know, actual *beer*? :)

[baggette.livejournal.com]

what kind a beer?

I have been known to brew a mean IPA and some stout.
I haven't for a long time, but there are usually a few varietals on hand from the local breweries...

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Not too big on either IPA or stout; my favorites tend to be ambers, nut brown ales, and scotch ales (J.W. Dundee's Honey Brown when I can get it, Alaskan Amber or Pike's Kiltlifter when I can't)....

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

>>We ended up watching our share of the tube; decent shows like Sesame Street and the Electric Company and Hodgepodge Lodge, or M*A*S*H and the Monday Night Mystery Movie and Masterpiece Theatre and Evening at Pops...<<

And Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins. And The Wonderful World of Disney (on whatever network happened to have it in a given year). And Mister Rogers' Neighborhood up until we got too old to stand it.

"We used to DREAM of having a corridor!" (/yorkshireman)

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Check, check, and check. I had the pleasure of getting to see Jim live once; they'd made a Wild Kingdom movie, and he flew in *through the dregs of a hurricane* to .... well, he was gonna *present*, but he ended up flying 35 miles up the road to a bigger airport with a better approach and driving in from there; he made it in time to speak to us after the film. First time I remember encountering tropical storm weather. What made it particularly memorable was Jim's aircraft, a Piper Aztec, was featured in the film; my dad had one slightly older.

I remember the one time I flew through Pittsburgh, discovering that that was Fred Rogers' hometown...

[ericavdg.livejournal.com]

All too true! Especially the part about Mommy needing her pills! I detest Barney and made it known to family and friends that there would be no Barney in our house. My MIL, usually a sensible woman, got it into her head that depriving Lydia of Barney would make her a pariah among her peer group. So she bought Barney tapes and played them for Lydia at her house. While Karl and I were there. In the same room. This happened every time we went over there for a couple of years. I could have killed her! Fortunately, Lydia got bored with Barney and wanted to play with Grandma's new and different toys (first grandchild; major overindulgence) when we visited so I was spared a first-degree murder rap. We won't go into my feelings about the giant plastic kitchen from the same source that took over our family room for three years.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move the bodies. :)

[poltr1]

Thank you for sharing this! I loved it!

I don't mind the Wiggles at all, but I just don't care for Barney. Barney is a purple dinosaur version of Richard Simmons. Relentlessly cheerful and saccharine. Grr! Argh!