My little girl is an addict. Swear. My dad bought the twins their first Disney movies for Christmas – 101 Dalmatians and the Jungle Book. Both excellent, classic choices. I prefer the older Disney movies because the new ones are so busy and tend to have some pretty adult content that is not appropriate for children in this father’s humble opinion. For example, what does Walt have against mothers and why does he insist on killing them off? I mean really. In the first three minutes of Finding Nemo, Disney kills off Mom and 99 of her children. That’s not funny, that’s mass murder. Don’t get me started on Bambi. Not nice.
Anyway, Claire has it bad. She starts begging to “watch doggies” immediately upon waking. I need my coffee in the morning but I can generally take a shower and brush my teeth without jonesing. I don’t really understand the addiction. Neither she nor William watched anything on the television until after their second birthday – no computer, no movies, no Thomas the Tank Engine. I don’t have cable or even rabbit ears for that matter. We didn’t even own any Disney movies until Christmas. Now, all of the sudden, my daughter’s imagination is completely circumscribed by 79 minutes of Disney animation.
My current strategy (other than saying “no” 90 percent of the time, which gets a little bit tedious) is to try to expand her imaginative horizons by introducing her to other “doggie” related activities – Whitey’s pets, doggie books, doggie toys, etc. So whenever she finds herself deep in the thrall of Dalmatian cravings, I can distract her by reading the “doggie book”. I guess this is akin to chewing gum as a distraction from cigarette cravings.
We’ll see how it works. In the meantime, I will be going slowly mad as the “Cruella Deville” song plays endlessly in my mind – “Cruella Deville, Cruella Deville, If she doesn’t scare you no evil thing will …”
January 21, 2009 at 7:00 pm |
I don’t know, Dan, I might have to disagree with you on the new versus old Disney debate. The new ones may have adult humor, but it completely goes over their heads. The old ones have blatant displays of inappropriate behavior. Like in Pinocchio they have those boys on the island smoking and gambling, among other things, and even in 101 Dalmations, Cruella sucks on that cigarette of hers all day long and blows smoke in people’s faces. Anyway, just my opinion. It sounds like your a much better parent than me. If my kids ask to watch a movie, I’m like, “Yes! Free time for me. Please go kill your brain cells so that I can relax.” LOL
January 21, 2009 at 10:22 pm |
I know what you mean about Cruella’s cigarette. Disney probably thinks that it is okay because it is clear that this is bad behavior from a bad people.