Tuesday, September 21, 2004
I have experienced a new form of culture shock today: hanging out with my buddy, who happens to be 2 1/2 years old.
I'm not sure if I have hung out with a kid, more precisely any kid between 3 months old to 11 years old, on my own since... I got my first job at Dairy Queen. Ahhh... DQ, my first uniform, my first independence, my first money, my first encounters with weirdos called customers, my first time of being recruited by the big guys to leave school and join the DQ team. Leave the cheerleading team, you gotta be kidding! Getting off track... Yep, that's a few years since I've had some serious kid hang time, if I don't count my lil' sister, that is.
To me, it is an incredible reality to see my little cutie girl communicate what she wants, how she wants it and when that should happen (usually now). It's also amazing to see how she responds to things, varied amounts of stimulus with toys, music, art, and kids shows. The ability to let loose of all my better judgement gets thrown out the window hanging out with this girl. It's too fun to be responsible. I can use silly voices and get laughs rather than leers. I can have my hair look bizarre without getting a judgement from my audience. I can dance all day and have a partner to boot. I am pretty free.
Now, I don't know how comfortable I am with being in charge. I mean, she' s in charge, but I'm supposed to be, right? Hmmm... I'll have to figure that out.
It also blows my mind at what sort of television there is for kids. I know I'm a little late on the inside info here, but the amount of tv for kids is insane. The variety, quality, and target age groups are so specific. I remember watching Sesame Street and Mr. Dressup. That's it. Well, maybe throw in a little of the Friendly Giant too. The amount of shows available is astounding.
I remember watching quite a bit of Sesame Street, and learning some Espanol. It seems to be everpresent in the children's shows now. Why don't we have more of this as adults? We need some of that knowledge too. I guess we get to the point when we have to decide whether or not we like subtitles and that's when the language crossover occurs.
Anyway - in terms of culture - we've got it all: learning how to communicate, freedom to be true to yourself or uninhibited, letting go of or holding onto a certain level of control, immense amounts of entertainment in all forms, and having exposure to understanding a new language.
I'm not sure if I have hung out with a kid, more precisely any kid between 3 months old to 11 years old, on my own since... I got my first job at Dairy Queen. Ahhh... DQ, my first uniform, my first independence, my first money, my first encounters with weirdos called customers, my first time of being recruited by the big guys to leave school and join the DQ team. Leave the cheerleading team, you gotta be kidding! Getting off track... Yep, that's a few years since I've had some serious kid hang time, if I don't count my lil' sister, that is.
To me, it is an incredible reality to see my little cutie girl communicate what she wants, how she wants it and when that should happen (usually now). It's also amazing to see how she responds to things, varied amounts of stimulus with toys, music, art, and kids shows. The ability to let loose of all my better judgement gets thrown out the window hanging out with this girl. It's too fun to be responsible. I can use silly voices and get laughs rather than leers. I can have my hair look bizarre without getting a judgement from my audience. I can dance all day and have a partner to boot. I am pretty free.
Now, I don't know how comfortable I am with being in charge. I mean, she' s in charge, but I'm supposed to be, right? Hmmm... I'll have to figure that out.
It also blows my mind at what sort of television there is for kids. I know I'm a little late on the inside info here, but the amount of tv for kids is insane. The variety, quality, and target age groups are so specific. I remember watching Sesame Street and Mr. Dressup. That's it. Well, maybe throw in a little of the Friendly Giant too. The amount of shows available is astounding.
I remember watching quite a bit of Sesame Street, and learning some Espanol. It seems to be everpresent in the children's shows now. Why don't we have more of this as adults? We need some of that knowledge too. I guess we get to the point when we have to decide whether or not we like subtitles and that's when the language crossover occurs.
Anyway - in terms of culture - we've got it all: learning how to communicate, freedom to be true to yourself or uninhibited, letting go of or holding onto a certain level of control, immense amounts of entertainment in all forms, and having exposure to understanding a new language.
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Very true - tv culture has changed much since Mr. Dressup! My daughter loves the show Dora the Explorer and it has spanish woven throughout the program. The other nice thing is that it is interactive - inviting the kids to shout out things at the screen that enable Dora to do something. Very entertaining & ironic that my almost 3 year old daughter knows more spanish than I.
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