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[Barmymoo]

I LOVE the Rugrats.

For my fifteenth birthday, I got a Recess DVD. It was my second favourite present (the first favourite being a goat which was sent to Africa by Oxfam and I never got to pet).

The scariest modern kids' cartoon I've seen is one I saw when accompanying a friend to the family planning clinic. It was some kind of Looney Tunes cartoon and it was absolutely terrifying, gun shots and sudden "actually that scene wasn't real, let's do it over again" and everyone running round like they were on drugs. I think it might have been a sneaky way to discourage teenage pregnancies or something. The poor kids who were there with their parents are probably scarred for life.

RedLion, you have some good points but at the same time, if Wet Helmet gives up trying to discipline his daughter purely because it isn't working at the moment, then she will never learn. I had the same experience and now I'm starting to listen and adapt my attitude. I'm a few years older, so maybe it just takes time and perseverence. No, I correct myself: it DOES just take time and perserverence. And a good dictionary, that is not spelt right.

[ruyi]

The whole rebellion thing needs to happen. The child has to break away from the parental unit, no matter how "cool" the parent might be, and they often have to break away violently. It's a societal and, in many ways, a biological need. The alternative is the complete stifling of emotional and intellectual growth and the instillation of dependency. You can break a minor's back if you crack down on them hard enough and often enough, but the end result of that will be 100 times worse than the hot-headed rebellion and irrationality that you're dealing with.

Often--not always, but often--anger, on the part of a person who is coming of age, is a good thing, as long as they then mature and leave that anger behind in favor of acceptance and a calm determination. But until then, a healthy level of anger is necessary. I's needed. It provides the fuel that's required to move them forward into adulthood. No matter how maddening it is, it's something that has to happen, and you might as well embrace it and just do what you can to stop them from going too far, and working to help them facilitate that anger and channel it in productive ways.

Isn't this culturally relative?

Anyways, this thread has made me nostalgic for Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

[A Wet Helmet]

Comments redacted because I was a) mocking and b) being mean

[onewheelwizzard]

Wet Helmet and RedLion, you guys are having an argument over nothing.  Let's let the accusations of harmful parenting and drug abuse go, shall we?

It sounds to me like the following things are almost certainly true in most situations:

1. Parents need to exercise authority over their kids so that their kids have a basis for treating their parents as role models (nobody will emulate someone who allows them to do whatever they want ... they'll just do what they want instead).
2. Adolescents need to spend some time realizing that they're independent people, that their parents are old and uncool and embarrassing, and that in order to be who and what they want to be, they need to say "no" to their parents at least some of the time.  Otherwise they will not be able to assert independence when it is required of them.
3. The optimal outcome of this tension during adolescence is that the kid grows up a bit and manages to become fully independent, but also begins to understand what their parents were trying to say the whole time, and a healthy relationship between parent and child ensues.

If we agree that this is a more or less fitting progression for a parent-child relationship to go through, why bother getting into specifics?  Each family does things differently, and as such different approaches work for different families.  Basically, whatever parenting strategy anyone uses is used with the hope that the child will grow up smart enough to understand why their parents raised them the way they did, and what their parents' goals were for them.  You can't zero in on some strategy or another and say "this will or won't work," not when every family is different ... all you can say is "I think that when I have kids I will try this" or "I have kids and this seems to be working so far."

[Patrick]

Because despite your tremendous penchant for verbosity, your reading comprehension skills seem to be lacking.

(snip)

So meet me halfway and tell me how best to have rational discourse with you, because frankly you have me at a loss.

OH MY GOD THE IRONY IS GOING TO KILL ME

[calenlass]

Paging celticgeek to this thread. Celticgeek, to this thread.


Or est. But I think est would bore us to death with his recounts of the Mesoproterozoic. Plus I think est's kids were all born so long ago that they were slugs or something.

[Patrick]

One request, est: PLEASE don't lock this, this is the most entertaining thing I've seen all day.

[sean]

Man this thread was not worth reading. Way to much tl;dr and lol internet debatez for a whole lot of nothing.

[A Wet Helmet]

Onewheelwizzard,  I have redacted my previous comments.  I was mocking and being mean spirited.  Thank you for pointing it out to me.

[RedLion]

Eh, I found it humorous, to be honest. No offense taken. I wasn't arguing with you, Wet Helmet, nor was I calling you a bad person or even an all-around bad parent.

I don't really do drugs, though. I'm rather boring when it comes to that sort of thing, really.

[Darkbluerabbit]

Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Off topic and probably just me:  Does anyone else get really pissed off when people insult Mr. Rogers?  I mean, if you just don't like the show, fine, but I always hear people calling him a "creepy child molester" and stuff like that.  That shit is just not true and it annoys the crap out of me, because Mr. Rogers was the coolest thing on TV when I was a kid (I basically only watched PBS, but I have no complaints.)  Seriously, Picture Picture was the best thing ever. 

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood is considered "boring" by my young cousins.  I guess this makes me feel old.  But if that show goes off the air, I am never having children.  I don't want to bring a child into a world where Fred Rogers doesn't sing pleasantly to them every day at noon. 

[sean]

I have never heard anybody diss Mr. Rogers before. If I did I'd probably beat them up. Mr. Rogers was a straight up g, okay?

[ruyi]

Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Off topic and probably just me:  Does anyone else get really pissed off when people insult Mr. Rogers?  I mean, if you just don't like the show, fine, but I always hear people calling him a "creepy child molester" and stuff like that.  That shit is just not true and it annoys the crap out of me, because Mr. Rogers was the coolest thing on TV when I was a kid (I basically only watched PBS, but I have no complaints.)  Seriously, Picture Picture was the best thing ever. 

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood is considered "boring" by my young cousins.  I guess this makes me feel old.  But if that show goes off the air, I am never having children.  I don't want to bring a child into a world where Fred Rogers doesn't sing pleasantly to them every day at noon. 

Seriously, the comments on youtube for clips from the show...then again, I should really only expect the worst from there anyways.

I was just thinking about how if I ever have children, I'd really like them to be able to watch Mr. Rogers.

[A Wet Helmet]

Good, RedLion, because it was intended to be humorous.  I do tease.   I ask my boss if he's high when he says something I perceive as ridiculous too.

I can see easily how it could have been misinterpreted though, which is why I redacted it.

[CardinalFang]

So, are you saying that you redacted Joe Hocking's mother?
I mean because, who didn't?







*This post was simply so that I, as an old man, could contribute to a thread titled "Get off my lawn" even though I have no lawn for kids to get on.

[CardinalFang]

I would like to point out at this time that I have over 200 posts.
That's right OVER 200 posts. That is .333 posts per day!
Therefore, since I have so many posts that there is no reason for me to pad my post count,  it would be pointless of me to post unless I had something really relevant and totally not-disregardable to say.


I would now like to call upon Joe Hocking to start a thread called. "Kids today with their hair and their music!"

[mooface]

Siert, I fully sympathise with your 90s cartoon-watching. Today's kids TV is terrible.

okay, this is completely off topic but i have to strongly disagree with you on this.  i concur that most cartoons today suck, but there are some gems buried in the dirt.  i am like a giant five year old so i watch the cartoons shown on skye on a fairly regular basis.  this is how i was introduced to foster's house for imaginary friends and the grim adventures of billy and mandy.  they both are really cute and imaginative (especially foster's house) and make me laugh really hard.  i've also always liked the powerpuff girls, and i am sure that there are plenty of other examples out there that i just don't know about because i don't live in america/don't watch enough TV. basically, i think it's silly to get so nostalgic about old things that then all the cool new things are ignored!
(tl;dr : I FEEL REALLY STRONGLY ABOUT CARTOONS, OK)

on topic:
the main difference between my parents and i is probably that they are completely insane and i like to think that i am not.

[Switchblade]

I'm partial to Ben 10 myself. Proper cheeseball "kid superhero saves the day" stuff.

[Barmymoo]

mooface I have never seen either of those programmes, clearly there is a gap in my education.

I will go home tonight and watch them.

Perhaps I need to distinguish between terrifying (the Fimbles spring to mind, as does the previously-linked In the Night Garden) and terrible (certain Looney Tunes, almost every Disney series ever made, with particular reference to As the Bell Rings, and anything that involves hugely patronising women explaining how to spell blue).

Also truly amazing programmes like the entire channel devoted to pictures of fish and relaxing music to send your child to sleep. All the time. I love that channel.

[ForteBass]

i've also always liked the powerpuff girls,

(Mai, honey. I'm pretty sure that started in the 90s and is no longer being made)

[Aminal]

...some gems buried in the dirt...foster's house for imaginary friends and the grim adventures of billy and mandy.

Potential friend, I agree with you about Foster's, it's sweet and creative (dare I say...imaginative?) and has beautiful art.  But then I love anything Genndy Tartakovsky/that other PPG guy does.  But Billy and Mandy is a terrible show as far as I'm concerned cuz it has ugly art and teaches kids to be complete brats.  It plays into that whole "tween" identification, which I think is just bullshit.  (No, you're not a teenager until your age ends in "teen".  If it was good enough for my neighborhood pool's parties it's good enough for everyone else! harfleblargleharrumph)  I really just hate the art, though.  I didn't mind so much when it had Evil Con Carne shorts to add variety.  I certainly don't have any problem with a Caribbean Grim reaper-- I mean, who could?

Luckily for me all the earlier harrumphing in this thread will never apply to me, because I gots someone to do my parental thinkin's for me!  My roommate is a social worker and child therapist.  I fully intend to raise my kids near her so a) we can stay bestest best friends 4evaz and b) she will keep me from being a dick to my kids screwing them up more than I'm supposed to.

[Aminal]

Tsk.  Redacted.

[Switchblade]

Who's Mr. Rogers?

(NOT a Troll moment, I swear. I've heard the name before, but I know nothing about him)

[ForteBass]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha3Ko6hXTa4

This guy.

[mooface]

i've also always liked the powerpuff girls,

(Mai, honey. I'm pretty sure that started in the 90s and is no longer being made)

actually although it did start in the 90's it wasn't created until 1998, and (i just wiki'd to make sure) it ran until 2005.  so at the very least i don't think it counts as a 90's cartoon.

[Switchblade]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha3Ko6hXTa4

This guy.

Cheers.

Seems like a nice bloke.

[Runs_With_Scissors]

Mr.Rogers frightened me greatly. When my mom gave me the 'stay away from strangers, especially men' talk, I always imagined Mr.Rogers. It may have ruined a good part of my childhood.

[Ăśde]

it did start in the 90's it wasn't created until 1998...i don't think it counts as a 90's cartoon.

Uh, I don't follow your logic.

[Barmymoo]

Wikipedia LIES. The Powerpuff Girls have been in existence since time immemorial and they will always exist. And frankly that also terrifies me.

Perhaps, to get a bit back to the topic, it's the type of television we watch that makes us different from our parents? My mum loves gardening programmes. My stepdad likes (as well as football ) Last of the Summer Wine which is a soap opera kind of thing about three old men, and I like Dr Who, The Bill and Waterloo Road. I also love tacky Disney programmes like the Naked Brothers Band and Zoey 101 (actually, they are both Nickelodean. Hmm.) and Hannah Montana. Clear age definers, I'd say.

[Lines]

It may have ruined a good part of my childhood.

It did. Mr. Rogers was one of the coolest guys ever. What you should have been afraid of was Barney.

[Patrick]

Please undisregard Cardinal Fang, with respect.

If you have enjoyed disregarding Cardinal Fang, we would invite you to disregard the following forumites -

(snip except for Patrick because nobody cares about the others anyway)

Disregard that, I suck cocks.

You were asking for that, Tommy.

[Barmymoo]

What you should have been screaming in sheer terror about was Barney.

Fixed.

[Lines]

Yeah, that's more like it. I cringed because I was too paralyzed with terror to scream any time he came on the TV.

[Runs_With_Scissors]

No man, Blues Clues is what you should be screaming in sheer terror about. I mean, that guy was/is just a little bit creepy. http://www.steveswebpage.com/

[Cam]

I find Grim Adventures rather funny, but there are few other "children's" cartoons that I will watch that are currently made.




Oh, and not to go necro on thread topic, but I would just like to add that at the ripe old age of twenty-eight, I do not want kids.  I made that decision when I was thirteen and I still stick by it.  Since the current world is over populated and kids are really a burden in modern society, I decided that I don't want them.  Besides, I can just hang out with my nephews.

There are definitely different cultural responses I have noticed across America.  When I am on a coast, my choices aren't that odd.  A good deal of career or goal oriented people choose to not have children or have them much later in life.  Since I live in the middle of the bible belt, people tell me that I'll meet the right woman that will change my mind and still have children.  Their minds just can't grasp the concept of living a happy, childless life. 

Wet Helmet,
When I was a teenager, I didn't think I knew every thing.  I just wanted people to acknowledge that I knew something.  It is completely frustrating when you can prove something beyond a shadow of a doubt and people ignore you because you aren't, at least, twenty-five. 

Yes, I was annoying at times.  Yes, I fucked up some times, but I held a part time job while going to high school and participating in enough extracurricular activities to be another part time job.  I graduated with an unweighted GPA of about 3.9.  There were adults that respected me and treated me well.  To those people, I am grateful.  My father was so condescending all the time that I barely talked to him for two years after I moved out.

[Switchblade]

See, I tend to sympathize with the people who're saying "you'll find the right somebody for you eventually", but that's probably because my mind's been firmly made up since my early teens that I want to be a parent - which means that your own attitude is entirely alien to me.

I find it interesting that there's such a huge variance of opinion on what I would consider to be such a fundamental part of human life.

[Cam]

Well, if the world was a bit different, I would consider having children.  It is projected that we are going to hit nine billion people before the human population some what stabilizes.  If the world was still sparsely populated, then I would likely consider having children.  Instead, I plan on helping out my brother with his nephews a bit and then just living my life.  I still feel very connected to the world and the community I live it.  I want to make changes. I give to charity and I am involved in politics.  I just don't think I need to pass on my genetics to leave behind something I am happy with.

Also, I do not want any of this to be perceived as an attack on people that choose to have children.  Parents that do a good job raising their kids, have my utmost respect. 

Oh, and over all, I think my parents did a good job even with my two years of resentment towards my father.  I certainly do think that age gives you perspective on a lot of things.

[Jimmy the Squid]

I think my folks did an ok job of raising me. I don't speak to my mother much because when it gets down to it, we just don't get on. We can't agree on anything and everything she says feels like a personal attack which, to be fair, it is about 80% of the time. My mum was raised in a reasonably strict Catholic household and tried to instill in me the same blind, unquestioning mindset that she is happy with. Her rules were not reasonable nor were they ever explained - and I'm not saying you need to explain shit to a child but when someone is old enough to form coherent arguments (around the age of 13ish) you better be able to have something better at hand than "Because I'm your parent and am right about everything."

My dad on the other hand was reasonable, though quite strict. He expected us to do what we were told and gave us damn good explanations why we were doing it. I still talk to my dad. I miss my mum sometimes but it's not actually her that I miss, I just feel like it would be nice to have a mother that doesn't tell me how horrible a person I am everytime I speak to her.

[karl gambolputty...]

My parents refused to acknowledge my fear of clowns, which pretty much scarred me for life. 

"Come on, go say hi to Ronald McDonald, he's giving out balloons! Oh you're just being shy, let go of my leg" 
"nooooooooo"

Someone should write a book about understanding children, titled "KIDS FUCKING HATE CLOWNS"

[jhocking]

Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

I just read that article again and posted it in a different thread.

Oh, and not to go necro on thread topic

Actually that was not the thread topic, just a closely related tangent. way to derail the thread

[Patrick]

You were asking for that, Tommy.

Please Reundisregard Patrick effective immediately.

We thank you for your patience at this time.

Reundisredisunregard everything you see here.

[Cam]

Speaking of clowns, I am pretty sure that Stephen King's IT traumatized an entire generation of children.

[karl gambolputty...]

Because it's about a clown, and clowns make everything worse

[jhocking]

Just now, while we were discussing a book called Bobos in Paradise, my fiancee linked me to an article by the author of that book, coincidentally discussing the issue of negotiation within the family in different parenting styles:
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/opinion/09brooks.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=David+Brooks+Class+Parenting&st=nyt&oref=slogin

[Lines]

Speaking of clowns, I am pretty sure that Stephen King's IT traumatized an entire generation of children.

The movie version scared the shit out of me. My mom was watching it with one of her friends and I chose to walk in the room right when the kid gets snatched through the storm drain.

[ruyi]

Mr.Rogers frightened me greatly. When my mom gave me the 'stay away from strangers, especially men' talk, I always imagined Mr.Rogers. It may have ruined a good part of my childhood.

That's lousy. My mom did something similar.

[Barmymoo]

Bobos in Paradise

I read that as Boobs in Paradise and wondered what the world was coming to.

[karl gambolputty...]

Bobos in Paradise

I thought it was going to be about clowns.

[Barmymoo]

I now feel enormously embarassed because I didn't realise it wasn't (and I've read the article, too).

[Liz]

I have never seen IT and I am still heavily creeped out by clowns. There must be some other cause!