Home Synopsis Buy the Book About the Author Subscribe to Our Newsletter The Mommy Brain Blog Read an Excerpt Reviews Q&A The Mommy Brain
The Mommy Brain
How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter

The Mommy Brain Blog

Sunday, December 04, 2005

why i watch the Simpsons with my kids

It may seem a bit jarring, after my "Happy Tree Friends" op-ed -- and I have to say I really don't like the "Itchy & Scratchy Show" (one blogger objecting to the "Tree Friends" piece authored something he called "Itchy & Scratchy & Kathy") but this is an entirely different thing, for the following reasons:
1. The Simpsons make up that rare thing, an intact, united family. They have their conflicts, but every episode ends with loving repair.
2. In other ways, too, there is clearly some moral intelligence behind this show: in their own outrageous manner, the authors take on issues like junk food, nuclear power and religious hypocrisy. It's the opposite of the nihilism in display on the Internet and a lot of other TV fare.
3. It's funny and engrossing, so we watch it together, like my folks and I used to watch "Car 54 Where Are You?", or, in later years, the Monty Python show. It's the only TV the kids watch, and the only thing we watch together, other than children's movies and videos, so it's not only a comforting family ritual but an opportunity to talk about topics raised by the program. PBS it's not, but laughter is healthy......

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You can simply block the internet sites you don't want your children viewing.
Based on the same principal as the V-chip in TV's, use a good firewall, and block all the sites you don't want your kids viewing.
There's no other way, cause you'll be playing with 1st amendments rights.
It just takes some of your time, and if the picture I saw bothered you, you're going to have to preview everything.
Did your PBS station show the plight of the baby seals being hunted? Clubbed over their heads and many skinned alive while screaming in pain, so the rich folks can wear seal skin coats or collars!
Did you let your kids watch that? Or would you if it were to be showing in your area?

4:14 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home