Not like I remember when I was young

Peanut loves watching TV (well, don't we all) and on the week days that i do not go work - and he does not go to daycare - we watch ABC Kids together. We eat toast, drink tea / milk and watch some of Peanut's favourite shows. There many shows on that i remember watching throughout my childhood - but they are not the same as they were then. And i blame technology for this, the ease in which a show can be computer animated has done away with a lot of the charm kids TV used to have for me. One show i particularly remember enjoying was "The Magic Roundabout". It featured a variety of creatures and was filmed in stop animation. The show is still on TV, and the basic characters are the same, but it is now a 3D computer animated show. All the characters move freely and their faces are very expressive - Unlike the jerky movements and faces frozen with a single expression that i was used to from my childhood.

But when i think what is out there for kids these days, i can't help but do the head shake and say things "It's not like it used to be... I did not have all the toys they have these days! All i had to play with was a brick with a piece of string tied around it!!!"

Ok, maybe not that far, but when i think about children's toys now - the idea of toy made out of wood is almost a novelty now! and when a range of wooden toys can be found they tend to have a rather exclusive price tag attached... I remember having quite a few wooden toys when i was little. One of my favourites was a toy that i lovingly called "tink-a-tonk", it was a wooden pull-along toy that had hammers that would strike one of three wooden bars as it dragged along. I wish i still had it, so that Peanut and Bean could see it and get as much fun out of it as i did... But if tink-a-tonk was still around, i don't Peanut and Bean would find it as entertaining as i did.

I was fascinated by this toy that would play a very basic, a very simple piece of music - if you can call three notes being played over and over again music - but I'm sure that the fascination would be felt by today's youth.

Peanut has toys that do almost everything! At a press of a button they sing songs, light up and some will almost dance a little gig - so why would he enjoy a simple tink-a-tonk?

The same goes for the TV shows that are on for kids. They are so full of bright colours, catchie songs and special effects that the shows i enjoyed when i was little must seem quite dull in comparison. For example Thomas the Tank engine now has a face the moves when he is talking and the fat controller is no longer a motionless doll. Peanut's favourite show Lazytown (i have seen every episode at least ten times each) maybe a live action show but a large amount of it shot in green screen.

Now thinking about it, with all the focus on products and shows for children, will it help teach Peanut's generation things that we did not have access to from a very early age? is there a chance that the adults of tomorrow could be far superior in intelligence because of the greater amount of exposure to technology and "educational" shows and product that are now available?

Albert Einstein did not have the Tellie Tubbies when he was baby, and he seemed to have turned out not too bad!!!

You know, i don't know if this was the point i was trying to make when i started this post... But TV has killed so many of my brain cells that i don't think i was really ever going along with a single train of thought! One thing i do know is - I like cake.

(: Reggie