When I was a kid, there was nothing better than Sunday night tv.
Wild Kingdom at 6:oo, and the Wonderful World of Disney right after that.
Every week.
Without fail.
Escape from Witch Mountain.
The Absent Minded Professor.
Herbie the Love Bug.
Those were the best.
Now, of course, there is a whole Disney channel.
My kids love the Disney Channel.
Especially Number 3 and 4.
I have pretty much been letting them watch anything on that channel without a second thought.
I mean…
It’s Disney.
I’ve kind of been operating under the if-it’s-on-the-Disney-Channel-then-it’s-okay philosophy.
And I still use the tv as a babysitter more often than I should.
So I don’t really sit down with the kids and watch many of these Disney Channel shows.
Until recently.
Some of them are okay.
Good Luck Charlie was a favorite of ours.
Even the adults.
But a lot of those Disney Channel shows kind of suck.
And not because they are annoying.
You know, like our buddy Caillou.
They suck because the language or subject matter can be a little bit questionable.
Especially for a 7 and 8-year-old.
There’s a decent amount of dating.
And words and phrases like loser.
Shut up.
Idiot…
What the hell happened to Disney?
I have pretty much allowed my kids to become addicted to these shitty shows.
Number 4’s need to watch Jessie, and Dog with a Blog, and Ant Farm, and Shake it Up, and, the worst one of them all, Wizards of Waverly Place, was really starting piss me off.
But I had allowed it.
So I had to stop it.
A friend of mine told me recently that she just finished up watching Little House on the Prairie with her kids and was now on to the Brady Bunch.
It’s their nightly thing.
Her daughters, who are the same age as Number 3 and 4, love these old-school shows.
What a great idea, I thought.
So I asked her if I could borrow her Little House DVD’s.
It was time to put an end to the Disney Channel addiction.
She gave them to me yesterday.
Sunday night.
Perfect.
I decided to surprise the kids.
At 7:30, when Number 6 and 7 were going to bed, I put in the first DVD.
Number 4 threw a fit.
“MOM?!?!?!
What is this?
Is this a movie?” she asked.
“No,” I told her. “It’s a show.”
“What? A show?
HOW OLD IS THIS THING???
I want to watch Liv and Maddie!
IT’S A NEW LIV AND MADDIE TONIGHT!
MOM!!!
WE ARE MISSING LIV AND MADDIE FOR THIS STUPID, OLD FASHIONED SHOW!!!
MOM!
MOMMY!
WHY DO WE HAVE TO WATCH THIS?
THIS IS STUPID!
HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO FORCE US TO WATCH THIS???”
I did my best to ignore her.
She moved off the couch over to the recliner, away from the rest of us, and began some hard-core sulking.
Number 3 turned on his DS and started playing a game.
My iPad was lying on the other side of the couch.
Number 5 grabbed it and started playing some stupid game too.
“PUT THE DS AWAY!
NO IPAD!!!” I yelled.
“WE ARE WATCHING LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE AND YOU ARE GOING TO LIKE IT!!!”
They just kind of looked at me, dumbfounded, and reluctantly turned off the technology.
Number 4 pretended to be asleep.
It only took about 5 minutes for them all to come around.
Number 4 suddenly woke up.
Mom! Their dad works so hard!
He’s so sweaty!
Why doesn’t he put on a t-shirt?
Why is he wearing that long-sleeved shirt?
Why are his clothes so fancy?
What are oxen?
Can we pay people with chickens?
Are you really a sinner if you don’t go to church on Sundays?
Mom! The girls have to share a bed? They are not lucky!
Is that guy a bad man?
Why do the parents kiss so much?
The littlest girl is so cute!
Her pants fell off! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
MOM??? IS THE DAD GOING TO DIE?????
Wait!
Wait Mom!!!
IS IT OVER ALREADY???
ARE THERE MORE?
CAN WE WATCH ANOTHER ONE?
MOM!!! I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!”
Phew.
The addiction is broken.
The Wonderful World of Disney may not be so wonderful anymore.
But that Ingalls family living in that little house on the prairie?
They never disappoint.
Today’s post is sponsored by Macaroni Kid Brookfield – New Milford: Your resource for LOCAL family friendly events!
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MY FAVORITE SHOW EVER!!!! Named my firstborn child after two characters on that show. I watched all the reruns growing up in NYC on Channel 11 @ 5 pm, Monday through Friday…never missed it. My husband bought me the VHS collection when we were first married…donated them when the VCR broke. LOVE to watch the reruns on the Hallmark Channel.
I loved watching Little House when I was growing up! I still do. What a great idea to have your kids watch them.
Glad they came around. Mine does the same thing (I think it’s the age….) Cries moans and groans about how its going to be the worst.thing.everrrrrrr. and 3 minutes later in love with whatever it is.
I LOVED the books but thought the show was stupid. Until I watched it! It is definitely one of my favorite shows ever. We got the entire series DVD set off my mom and it was our nightly thing. Our oldest was about 3 at the time and he knew night time was little house on the prairie time. He loved Pa. He hummed along to the theme song. He got so excited with every new season when the DVD menu would change color.
Man, I miss watching it now.