Welcome to a special post on The Male Childcarer. Today I interview a friend of mine from University who has ADHD and created a stunning video about his struggle for his final project. The video entitled "A dance through my mind" is available on YouTube to watch. Below is the video and the interview with Josh.This is my first ever interview for The Male Childcarer and I hope it helps people understand how ADHD does affect children and young adults, but also how different things can help, in Josh's case its his dancing. Enjoy.
A Dance Through My Mind by Josh Egget
Interview with Josh, June 2014
Please feel free after watching these videos to visit Josh's YouTube Channel. He is willing to answer questions or comments and looks forward to sharing his stories and showing people that it doesn't matter what you have, you can do anything you want in life, and do what you want to do.The links to his channel and the video on YouTube can be found at the end of the interview video.
Right so this is a little bit different for me. Its been over a month since I posted anything on here due to University getting in the way. However through the hours of procrastinating and looking back at old shows I used to watch as a child I have come to realise something. There used to be old awesome cartoons and television shows that made a difference, had educational material embedded into them and should never have been taken off the air.
Now before I start there is many TV shows out there aimed at children that have educational content and have underlying messages. However in my recent experiences they seem to be dropping less and less especially in shows that are aimed at any child over the age of three. Just to clarify I was a child that had access to the old style Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, however there were also cartoons and TV shows broadcasted here on standard TV channels which were just awesome.
The first TV show that I loved as a child and most people just overlooked was a show called Animaniacs. The show was a 'sketch style' type cartoon based around several characters at Warner Brothers Studios who each had their own sketch shows. The main characters were the 'Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister' who lived in the water tower at the studios. These three were crazy yet they had some absolutely awesome songs that were educational.
Here are two videos from Animaniacs which are probably my favorite and most memorable songs that I ever learnt from them.
The first video on the left is the Animaniacs singing the history of the presidents of the United States of America. Although this song is very catchy and not really relevant to English Children it does have some History in it and since the show mainly had a US Audience this was remarkable. After reading through the comments on YouTube there were several American Students that even today use this video to get through History Tests! So tell me why was this show taken off the air back in 1998?! (Great now I feel really old). Oh a word of warning since this was back in the 90's it is a little outdated...
And here is probably my favourite ever Animaniacs song, just because it is pure genius whoever wrote it. Yakko sings all the countries of the world. Now this video he doesn't sing them in any particular order its just the ones that rhyme with each other. This video would still help children with Geography and should be used. However Cartoon Network took this show off the air in 1998 and if it had kept going then these cheesy catchy songs could still be going but with new updates and helping children understand complex issues and history without even knowing it.
After doing some research on Animaniacs for this article I did discover that Cartoon Network has decided to re-run Animaniacs, however not at any time a child would be awake. Good effort Cartoon Network but you still prefer the no so educational shows which win on popularity such as Ben 10.
Yes I had to mention it. Ben Ten. Now from my research (and hearing from countless children) Ben 10 is a modern childrens television show about a boy called Ben who has some strange watch which changes him into different types of Aliens which he then combats monsters etc. Now I've seen episodes of this when channel flicking through early on a morning and to be honest I don't see what children see in it. All I see is yet another violent male superhero who has strange powers.
Now I completely understand why children love this type of show. Maybe its personal preference but they never appealed to me. Why do I want to watch some violent boy change into aliens and beat up monsters when I can watch something else in the same genre but actually learn something. Now one show that does come to mind and was probably one of my favourite from Cartoon Network ever was The Powerpuff Girls.
Now if you can remember them you'll remember that they were probably the first ever female superheroes for children. Now I must stress that a lot of the stories weren't educational but had hidden meanings that if you were smart enough you could pick up on. In fact the final episode was actually never aired in the United States and in other countries such as China, Russia due to its message about communism. Yes the Powerpuff Girls went there! Just to quickly recap there is a strange gnome like man that comes to their town and promises to make everyone happy and safe if the girls surrender their powers. They agree to hoping that everyone will be happy, however he controls everyone's lives in order to make everyone happy. Basically he turns the town into a dictatorship communism. (You can see why there were countries this wasn't aired in). However in the end the girls get their powers back but not after explaining to him just about how everything is in balance. Watch the video on the left, its powerful and has so many hidden meanings. I didn't see this as a child but its message makes children realise that there are good and bad in the world yet you need to balance it. Its quite philosophical if you ask me.
Now I've looked at the shows that were mainly on Cartoon Network and other Sky Channels. However there were other TV Shows that were on the main channels (Back when we only had channels one to five, great now I feel really old!). The first show that came to mind was the traditional classic Rosie and Jim! Now Rosie and Jim was about these two rag dolls that would go around on a Narrow Boat on English Canals and learn about the different things they encountered. During my research I was shocked to learn that I still know every single word to the theme tune. I remember that Rosie and Jim used to be on TV everyday after school as part of "BBC's Children's Hour" a long time before CBBC or CBeebies. My favourite episode was about how Rosie and Jim discovered how their narrow boat was built as well as other boats. I think this is why I was fascinated by canals and loved to go on bicycle rides along the tow paths when I was younger. Now I recently found this episode on YouTube and I am going to admit I did sit there and watch it whilst writing this article. The episode in on your right and I strongly suggest that if you want to see what I was on about, you can see just how educational and awesome this show was! (By the way I wanted to go on one of these boats so badly as a child my dad asked a friendly couple if I could have a ride, it was the best day of my life).
So another example that was featured on TV and was educational yet fun was a TV Show called "The Magic Schoolbus". Now not many people remember this show, but I remember it quite clearly. The story was about a class and a teacher who would take the children on field trips to answer their questions or to cure their curiosity. Now to get around obvious barriers the bus was magic and could do pretty much anything, from fly to turn microscopic etc. And yes if you're already wondering I still know all the words to the theme tune its actually scary how much I remember these old shows. So once again I've included video evidence to support my explanation, the video on the left is the episode where the class and the Magic School Bus go back in time to discover Dinosaurs after visiting an archaeological site. Seriously when I become a teacher I'm going to see if I can get myself one of these "Magic School Buses", they seem like a necessary education tool that every teacher needs...
So far I've identified that there are two types of educational childrens shows, those which teach directly such as Animaniacs and those with hidden messages underpinning the story.
So now I'm going to look at some modern examples which are on air, but are not yet widely known or appreciated. The one TV Show that does stand out to me and has a remarkable audience is the modern version of My Little Pony. Now since my house mates are the biggest Bronies I've ever known I've also gotten involved just because I was curious in what they see in the show.Now I am going to write a special blog post on this topic but from what I've seen of My Little Pony its not just a show about female ponies living in a fantasy land, but it actually had serious messages about being a better friend and a better person in general. This is one thing that I love about this show and the stories reflect this and even though many people especially boys and men believe that this show is "for girls only" its actually not. If you watch it, or simply give it a try you'll understand that yes the show is aimed at girls but it has messages that are relevant to all. Its not all glitter and fancy clothes. I found a compilation of the end of all of season 1 from My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic which follows the format of writing a letter of what the characters have learnt about friendship. Give it a watch and tell me how this is for girls only and how this doesn't apply to everyone?
Just to clarify MLP covers many topics in modern life that children face everyday. From choosing between two friends, to how to deal with a bully and from how to trust your family and elders decisions. I've seen pictures of people bullied by others for liking this show, so I just wanted to say that those people who are too arrogant and stuck up to realise that the messages and lessons in this show are actually helping children become better citizens, then that goes to show just what upbringing you had doesn't it?
Another modern example of an educational show but had an underpinning message is Disney's own Phineas & Ferb. Now this is a show that I discovered back in 2010 when on Holiday in Tenerife and Disney Channel was the only TV channel we could find in English. On the other hands I learnt how to count in Spanish due to the Johnson Baby Oil advert... but anyways from watching the show I learnt that the first few seasons didn't have any educational content, but as the show progresses it does slot in some history and other educational content as it progresses. It does this in the clever way of the actual story. The show is about two step brothers called Phineas and Ferb who can somehow create magnificent things to do throughout the summer months and get away with it each time. Seriously they build a rollercoaster, they go back in time they go around the world etc etc. However its underpinning messages are not as clear but are there. For example they are step brothers and have a complex family structure like modern children these days yet they're also bets friends. The show also plays on childrens stereotypes such as The bully, The Quiet One, The Popular one etc and it basically runs with it. Just like My Little Pony, Phineas and Ferb express their lessons and messages through the use of songs. To the right is a song sung by Candace who is feeling guilty of getting her brothers into trouble and how much they actually mean to her. This can help children in relations with siblings, especially older children with younger siblings. However what I love about this show is its sense of humour, its amazing animation and its weird and wacky storylines. It really does appeal to modern children and Disney have done a fantastic job of getting educational content into this fantastic cartoon. It also applies to both gender sterotypes, especially in the case of Isabella who has a massive crush on Phineas and often sings about it. Seriously I can remember having crushes on girls when I was younger, where was Isabella back then to help me?! (Watch the bottom video for more context).
This has turned into a superlong post/article about childrens TV shows and educational content. However I firmly believe that even though the modern shows have some fantastic content (In relation to MLP and P&F) there was a time when TV shows had more meaning in them. Yes MLP and P&F have some great messages and lessons in them, but compared to what used to be shown back when I was a child they can't compete. I can flick through the childrens channels now on standard channels and find TV shows with hardly any or none educational content at all. The TV Channels where My Little Pony and Phineas & Ferb are broadcasted on are both channels that you need to pay or subscribe to and they are not broadcasted on standard channels. This makes it hard for children from poorer families to watch and learn. As a childcare practitioner I can see which children have access to these shows and which don't and its a huge gap. If we're going to make educational childrens television we need to make sure that its accessible for all and not only on paid for channels.
These are just my views on how childrens television has changed and I've only scratched the surface in this post, there are many ways its become better and many ways its become worse. But for now I'm going to just say that some modern childrens television is brilliant and some is utter garbage. TV producers and animators should look back on the past and at some of the truly successful childrens shows and learn from them. After all children spend much more time in front of a TV or looking at a digital screen than they do outside, mainly because we're all scared that if we take our eyes off them for more than thirty seconds they'll get kidnapped. But that's for another post, this is all for now! Arigato! :)
