When my 4 year old is cheerfully reenacting some of the scariest scenes from the latest Dr Who series, I should probably be taking a good look at my parenting, or lack of it :) I think it's been a gradual progression, a slow slipping into permissiveness that has come with warmer weather. Yes, that's it, blame it on Summer...
Only a few months ago I was unhappy with the boys watching Dr Who, feeling it to be a bit too creepy for them to watch before bedtime. Dh however had, on the sly, been letting them watch Dr Who while I was out at work. Now it seems that dd1 has been watching it too. Hence the reenactment seen in the video below. For those of you not familiar with this episode of Dr Who, it's the one with the creepy people in gas masks that have grown onto their faces, who wander around saying 'Are you my mummy?'
Are you my mummy?
Reenacting an episode of Dr Who. Well, at least it shows their creativity and imagination! (And yes, that is a Listerine box)
Up in the apple tree (trying to get away from creepy dd1!)
Ok, ok, I'm your Mummy. Now go away, you're scaring me!
Not that my kids get creeped out by anything on tv/DVD it seems. Most of the things that would have made me pee my pants as a kid get calmly absorbed by them without any apparent consequences! Is this a symptom of modern society or am I just a bit of a woose? Probably the latter. I can't even watch a black-and-white 'B' movie without getting edgy and I'm always wary of seeing new films at the cinema; best to get a review from a friend first before I scare myself to death. Perhaps I should just stick to PG films!!
As I'm typing this blog entry the kids are watching 'Dr Who Confidential' that I recorded last night for them. Dr Who Confidential shows how a particular episode, usually the one shown immediately before, is made. I think the kids are interested in how the programme - and programmes in general - are made. Perhaps that's why these things aren't so frightening for them: they have a good realisation of what's fictional and what's not, how these things are created in a studio and how this translates to the screen.
Ds1 in particular is quite interested in film making and animation. He's signed up for another animation workshop in a week or so's time - using clay/plasticine to make models. It's part of an annual film and animation week that we have locally.
Took the kids to the library this afternoon. Picked up one of their 'let's persuade kids to read over Summer' schemes. Obviously it's not called that, it's called something more catchy like 'Team Read' and comes with a sporty/footbally poster to put your stickers on. Of course, it's pretty obvious to me that it's biased towards boys - the assumption being that boys don't read so much and need more encouragement. So, what is it about these do-goody government people that they assume that all boys are interested in sport/football? I'm sure if they actually did some research they'd find that their target group - i.e. the kids, predominantly boys, who aren't deemed to be reading enough or early enough - like a whole range of different things, not just blooming football!!!.
Anyway, the gist of the scheme is that the kids are encouraged to get stickers for each 2 books (of their choice) that they read. My kids have never been that interested in previous years - they're not really star chart /sticker reward sort of kids - and I haven't made them do it, cos I think it's a bit lame. They're bright enough to realise it's just a trick - a very transparent one - to get kids to read books. Still, I think ds2 might be interested this time and this might motivate ds1 to do the same, so I got packs for all of them just in case they are overtaken with a sudden urge to read books for stickers. I'm sure there'll be a few parents with school kids who'll be virtually ramming the books down their kids' throats just to get them to read over the holidays and get their stickers. I suppose I would have done the same 4 or 5 years ago too. Ah the wisdom of experience, especially home education experience...
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