I hate you, Daniel Tiger
I distinctly recall hearing the term "bad influence" being tossed around when I was a kid. I guess I didn't really know what it meant, because I thought it meant that I was effectively being influenced to be a criminal if something was a "bad influence" on me. Now I know better. I know that a bad influence inspires undesirable behavior, attitudes, or opinions in a person, among other things. Knowing this, I declare Daniel Tiger to be a bad influence on my children.
I never heard my child or anyone else in my house use the words "I can't do it" until my child started watching Daniel Tiger. Since then, she will give minimal effort to something before loudly whining "I can't do it!" It used to be that she would be tenacious until truly frustrated, at which point she would ask for and accept help. Not anymore! Thanks, Daniel Tiger! After hearing Katerina in the show say "I can't do it" in regards to buttoning her coat, my daughter now says "I can't do it" whenever experiencing even the lightest opposition in something. The lesson of that episode is supposed to be to try again or ask for help, but that lesson doesn't stick. You know what does stick? The words "I can't do it" and giving up.
My daughter now expresses that she's scared of the dark or of the doctor, but she never was before. And she isn't, in reality. Instead, she just says it because Daniel Tiger has influenced it. I now ask her "are you just saying this because Daniel Tiger told you to?" The answer is frequently "yes." The number of times a lesson from Daniel Tiger has helped a situation at home is drastically less than the number of times it has influenced poor behavior or attitudes in the home. I can't think of a worse thing for a kid to learn than "I can't do it." A better lesson would be "I can learn."
And should I even get into the phrases that the show uses? Things like "grr-ific" and "ugga mugga." Freakin' kill me if those ever work their way into my vocabulary or the vocabulary of those in my house. What does "ugga mugga" even mean? How about "the characters in this show are ugly, and I want to freaking mug one of them." Okay, that's not my most clever joke, but seriously. This crap. I hate this show.
So this is where parenting now has to step in and combat the bad influence of a television show. The easiest thing to do would be to just shut off the show and disallow it in the home. Unfortunately, this two-parent household sometimes has different attitudes about that. And because I was the one who first thought it was a good show (based on a recommendation from my brother), it's kind of my fault that it's here in the first place.
I never thought I would be a parent who felt the need to screen everything my child watches, but that seems to be the right thing to do. Not that I contend you can go around trusting media producers, but long gone are the days when you could allow your child to watch something on PBS and be reasonably assured that it was teaching good things. I'm reminded of my friend's aunt who didn't allow her kids to watch anything over a "G" rating. I contend now as I did then that she is horribly misguided (I'll write my thoughts about the MPAA another time), but I understand why she did that now. I wouldn't do a blanket ban in my house like that, but I can see being more aware of media consumed in the future so that another Daniel Tiger doesn't enter my home.
Gosh, I hate that stupid tiger. I'm going to do another piece on how Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood has completely butchered Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and how the whole show is a never-ending slew of garbage. Characters, music, lessons...there's a lot of material to go over.
Thank you for reading this brief article. Please read my other work.
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