{"id":659,"date":"2013-02-08T18:07:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T18:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=659"},"modified":"2013-02-08T18:07:26","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T18:07:26","slug":"raised-on-pbs-and-little-debbie-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=659","title":{"rendered":"Raised on PBS and Little Debbie . . . Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo property of Sesame Workshop<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
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Photo property of Sesame Workshop<\/p><\/div>\n

For most of my children\u2019s lives, we didn\u2019t have cable.\u00a0 Instead, we had the $8.99 special.\u00a0 We could receive local stations, PBS, and a few superstations.\u00a0 That was it \u2013 period. \u00a0No, Disney. No, Cartoon Network. No, Animal Planet. \u00a0No, Nickelodeon. We didn\u2019t feel deprived or missing anything.\u00a0 As stated yesterday, we were raising a second generation of American kiddos who learned their ABC\u2019s and numbers with educational programming.<\/p>\n

Our love of educational programming continued even when we visited completely \u201ccaffeinated\u201d television hot-spots like hotels or Grandma\u2019s house.\u00a0 The viewing mantra became, \u201cIf it ain\u2019t PBS, you ain\u2019t watching it.\u201d\u00a0 The \u201cain\u2019t was used for emphasis and humor, but our kids got it.\u00a0 That mantra became our family\u2019s viewing guide.<\/p>\n

The decision not to pursue cable had more to do with our desire to shield our children from unsuitable viewing and less to do with the financial savings of avoiding \u201cbundling\u201d.\u00a0 I will admit that viewing any television was pretty slim pickings during the Writer\u2019s Strike of 2007-2008 with our limited channel options.\u00a0 But at least, PBS was still going strong.<\/p>\n

It was during this same period of limited viewing that my first encounter with questioning PBS content occurred.\u00a0 (My heart did flitter-flutters as my mind was reciting, \u201cSay it ain\u2019t so, Joe.\u201d)\u00a0 That particular year we had a 7th<\/sup> grader and a 3 year old.\u00a0 On one cold late start morning, we were watching our beloved Sesame Street.<\/p>\n

To give the setting, a few weeks prior our 7th<\/sup> grader had a spelling packet with plurals of words like sisters-in-law and sergeants-at-arms.\u00a0 Again, it was not to my liking as Elmo stole most of the show, when on came Mr. Noodle and the other Mr. Noodle, (Mr. Noodle\u2019s brother).\u00a0 As Elmo was trying to convince the brothers of some thing or another, he kept referring to them as Mr. Noodles.\u00a0 Did my ears perceive that small, but ever so slight incorrect placement of plurals?\u00a0 I immediately pointed out the inaccuracy (it should be the Misters Noodle) to my 7th<\/sup> grade scholar. I just dropped a knowledge bomb up in here that was received with nothing more than a shoulder shrug and an eye-roll.<\/p>\n

Oh no!\u00a0 My\u00a0childhood favorite\u00a0is giving incorrect grammar to millions of children.\u00a0 Whatever shall we do?\u00a0 In reality, we did nothing . . . except my pointing it out every two years when that same spelling packet came home with the next two children in line in our household.\u00a0 Again, the morsel of knowledge was met with uncharacteristic nonchalance by my other scholars, followed by an emphatic, \u201cNo!! I am not going to tell my Language Arts teacher about this, and neither are you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, I have one more student that may take up the crusade, but I have a few more years to drum up some support among my brood.\u00a0 But in reality, she will probably fall in ranks with the others \u2013 proclaiming, \u201cLet it go, Mom, because it is still a sunny day on Sesame Street\u201d.<\/p>\n

And thank goodness, they are right!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo property of Sesame Workshop For most of my children\u2019s lives, we didn\u2019t have cable.\u00a0 Instead, we had the $8.99 special.\u00a0 We could receive local stations, PBS, and a few superstations.\u00a0 That was it \u2013 period. \u00a0No, Disney. No, Cartoon Network. No, Animal Planet. \u00a0No, Nickelodeon. We didn\u2019t feel deprived or missing anything.\u00a0 As stated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[77,176,268,345,468,516,557],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}