Just in the past 2 weeks, Gregory has added Winnie the Pooh to his movie request list. For the concerned parents, yes, I melt my children’s brains with TV. 20 minutes in the morning while I make them breakfast, and 20 minutes before dinner while we cook. If they are unusually ornery and hitting one another or fighting, but not yet ready for a nap, I make an exception and let them watch something again. I’ve adopted the motto, “It’s me or them.” If I’m going to cook healthy things without them hanging all over my legs and sobbing with hunger, I’m going to have to melt some brains.
Anyways. Gregory’s brain-melting show of choice lately has been Winnie the Pooh. THANK GOD we’ve moved on from 100% Thomas the Tank Engine, 100% of the time. If I have to listen to one more engine whine about “not being really useful”, I am going to only show boring documentaries about Abraham Lincoln. Now HE was a very useful engine.
Through watching my boys watch Winnie the Pooh (because I’m a proactive parent, duh!), I’ve come to two conclusions: 1., AJ is super afraid of rocks. 2. Gregory is smitten with Tigger.
And I started thinking about Tigger’s character in a way that I never have before. He’s always in trouble for bouncing and having too much energy. He wants everyone to play with him all the time and cannot understand why they need to prepare for winter or clean up the garden. He gets his feelings hurt and reacts irrationally. He acts on rash impulses, and while he feels sorry for the messes he makes, he doesn’t realize that he could’ve avoided them by waiting or calming down.
For those who are parents, does this sound familiar? I can see why Gregory is fascinated with Tigger’s character. As a 2, almost 3 year old, he identifies with him. He struggles with the same sorts of things.
Most of the time, everyone acknowledges Tigger for who he is in an annoyed sort of way. They love him, deep down, but they can’t stand being around him when he’s wild. They continue to do their chores in spite of his antics, working around the messes he creates. Rabbit, in particular, just tells him to run along until the chores are done.
As a parent that also sounds familiar.
In ONE story, “The Tigger Movie”, the animals start to realize how lonely Tigger has become, seeing as he is the “onliest one”. And for a day, they attempt to be “Tigger-like”, bouncing and partying. They go back to being themselves in the end, but the effort speaks to Tigger’s insecurities, and he promises to only bounce in special places and to be more aware of his surroundings.
I got to thinking about this and decided to adopt the same sort of philosophy with Gregory. I ask him if he wants to “be a Tigger” with me, and we go bouncing around the house. He is absolutely exuberant about this, as he realizes that sometimes I’ll do things “his” way, instead of allowing us to play our separate parts.
I read somewhere, a long time ago, that if we ignore or are indifferent to our children, they actually become MORE clingy. It isn’t just in our heads that the more we have scheduled, the more the kids act up. They can sense when our minds are on other things, and they want instant reassurance, even if that means whining and getting negative attention. It’s tough, because, as a mother, the more annoying they are, the less I want to be around them! I have to deliberately go against my instincts in order to pay MORE attention when they are the most annoying.
I’ll end with the most hilarious conversation we had with Gregory about his “Jonah and the Whale” video from the other night.
Me: “Tell Dadda about Jonah and the whale!”
Gregory: “Jonah was swimming with the fishes. Then, he rode on a starfish. AND an octopus! And then he met Spongebob!”
Me: “That sounds more Free Willy than Bible.”
See? TV education at it’s finest.
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