Progressive Wednesday

Monday Morning Motherhood: Viewers Like You

August 20th, 2007 by Melissa Brannen

About two months ago I broke down and did something I swore I wouldn’t – I had (gasp) cable TV installed in our home. Until this time, we had the rabbit-ears antennae that provided us with about 6 stations, including our favorite, PBS. I love the documentaries, Grace loves the kids shows. Cable, however, provided us with another PBS station we hadn’t encountered before– ThinkBright, channel 21. All I can say is, wow. I love this channel.

Recently we had what is called in our home, “pajama day”. It’s as obvious as it sound – we stay in our pajamas all day and lounge around the house. We read books, watch some movies, talk and play. I was in the middle of a new book, when I started to watch a particularly entertaining show with her, “Between the Lions”. The premise of the show? A family of lions who show the joy and adventure that comes along with reading. A TV show about reading. I grew up with Reading Rainbow (which is, by the way, still on the air), but this show is even more imaginative, creative and inspired. Each episode includes one or more short stories or books (some real books, some made up), and has a featured letter our sound. This sound is repeated throughout the show, used in different words which are generally shown on the screen with the particular letter/sound of the episode is highlighted. On the screen, letter are taken away and added, showing how different words can be formed and thus changed.

The family of lions includes Cleo and Theo, the parents of Lionel and Leona. They are joined by a most inventive cast of characters: Martha Reader and the Vowelles, is a Motown-inspired group that sing only in, you guessed it, vowels. One of my favorites is a recurring guest star – Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Yup, THE Dr. Ruth. She plays Dr. Ruth Wordheimer, the Word Doctor. If there’s a particularly difficult word to read or understand, she’s your gal. Larry King also has a recurring role, as himself. Last time we saw him, he was interviewing Larry the Lion, wanting to know the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Some other recurring segments include Gawain’s World (a spoof of Wayne’s World), Fun with Chicken Jane (a parody of the old Dick and Jane books we all grew up with), Sam Spud, The Lone Rearranger Rewrites Again, Moby Duck, and Tiger Words. Each show also has a “designated reader”. Past readers have included Jon Stewart, Idia.Arie, Sigourney Weaver, Vanessa Williams, Melissa Etheridge, Brian McKnight, and astronaut Ellen Ochoa.

I’m not a huge fan of Grace watching TV, there are too many mindless programs out there that have no educational value whatsoever. I’d much rather we read books together, work on our letters and words, color, or play a game. This is one show though, that I definitely don’t mind her watching. Immediately after it was over, she went and pulled a “Ready to Read” book off the shelf and spent 45 minutes sounding out the small words, trying to read by herself. This program doesn’t just advocate literacy and reading, it actually get children interested in it and encourages them to try. Anything that gets children excited about and interested in reading gets two big ‘ol thumbs up from me.