I now have a mortal enemy. And his name is Annoying Orange.
I refuse to link to any of the videos of this nasty, inappropriate critter. Take my word for it. The video character is very aptly named. Unfortunately, he is also very striking and memorable, and thus very striking and memorable to imitate, despite his behavior being, well, annoying. And insulting. And offensive. And ugly.
Some of Joey's friends are very into Annoying Orange. They, and many of their parents, think it is funny. They also apparently think it is OK material for their 7-to-10- year-olds to be watching. I am hoping for the best by assuming they use it to discuss why the orange is annoying and so why you want to avoid his behavior. But alas, the majority of children we know who watch this trash are echolalic and imitative. Children such as... Joey.
So the other day, while they were eating snacks in the cafeteria, Joey thought it would be funny to throw his lunchbag at his teacher's face, in a "remake of Annoying Orange." He and his buddy D thought it terribly funny, especially when she gasped- a sound Joey has been finding hilarious this week. Needless to say, the teacher was not pleased. And Joey realized quickly that he had done something that had made her not pleased. The spiral spun to disaster from there.
The good news is that people who needed a good look at what our life has been like for the past year got a spectacularly dramatic view of it, and can now better work on helping improve it.
The other good news is Annoying Orange is now officially banned from my house. In fact, we may be watching a lot of Little Bear, Franklin, and Peep for a while. I may try to sneak in a Mr. Rogers. You know, some positive behavior models. I don't get to choose who he imitates, but I can do my best to present him with all the good models I can lay hands on.
And personally, I like Quack the Duck much better. He at least says "please".
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5 comments:
Wait until you get to the older shows. Even Timmy Turner on YTV is extremely annoying. We have trouble with "tv is not RL" here and my 12yr old "passes for normal".
Social skills camp on friend making was very disappointing last week. A program for socially delayed 8 to 12 yr olds and more teenage themes on maybe it is you not them, maybe you and your friend needs space, the outside is as important as the inside etc. I was hoping for "we don't speak like this", "we don't treat our friends like tv characters", "we don't pick/scratch certain body parts in public", "we listen more than we ramble", "we stay out of people's personal space". It was more "esoteric" for lack of a better word. Disappointing is the other.
I have absolutely no suggestions except offering a spot on my porch, a bottle of wine, and someone to sympathise.
I love Annoying Orange :D. He's meant to be a complete pain. But I wouldn't let Thomas or Jacob see him, especially not Thomas who can copy words and phrases back (and will do). His heroes at the moment are The Flumps (old 1970s children's programme).
I know he's meant to be annoying. Not my cup of tea, but I know lots of people find that funny. It just ain't funny here, when Joey decides to "remake" it. :P
I can understand that, which is why we don't let Thomas watch it either.
I'm quite strict with what I let him watch, partly because of his obsessions and partly because he lacks the understanding to be able to make sense of many things, which can obviously lead to problems. It's very hypocritical of me, because my own overriding obsession is with historical and fictional accounts of violent death, which goes through cycles of matters connected with that and that has been the case since I was 8. However, I still steer Thomas away from anything like it.
Anything with an innane laugh and yellow teeth makes me queasy. In truth, many so-called "educational" cartoons irk me no end.
Diego, for instance, the hyperactive little brother of Dora the Explorer, is particularly offensive. Why is he always running, running, running to "save the animals" He should be in school, not pelting around the jungle like a maniac.
Dora also ticks me off, mostly because "Dora" does not rhyme with "Explorer" unless you're from New Jersey.
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