Today’s kids are spoiled. They can have cartoons 24-7, on demand, no questions asked. Here at Howefitz Blog, I’d like to start  a tradition of making Saturday morning an event again. Cartoons belong on Saturday morning!

While surfing the worldwide web last night, I came across a review of Muppet King Arthur published by BOOM! Kids Comics. The review was on School Library Journal and was written by Katherine Dacey. I have not read this comic yet, so for those of you that don’t like to read reviews, don’t worry. This is not a review, it is commentary on what was said in a review.

Last night, when I read the review, there was one bit in particular that stood out more than the rest:

I’m a little puzzled that Muppet King Arthur is part of the BOOM! Kids line — not because the jokes are raunchy or inappropriate, but because so many of them depend on knowledge of politics and current events that it’s hard to imagine many eight-year-olds guffawing about the merits of democracy versus monarchy. There are certainly gags that grade schoolers can appreciate, but young kids who might be excited about a Kermit-and-Miss-Piggy comic will find the script hard to parse. Muppet King Arthur works better for tweens and teens with a sophisticated sense of humor — if yours are quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail, they’re good candidates — or adults who want to indulge their nostalgia for the original show.

Of course, that was the paragraph that I felt like I really needed to comment on:

March 19, 2010
In response to: Review: Muppet King Arthur, No. 1
Howefitz commented:
I just came across this post. I haven’t read the comic yet, but felt compelled to comment on your assessment of the humor. Jim Henson never intended The Muppets to be for kids. That was their magic. They were able to capture the imagination, no matter what your age was. Adults can and do enjoy Muppets as much, if not more, than the kids.
So if the writing is as you say, it’s spot on and I can’t wait to read it to my kids.

It still amazes me that most folks view animation and puppetry as kid’s stuff. While in America, these things are generally kept in a kid-friendly vein, in many other cultures, these media are one more creative outlet intended for expression. Would an American take a child to a Punch and Judy show?

…or to a showing of ‘Akira’?

For many Americans, these two examples may make you blush, or wonder why someone would ever create puppets so horrifying or a cartoon so violent (Trust me, there are far worse examples out there in the world of Anime…).

The thing is, puppetry and animation lets us explore our imaginations in ways that are nearly impossible to capture on film. What about CGI (Computer Generated Imaging)? That’s just another form of animation, which hasn’t gotten the rep of being ‘kids’ stuff’ like it’s traditional cousin. That is surprising, considering the first photo-realistic CGI characters to appear on the silver screen were Stuart Little and Jar-Jar Binks.

So, back to Muppet King Arthur: in her review, Ms. Dacey states that the comic is full of jokes about labor unions and stimulus packages, which she claims will go right over an 8-year old’s head. That may be the case, but for the adult who’s reading the book to the child, said adult isn’t getting bored to tears like with the normal kid stuff. Which is perfectly in line with the Muppet tradition. Sesame Street recently celebrated it’s 40th anniversary, and NPR marked the occasion with the story, ‘On Sesame Street, “C” Is For Controversy‘. The story covers much of the more adult humor contained within Sesame Street, which was the predecessor of The Muppet Show.

Jim Henson set the tone with Sesame Street in 1969, and some of that tone still resonates in the newly-produced Muppet clips that can be found at Disney.com today.

If you look at the body of work that Jim Henson created outside the Muppets, he was consistently pushing the envelope of what kind of story could be told with puppets, and wouldn’t necessarily be classified as ‘kids’ stuff’. Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, and what I consider a crowning achievement: The Storyteller…

While considered cult hits today, these films and television series were flops in America when they first appeared, though they were wildly popular in Europe (home to Punch and Judy) and Japan (home to many a violent ‘cartoon’).

From a children’s literature standpoint, have you read the original ‘Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland‘? (If not, you can download it at the link provided.) It’s full of political satire that probably goes over a modern adult’s head. Is it any less beloved as a children’s story? Nope. ‘Gulliver’s Travels‘? Yep, political satire…

So, as I said in my comment of Ms. Dacey’s review, if the comic is written as she said, I can’t wait to read it to my kids. It takes true talent to write something to children, and not down to them. Something that many of the children’s authors I’ve run across recently have forgotten, and Jim Henson fully understood. In this information age of the television always on and kids on computers, they probably know more than you realize. Why not embrace that and foster a curiosity in your children for the world outside themselves?

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• Jim Henson’s Fantastic World! On View at the National Heritage Museum, Lexington, MA, April 3 through June 27, 2010 (prweb.com)
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• Jim Henson Company Confirms ‘Dark Crystal’ And ‘Labyrinth’ Comics Following ‘Fraggle Rock’ (splashpage.mtv.com)

Now, did you notice anything? Kids? Ok. A big yellow 7 year old bird? Good! Notice anything else? Were the kids outside?! AND they were PLAYING!!!! Keep this in mind as I continue to rant…

Yesterday, Christina Warren of Mashable.com wrote a piece praising Sesame Street and their Elmo iPhone app. Take a look:

Christina begins her article by saying:

Sesame Street is one of my favorite brands, not just because Grover is amazing, but because over the last 40 years, it has never been afraid of innovating and embracing new technologies.

To which I thought, absolutely! A quick search on my blog for ‘Sesame Street’ will reveal my love for all things Sesame Street as well! Calli and I have spent countless hours on the laptop watching and playing with our Sesame Street friends on sesamestreet.org! Even my very first column for Dad-Blogs was about Sesame Workshop‘s panwapa.com. (Feel free to visit the column here: Can You Tell Me How To Get To Panwapa Island?) So yes, I agree that Sesame Street is worth buying in to.

She goes on to talk about the app, and then this statement caught my eye:

On my running route, I see children in their strollers playing on iPhone or iPod touch devices. It’s amazing.

This post brought to you by Dad-Blogs' FatherHood Friday. Be sure to swing by for all the other great Dads and Moms who love to share their lives online!

The squeal of screeching tires sounded in my head and I did a spit-take. WHAT?! ‘Come on kids, let’s go to the park. You can play on my iPhone!’?

When I first saw that, I wanted to rant about the evils of technology and how Sesame Street shouldn’t influence kids to sit around playing with it. But then it hit me. Sesame Street is just taking advantage of how we as parents utilize technology in order to get their brand out in front of as many young eyeballs as possible. And it’s still a good brand. Sesame Workshop does a lot for our kids, and I would never discourage anyone from participating in that.

But iPhones in strollers?! Parents, please. What are you doing to your kids?

Don’t get me wrong, I love technology. I can’t rail against technology as I type my blog in to my laptop while I listen to Pandora and munch on my freshly microwaved breakfast. I’ve been known to hand my Blackjack II to my kid with a cartoon or game on. But I do that while we’re waiting at the doctor’s office or the DMV. And if we are at the doctor’s office, I look for toys. The dirtier the better. Builds up the immune system with antibodies. But I digress.

When at the park, dear parents, what ever happened to ‘Look, Junior, isn’t that a cute puppy?’ or ‘My, what a tall tree that is!’ If a kid is dexterous enough to navigate an iPhone app, I’m willing to bet that he/she is able to walk and explore the world around them. Why would you hamper that?

What do you think? Am I just flying off the deep end? Has my year plus of Daddy Blogging finally given me a self-righteous need to judge all other parents and find them inferior? How do you utilize technology in your parenting?

Obviously, this is near and dear to me, and I apologize to those who have already read this. I promise a brand new Fatherhood Friday post will be posted next Friday.

Happy Fatherhood Friday! Be sure to stop by dad-blogs and check out all the cool dudes and dudettes that weigh in on fatherhood on Fridays!

I learned my ABC’s in my PJ’s. I would play games with a giant bird, swing by Hooper’s store for a soda, and try to avoid the grouch on the corner, but there was always something charming about him as well. I was watchingSesame Street.

I’m sure you have similar memories. Our kids will too. While I laughed at Ernie tormenting Bert, or watched as Kermit the Frog gave anotherSesame Street News Flashfrom the planet Kuzbain or a familiar fairy tale, I was also learning. Today, my daughter loves Elmo and Abby Cadabby. The cast of colorful characters may change, but the wordly themes of cultural understanding and acceptance (While learning ABC’s and 123’s) never changes. Sesame Street is just as integral to my children’s lives as it was to mine.

I recieved a letter recently that made me a little sad. Sesame Street was asking me for money.

My first knee jerk reaction before reading the letter thoroughly was that I’ve got shelves of Elmo DVDs and toys and books for my child, you’ve gotten enough money from me!

Then I read the opening:

Dear Friend,

I want to share with you a part of a letter written to Sesame Street from a young viewer in South Africa:

“My friend is Nomfundo … I feel sad because she is HIV-positive. Other children, they don’t play with her. My friend is still my friend and I love her.

Every day I watch Takalani Sesame with my friend. Moshe andKami on Takalani Sesame, they care about people who are HIV-positive…”

A few years ago, I had watched a documentary called ‘The World According To Sesame Street‘. The film focused on Sesame Street’s international efforts, and introduced me to the wonderful character of Kami.

Kami is an HIV-positive muppet. She is five years old. HIV/AIDSnow afflicts more than one in nine South Africans. Kami teaches acceptance of those who are afflicted. Just watching her in the documentary made my heart go out to those people. I can’t imagine the effect she has on the people who live there, or the children who get to watch her every day.

Another story in the letter caught my eye:

Galli Galli Sim Sim

One of our newest international co-productions is in India, a country that suffers from widespread poverty. In rural areas especially, educational opportunities are limited … if they exist at all.

One out of every six children in the world lives in India. A staggeringtwo out of three of these Indian children (between the ages of 2 and 6) lack access to early childhood care and education.

These are just two examples of the more than 140 variations of Sesame Street in over 140 countries and territories worldwide.

The reason that Sherrie Rollins Westin of Sesame Workshop sent out the letter, and the reason that I feel compelled to post this blog entry, is that the international operations of Sesame Street need help funding their efforts.

Back to the letter:

Revenue from the sale of Workshop merchandise helps cover some of these costs for our U.S. projects. But there are limited licensing and merchandising opportunities in underserved regions of the world that most need what we can provide.

With corporations and foundations scaling back their funding, and limited government budgets, Sesame Workshop is turning more and more to good people like you to bring our programs to life.

Doing a little research of my own, I discovered that there’s a new Sesame Street in Northern Ireland called ‘Sesame Tree‘, which invites children to send in questions, and then two Muppet characters, Potto and Hilda, set out to find the answers.

In Israel, children watch Rechov Sumsum, which teaches respect and understanding to children in an area of growing conflict and diversity. Palestine has their own version of Sesame Street entitled Shara’a Simsim. By providing a window into other cultures, these programs are helping to quiet the fears that the children may have.

I feel that Sesame Street is such an integral part of our lives because I know that I personally was changed by it. One example of this in my life is that the American Sesame Street features a character named Luis(pronounced Lou-ees). I now work in an environment of very diverse cultures, but one of my co-workers is named Luis! I am careful to pronounce it correctly, largely due to my Sesame Street upbringing. It rankles me when I hear someone else call him ‘Louis’.  This may seem like a minor detail, but it is important to me that I respect other cultures and I go out of my way to make sure that I at least pronounce people’s names right! For me, that’s just a respectful thing to do. I thank Sesame Street for instilling those values in me.

On March 11, Variety reported that the American operation of Sesame Street had to layoff 20% of its workers. If the economic downturn has hit Sesame Street here in America, where we are free to buy whatever they can think to put Sesame Street characters on, imagine how things are going in the more underserved countries that I just mentioned.

If I’ve succeeded in touching your heart or you have your own story of how Sesame Street has touched your life, please, go to the Sesame Street donations page and give what you can. I for one feel that our future as a world community depends on the continuation of the ‘longest street in the world’: Sesame Street.

Would your childhood have been the same without these guys? Will your childrens’?

A lot of the time, it feels like having kids is just about the worst thing you can do if you are trying to be ‘sustainable’ or ‘green’ or whatever label a treehugger has to use to avoid ‘treehugger’! If they’re young enough, there’s the constant production of dirty diapers, the feeling that snacks need to be more ‘convenient’, so that even if you don’t buy prepackaged snacks, you’re putting them in snack size ziplocs. If your kid’s older, you’re still producing a lot of trash to the point that you find yourself saying, “Didn’t I take the trash out yesterday? Seriously, what could we possibly be throwing away on a daily basis?”

Here are some simple tips I’ve found as a family man that eases my conscience a little bit:

1. Recycle when/where you can. Be mindful when you take the family anywhere of where recycling bins can be found. Most place like zoos and parks encourage recycling. Participate! Especially at home, if you don’t know if recycling is available in your area, find out! If you’re dreading the sorting, trust me, if you set up bins in your home, it’s not that big of a deal to sort as you go.
2. Use reusable bags when you go shopping. I am one of the worst in having good intentions with this one. Many grocery stores now sell reusable grocery bags for anywhere from fifty cents to a dollar. Some even will give you a credit for bringing in your bags. If you’re like me and forget them all the time, try to stash some in your car. At the very least, always choose paper!
3. It’s never too early to teach your kids not to litter! Sesame Street has some wonderful DVDs out there to teach your kids about the environment. School House Rock just released one too! These coupled with your sage parental guidance should instill in the younglings’ minds a love of the earth and a desire to not junk it up.
4. This weekend, participate in your local Earth Day events. When I was a kid, I remember going to an Earth Day event with my father and brother that had a lot of demonstrations to show how much waste we produce. One I believe was a giant globe layed out on the ground made of crushed aluminum cans. Obviously, the details are pretty fuzzy in adulthood, but the important thing is that I still have those feelings about the planet. Wouldn’t it be great to pass that on to our children?
5. Be the example, and not just today! Earth Day is like Christmas, make it last all year! Kids learn our habits and immulate them. Don’t make it seem that Earth Day and environmentalism is just a fad or something you do every once in a while. Show the kids you care and they will too.

This list is very basic on purpose because I now live in an apartment and understand that everyone can’t do things like composting, etc. in certain situations. These are simple things that I have found to work in my life that are easy to do without huge lifestyle impact.

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• enjoy earth day, then forget about it (bripblap.com)

Calli slides to the future with Abby Cadabby.

I learned my ABC’s in my PJ’s. I would play games with a giant bird, swing by Hooper’s store for a soda, and try to avoid the grouch on the corner, but there was always something charming about him as well. I was watching Sesame Street.

I’m sure you have similar memories. Our kids will too. While I laughed at Ernie tormenting Bert, or watched as Kermit the Frog gave another Sesame Street News Flash from the planet Kuzbain or a familiar fairy tale, I was also learning. Today, my daughter loves Elmo and Abby Cadabby. The cast of colorful characters may change, but the wordly themes of cultural understanding and acceptance (While learning ABC’s and 123′s) never changes. Sesame Street is just as integral to my children’s lives as it was to mine.

I recieved a letter recently that made me a little sad. Sesame Street was asking me for money.

My first knee jerk reaction before reading the letter thoroughly was that I’ve got shelves of Elmo DVDs and toys and books for my child, you’ve gotten enough money from me!

Then I read the opening:

Dear Friend,

I want to share with you a part of a letter written to Sesame Street from a young viewer in South Africa:

“My friend is Nomfundo … I feel sad because she is HIV-positive. Other children, they don’t play with her. My friend is still my friend and I love her.

Every day I watch Takalani Sesame with my friend. Moshe and Kami on Takalani Sesame, they care about people who are HIV-positive…”

A few years ago, I had watched a documentary called ‘The World According To Sesame Street‘. The film focused on Sesame Street’s international efforts, and introduced me to the wonderful character of Kami.

Kami is an HIV-positive muppet. She is five years old. HIV/AIDS now afflicts more than one in nine South Africans. Kami teaches acceptance of those who are afflicted. Just watching her in the documentary made my heart go out to those people. I can’t imagine the effect she has on the people who live there, or the children who get to watch her every day.

Another story in the letter caught my eye:

Galli Galli Sim Sim

One of our newest international co-productions is in India, a country that suffers from widespread poverty. In rural areas especially, educational opportunities are limited … if they exist at all.

One out of every six children in the world lives in India. A staggering two out of three of these Indian children (between the ages of 2 and 6) lack access to early childhood care and education.

These are just two examples of the more than 140 variations of Sesame Street in over 140 countries and territories worldwide.

The reason that Sherrie Rollins Westin of Sesame Workshop sent out the letter, and the reason that I feel compelled to post this blog entry, is that the international operations of Sesame Street need help funding their efforts.

Back to the letter:

Revenue from the sale of Workshop merchandise helps cover some of these costs for our U.S. projects. But there are limited licensing and merchandising opportunities in underserved regions of the world that most need what we can provide.

With corporations and foundations scaling back their funding, and limited government budgets, Sesame Workshop is turning more and more to good people like you to bring our programs to life.

Doing a little research of my own, I discovered that there’s a new Sesame Street in Northern Ireland called ‘Sesame Tree‘, which invites children to send in questions, and then two Muppet characters, Potto and Hilda, set out to find the answers.

In Israel, children watch Rechov Sumsum, which teaches respect and understanding to children in an area of growing conflict and diversity. Palestine has their own version of Sesame Street entitled Shara’a Simsim. By providing a window into other cultures, these programs are helping to quiet the fears that the children may have.

I feel that Sesame Street is such an integral part of our lives because I know that I personally was changed by it. One example of this in my life is that the American Sesame Street features a character named Luis (pronounced Lou-ees). I now work in an environment of very diverse cultures, but one of my co-workers is named Luis! I am careful to pronounce it correctly, largely due to my Sesame Street upbringing. It rankles me when I hear someone else call him ‘Louis’.  This may seem like a minor detail, but it is important to me that I respect other cultures and I go out of my way to make sure that I at least pronounce people’s names right! For me, that’s just a respectful thing to do. I thank Sesame Street for instilling those values in me.

On March 11, Variety reported that the American operation of Sesame Street had to layoff 20% of its workers. If the economic downturn has hit Sesame Street here in America, where we are free to buy whatever they can think to put Sesame Street characters on, imagine how things are going in the more underserved countries that I just mentioned.

If I’ve succeeded in touching your heart or you have your own story of how Sesame Street has touched your life, please, go to the Sesame Street donations page and give what you can. I for one feel that our future as a world community depends on the continuation of the ‘longest street in the world’: Sesame Street.

Would your childhood have been the same without these guys? Will your childrens'?