So.... I am total hypocrite.
We are not to the letter followers of Waldorf but we have decided to surround our little on (age 3) with open-ended toys of natural materials. We don't do tv in our house (at least for DD). I feel very strongly about the ugliness of marketing to children and we don't do commercial characters or any toy that's designed to sell another toy. I am very concerned with nurturing creativity and open play scenarios. We do use recorded music in our house--and lots of it (the not so Waldorf part of our house). One of the CDs we recently got from the library was school house rock. We already love the Jack Johnson 'Reduce, Reuse Recycle' remake of 'Three is a Magic Number" so I wanted her to hear the 'original' DH and I grew up with....
Well, our little one LOVES the Interplanet Janet song also on the CD. We ALL have been singing it for days. Oh, there's never been a planet Janet hasn't seen...
Which brings me to the hypocrite part...
I had a flash in the shower tonight that I could needle felt her a set of planets and sew her a Janet out of felt. I got out the shower and quickly found an image of her online. I was almost giddy looking at her--just how I remembered. I went and got out felt to match the colors. Then it hit me. DD doesn't have an image to go with Janet---it's me that does. And won't giving her the School House Rock Janet force her to see it our way??? Isn't that bad? I have gone back and forth in my head rationalizing that a little felt doll that's part rocket and part girl isn't trying to sell her anything or it isn't forcing her to only play in a way she seen on television... but it's really just me rationalizing because I want a little Janet. Maybe I'll sew the darn thing for me to fly around and sing....
But somewhere out in space,
There's another shining face
That you might see some night up in the sky.
Interplanet Janet, she's a galaxy girl...
We are not to the letter followers of Waldorf but we have decided to surround our little on (age 3) with open-ended toys of natural materials. We don't do tv in our house (at least for DD). I feel very strongly about the ugliness of marketing to children and we don't do commercial characters or any toy that's designed to sell another toy. I am very concerned with nurturing creativity and open play scenarios. We do use recorded music in our house--and lots of it (the not so Waldorf part of our house). One of the CDs we recently got from the library was school house rock. We already love the Jack Johnson 'Reduce, Reuse Recycle' remake of 'Three is a Magic Number" so I wanted her to hear the 'original' DH and I grew up with....
Well, our little one LOVES the Interplanet Janet song also on the CD. We ALL have been singing it for days. Oh, there's never been a planet Janet hasn't seen...
Which brings me to the hypocrite part...
I had a flash in the shower tonight that I could needle felt her a set of planets and sew her a Janet out of felt. I got out the shower and quickly found an image of her online. I was almost giddy looking at her--just how I remembered. I went and got out felt to match the colors. Then it hit me. DD doesn't have an image to go with Janet---it's me that does. And won't giving her the School House Rock Janet force her to see it our way??? Isn't that bad? I have gone back and forth in my head rationalizing that a little felt doll that's part rocket and part girl isn't trying to sell her anything or it isn't forcing her to only play in a way she seen on television... but it's really just me rationalizing because I want a little Janet. Maybe I'll sew the darn thing for me to fly around and sing....
But somewhere out in space,
There's another shining face
That you might see some night up in the sky.
Interplanet Janet, she's a galaxy girl...
:
We aren't a Waldorf family (we do Montessori) and I have to say that the video is one of their favorites. I love the nostalgia and my kids are learning about Presidents and planets and electricity! 
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