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Liberty Kids?  

post #1 of 8
10/10/02 at 5:31pm
Thread Starter 
Anybody watch this new show on PBS? Impressions?
post #2 of 8
10/11/02 at 12:48am
Actually had it on once last week. DS#1 (4yo) loved it. Wants to see it again. Can't find when it's on around here, though ...

Truth be told, I didn't watch it with him. (I know, I know, bad mommy ... slap hand) but seriously, Walter Cronkite is the voice of Benjamin Franklin. With Uncle Walt in it, how bad can it be?

Okay, I'll be good next time & watch before my kids do, I pwomise ...

- Amy
post #3 of 8
10/11/02 at 12:56am
I have seen some of it. I like it. I am a big fan of Revolutionary War stuff though. Visited old battle fields when I lived in Virginia ... couldn't get enough. There is some violence but really very little. More than violence there is occasional threatening and menacing behavior, but still, nowhere near as much as in the average Disney movie. I think it would be really useful to kids in like an 8-12 range... that's my guess, not sure who their actual target age is. They aren't talking down but are making the info accessable and relevent to kids.
post #4 of 8
10/11/02 at 10:18am
Thread Starter 
Amy -- you are not alone. My son has been watching it faithfully since the season started, and I just finally got around to sitting down with him yesterday afternon! I feel bad too.

I had mixed feelings about it. I liked that they tried to illustrate the complexities of war, and that didn't make it a flat out "good guys and bad guys thing." The main character is friends with an English girl who sides with the "redcoats." They talk about standing up for yourself, but out of self-respect and not hatred, which I think is a good thing to point out.

On the other hand -- I feel pretty uncomfortable about war being presented in a format that is intended to entertain children. That in itself seems to trivialize something very serious. And I also feel uncomfortable with the risk they take of glorifying war -- though I do think they are trying to avoid that -- I still think it comes through. Part of it is that they CAN'T show too much violence, and I am worried that kids will end up with a rather sterilized perception of it.

I guess I don't think war is an appropriate subject for a kid's tv show! But I haven't decided to forbid him from watching it either. Maybe he can handle it.
post #5 of 8
10/15/02 at 2:06am
Quote:
... by mamaduck
... I feel pretty uncomfortable about war being presented in a format that is intended to entertain children. That in itself seems to trivialize something very serious. And I also feel uncomfortable with the risk they take of glorifying war -- though I do think they are trying to avoid that -- I still think it comes through. Part of it is that they CAN'T show too much violence, and I am worried that kids will end up with a rather sterilized perception of it.
I guess I don't think war is an appropriate subject for a kid's tv show!
mamaduck, I feel kind of silly, because that never occurred to me.

And it's a very obvious thought.

Now I really want to see it, because I like the idea of a historically useful TV show, and the Revolutionary War is particularly interesting to me, too, Kama ... lots of RW history in NY, virtually everywhere you go ... but at the same time do not like ... well, what you said, mamaduck. Particularly nowadays, the trivialization of war ... wow.

Man.

Thanks.

MDC.
Man, I love this place ...

- Amy
post #6 of 8
10/15/02 at 9:21am
Thread Starter 
Amy -- Well -- I have to say that it did occur to me that the there may be an agenda behind the timing of this new show!

I think I'm leaning toward letting him watch it now and then, not expressly forbidding it -- just planning distractions around 4:30 in the afternoon each day. And maybe getting some decent books re: the revolutionary war to read to him if he is seriously interested.

I *really* want to know what you think of the show though -- so make sure to get back to me on that!
post #7 of 8
10/20/02 at 6:51pm
My 7 yo ds loves this show (and I hate to say it but my 2yo ds loves it too!). He watches it every day and it has led to some great discussions and hs'ing projects. He went to Lexington Green, made a Tea Chest and Porringer and is reading a biography of Ben Franklin.
I don't think it trivializes war or makes war more palatable for kids. He is still concerned about the US being at war and suggests non-violent ways for us to resolve our differences all the time.
I think PBS should stop developing Nick Jr clones and develop more educational shows like this. My kids learn more from this and Cyberchase than from Clifford!

---Amy G.
post #8 of 8
10/21/02 at 11:54am
DD loves it. She is 5yo and loves anything in a cartoon format, so she only watches it when I let her, once a week tops. I assumed it was put on now for its patriotic theme. I have no ral dfeelings on it besides its better than the Powerpuff Girls.

I hate war anything. But the park we frequesnt is on an old battlefield from the civil war. YEsterday the ywere reenacting the battles. Cannons, guns, etc. Full battle, the cannon shook the ground an moved your hair. This did not phase my kids, including my 1yo who only said "Wo!" when the guys were shooting within feet from him. I was sick to my stomach trying to drag DD away, I commented to the people next to me that I had just remembered my Dad used to bring me there for this event and it was horrible, gave me nightmares!! I brought my kids cause we live nearby and go tehre anyway...OOPS! Also, they were selling the "realistic" rubber band guns, which I once owned (Dad again!!) and this boy let my DD use his. It really threw me in a loop, what the hell was I doing there?!?! IS it a lesson only?
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