If My Three Year Old Sings Songs From Annie, So Can I, Right?
Psychologists and various people are always ranting on about how kids shouldn’t watch too much TV, but we all know they don’t mean shows from the olden days, right?
Being a parent is exhausting and stressful at the best of times. One of the things that makes it a little bit easier for me is the fact that I can share all the TV shows and films I was obsessed with when I was little with my daughter. At the age of 31, if I watched these shows on my own, just for fun, I’d look like a bit of a weirdo who is struggling with all their might to hang on to their youth. Under the cunning guise of parenthood, however, it is no longer inappropriate for me to be able to mouth along the words to every Pixar film or classic kids’ musical.
Below, I have put together my list of the top 5 films and TV shows that I love being able to get away with watching again now that I am a mum. See what you think and please feel free to add other suggestions below. Just for the record, I should probably point out that my daughter doesn’t just watch TV all day every day, as this post may suggest!
1. Annie – I defy anyone who is old enough to walk and talk not to twirl and prance and break out singing ‘Oh, the sun will come out tomorrow’ whilst watching this film, and for days after. Annie’s eventual success and happiness, despite her sad start in life, makes me go mushy every time. We all just want to be loved, after all – even those of us who aren’t lucky enough to have curly wurly ginger locks, cute freckles and a dog called Sandy.
2. The Chipmunks – I’m still not sure I should admit to this one, but I used to get up at 3am on a Saturday morning just so that I could get the TV remote before my brother. I couldn’t bear the thought that he might get it first and prevent me from watching my favorite show. No, I can’t believe I did that, either. But given the level of my childhood obsession, you can imagine how happy I was when the Chipmunks movie came on TV and my daughter loved it. Now we have the box set of the trilogy, plus some of the original cartoons, and I still can’t get enough of those squeaky little voices and Dave shouting ‘Alvinnnnnn’!
3. Postman Pat – I’m not sure if Postman Pat is/was ever shown in America, but it was a very big part of my British childhood. I just love how everyone is so nice. Everyone knows everyone else, and if someone is in need, they all pull together and help out until the job’s done. People just don’t seem to do that anymore. Postman Pat is good, innocent, family fun that makes kids think everything’s right with the world. And now there’s going to be a Postman Pat movie, too – I can hardly contain my excitement!
4. Anything to do with the Muppets – I was so excited to see the new Muppets film last year that I took my daughter to the cinema within days of it coming out (thankfully she was so enthralled that she didn’t leave my knee the entire time, otherwise I could have been very unpopular). Now she has the entire back catalogue of Muppets films on DVD, has watched many episodes of the Muppet Show, and sleeps with Kermit, Walter, Fozzy, Animal and the one and only Miss Piggy in her bed every night. And I watch the DVDs when everyone is out just for my own fun. Long live the Muppets!
5. Peanuts – The only word I can think of to describe the wonder that is Peanuts is ‘genius’. The characters are so funny and so cringe-worthy, the jokes get even better as you get older, and watching it when I was young was almost like watching my own childhood unfold in front of my eyes, albeit in a Transatlantic setting and not a British one. I am most definitely not ashamed of the fact that I have owned the DVDs of Peanuts since long, long before my daughter was born. I just hope that one day I can write something as brilliant.
You can read more from Anna Kay-Sproul on her blog.
Feature image via.
