Alan Kercinik has been a Chicagoan his whole life and a dad since 2009. He finds it easy to relate to his two boys, since he still likes most things from his childhood. All opinions here are his own, to the relief of his wife, employer, family and majority of his friends.
Loading tweets...
Dear Sesame Workshop,
I want to start by saying I am a huge fan of what you do.
Your impact on me personally, as well as three generations of children and our culture, is enormous. And, I know you have a long history at looking at newish technology as a way to teach and a way to learn. Your efforts to turn television into something other than a soul-sucking eyeball vampire are long-known, documented and admired.
But seriously, I need you to stop.
This week at CES, you announced that Sesame Street is going to become the first interactive television show. Kids are going to be able to count with Grover and toss coconuts into bushel baskets, all thanks to a partnership with Microsoft.
I know your audience is kids. But do you people actually HAVE kids? Specifically, kids around three years old? I’m guessing no.
Let me tell you something about them. They are persistent. They are persistent in the way that an air raid siren is persistent. And technology is removing all patience. I am coining a term for kids born in the 2010s: the On Demand Generation.
Because thanks to Comcast on Demand, my son absolutely believes that whatever show he wants to watch is available at any moment and any place that he wants to watch it. We walk into a pizza restaurant and he wants to watch Super Why on their television. He wants to see Spider-Man on my iPad. He wants to watch Caillou in our Honda Pilot and WE DON’T HAVE AN IN-CAR TELEVISION OR DVD PLAYER.
I feel ya, Bert.
So even without the means, he thinks that, by some sort of magic or alchemy that I clearly lack, I am able to conjure entertainment out of thin air. Logic doesn’t work. We’re in the car and he wants to watch Caillou NOW. Explanations like, “Buddy, how are we going to watch this” or “I may jump out the window if you ask me again” are met with deaf ears and an insistance that, yes, we CAN watch Caillou right now.
And now you’re letting kids have a conversation with Cookie Monster. Which means that the boy is going to think that he can call him on the phone. Have lunch with him. Hang out with him.
What have I ever done to you? You know what ‘W’ is for? Whiskey.
It’s baffling. I know you understand the power these characters have on kids. The fact that you had Cookie Monster talking about how cookies are only a sometimes food are proof enough of that. I can only come up with one explanation.
You’re going for ratings. You want parents to be so worn down by their little ones that their brains will turn into tapioca and the only thing they can watch and understand will be things like Sesame Street.
So, my next parental duty is to teach Jack to use the phone. Then I am programming your number into it. So whenever he says, “I want to play with Grover,” well, he can talk to you about it.
Good luck,
Alan
(with a wink and a nod)
7 comments
DorkDad says:
January 12, 2012 at 2:40 pm (UTC -5 )
To echo your sentiments my 3-year-old is consistently vexed by the fact that I can’t make “The Buddy Song” (his title for the tentpole piece “Life’s a Happy Song” from “The Muppets”) come over Pandora at any instant. When he wants “The Buddy Song”, he wants it NOW. Anything short of immediately clicking over to YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZBe7_lE9lE) is unacceptable.
Apparantly Pandora isn’t convenient enough to the On-Demand-Generation. Take that into account when you’re buying stock.
-Dork Dad
DorkDad recently posted..Jedi have feelings too.
Alan says:
January 12, 2012 at 8:47 pm (UTC -5 )
It really is amazing the persistence that kids display at this age. I mean, I’ve seen dogs give up on bones easier than this.
Thanks for reading.
Cameron says:
January 12, 2012 at 8:33 pm (UTC -5 )
Sounds like you both give in to your kids too much or, at the very least, feel that you need to. When I was growing up, if mum or dad said ‘no’. That was the end of it. If I pitched a fit, it would be met with, “You can cry if you want, but it still won’t happen.” And, you know what? I grew up and out of that phase. This new-age parenting where you try and reason with kids, and talk to them like adults is not only silly, but will always fail because — here’s the kicker — they aren’t adults.
Alan says:
January 12, 2012 at 8:52 pm (UTC -5 )
1. I don’t think you can make any presumptions on my parenting or disciplinary style based on what is meant to be a humorous post.
2. I am far from a New Age parent, whatever that is. But I will say that I am someone who is going to always give my kids a reason for a ‘no’, rather than trying to lay out some kind of Law According to Dad.
3. I know my 3 year-old isn’t an adult. See #1. That was kind of the whole point of the post. That things that are appealing to older kids and adults — interactive TV — really probably aren’t ready for younger kids.
4. I don’t know that you have any idea what you were like as a 3 year-old, but I would be willing to bet your parents, even if they instilled the fear of God into you, weren’t beyond sporadic frustration when they were instilling said fear of God.
Lisa says:
January 12, 2012 at 11:25 pm (UTC -5 )
On Demand Generation. Yes! And Apple TV has only added to the instant viewing gratification in our house… where we apparently give our toddler what he wants whenever he wants it, as well.
Samantha says:
January 18, 2012 at 9:32 pm (UTC -5 )
Yet another hilarious post! So funny and so so soooo true!
I love the “on demand generation”. So true! I think a comic (forget the name) once joked about how when we were little the only cartoons we were able to watch come on during Saturday mornings and it wasn’t on for more than a few hours – than back to adult tv. Now? You have channels dedicated to cartoons all day long. So different – and we’re not *that* old!!
Haha!
Thank you again!!!!
Alan says:
January 20, 2012 at 7:56 am (UTC -5 )
Thanks for reading. If I had the time, I might seriously commission some research to see if this kind of multi-screen access has an effect on behavior and attitude.
Instead, I’m ordering up Thor from Comcast ON Demand.