{"id":8208,"date":"2012-02-29T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T13:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/?p=8208"},"modified":"2012-02-29T17:47:53","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T22:47:53","slug":"when-television-helps-you-parent-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2012\/02\/when-television-helps-you-parent-better.html","title":{"rendered":"When Television Helps You Parent Better"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Just the other week I received a shock as a parent that I should have known was coming. My 5-year old daughter, who started school this year, came home distraught. She\u2019s normally quite chipper, so I asked her what was wrong. \u201cJohnny said I have a square head,\u201d she replied. Now while it is a universal truth that kids are mean to one another, for some reason I never expected them to be mean to my child. Never mind that the insult was inherently ridiculous; it was hurtful to my innocent little girl who has no idea there are far worse things to be called in this world. I spent the next 5 minutes trying to convince her that her head was actually shaped like a peach and not a nasty square.<\/p>\n

The story above illustrates why I love the VeggieTales folks. As a young parent with kids who consume way more television I should probably let them consume, it\u2019s really nice to have programming that actually teaches them good lessons. A lot of shows pretend to do this, but few really do. There have been a number of times when I\u2019ve had serious conversations with my daughter, and in order to get a difficult point across, I inevitably end up saying, \u201cRemember in that VeggieTales episode when\u2026.\u201d Sure, television (even really GOOD television) is no substitute for good ole\u2019 fashioned parenting. But it can help at times.<\/p>\n

The new VeggieTales flick, \u201cRobin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men,\u201d would have been helpful in my your-head-isn\u2019t-square-shaped conversation with my daughter. It deals with hurt and betrayal and forgiveness, as Robin Good\u2019s friends turn their back on him (they\u2019re \u2018not-so-merry,\u2019 after all). The show tries to teach kids how to forgive others, even when they don\u2019t deserve it. That\u2019s a hard enough lesson for me to learn myself, let alone teach my child.<\/p>\n

Check out the trailer below for a sneak peek of the new episode! If you\u2019ll excuse me, I have to go console my little girl; her friends have moved up from square-based insults to trapezoid-based ones.<\/p>\n

[bcvideo vid=’1458227372001′ pid=’96582452001′ height=’410′ width=’480′]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just the other week I received a shock as a parent that I should have known was coming. My 5-year old daughter, who started school this year, came home distraught. She\u2019s normally quite chipper, so I asked her what was wrong. \u201cJohnny said I have a square head,\u201d she replied. 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