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Even Moms Can Learn From Children’s Television

I wish I could say that every time the mail comes we all sing, “Here’s the mail it never fails...” just like Steve from Blue’s Clues. But, well, we don’t. I’d also like to say that we dress up like Super Why and hunt for super letters around the house. But, again, we don’t. I do however have a list of guiding principles that I swear by when creating new shows for kids. And they would most likely work quite well for my everyday life, too. I often wonder what it would be like if I could just remember to use them.

Celebrate the little things:

My scripts revolve around celebrating life from a child’s point of view. Jumping in a puddle is such an exciting thing to a kid that it can be an entire half-hour episode! From a TV perspective we might visit the creatures that inhabit the puddle, sing a song about the water cycle, or just splash around. However, jumping in a puddle in my everyday life is an ordeal that makes me cringe. Watch your new shoes! Why can’t
I remember how great it is to jump full force into a puddle just for fun.

Music motivates:

What if in real life I sang one of the strategy songs from Blue’s Clues to help my girls when they lost something? What if instead of saying, “It’s your backpack and you’re the only one who uses it, so you should know where you left it!” I sang, “When you lose something, go back go back go back! Go back to where you were!” Would they sing
along? Actually find their backpack? Or would they fall over?

Diffuse with humor:

On television, we’re always thinking of ways to lighten things up. In a dramatic buildup moment when Super Why finally confronts the wolf from The Three Little Pigs, he asks, “Why are you not being nice?” The wolf breaks down into big, silly sobs. The kids think it’s hysterical. So, when my girls melt down because we don’t think it is a good idea to have ice cream at 8:00 at night because it’s bedtime, maybe I should burst out into big heavy sobs. They’d probably think it was pretty funny.

Repetition is the key to learning:

When we write a script about teaching a specific skill like dealing with disappointment, we concentrate on repetition. We say the strategy over and over again to reinforce it. Repetition, is indeed, the key to learning. So, I shouldn’t get annoyed when every time (every time) my girls take a shower I need to say, “Remember, wash your hair. With shampoo. Then rinse it. With water. Now use body wash. And rinse it. Yes, with water.”

The long pause:

We pride ourselves on being the first show to create the “interactive” genre of educational television. Of course, a lot of shows had people talking to the camera (my mentor from afar, Fred Rogers) but Blue’s Clues was the first to do a full four-beat pause as the crux for the show. We wanted kids to think and answer questions using the skills they need in early education years: math and numbers, letters, matching, sorting, etc. What a difference that pause made in the world of kids TV. Wouldn’t it be great if, in my regular life, I always remembered to pause and listen? No, we’re always late for something. When I ask my girls a question I don’t always pause the four beats it takes to get a true answer. (Four beats is a long time.) But when I do, I get the best response… (pause).