The Tao of Teletubbies

My son loves the Teletubbies. 

I remember first hearing about them years ago, from parents of toddlers who thought they were strange, but knew how much their kids seemed to get into them.  I checked them out one day when I was home sick from work, and agreed that they were very strange.  A United Kingdom created show with lots of Japanese Anime leanings about 4 little aliens (?) who love to play and watch real kids play all over the world.  OK, somebody smoked one too many funny cigarettes over there across the pond.  But they did seem sweet and innocent, and I could see how babies and toddlers could fall in love with them.

So when it came time for Gabriel to start watching TV, the two shows at the top of my list for him to watch were Teletubbies and Sesame Street.  I just have trouble with Barney - not because of the dinosaur himself, but because of the over-enthusiastic and bubbly children.  They drive me crazy.  So, we started with an assortment of DVD's, with some Baby Einstein, Sesame Babies and Teletubbies.  He has since rejected all notion of the Sesame Babies, preferring to watch the grown up version now.  The Baby Einsteins still hold his attention, for now.  And I even kept one Barney video because the whole thing was filmed at the Ft. Worth Zoo, which I thought was pretty cool.   But the stars in his world are Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po.  We now own 7 hour-long DVD's and VHS tapes, which rivet Gabriel to the TV every evening while I'm cooking dinner.

Now that I'm an expert on this charming show, I can share why it's great.  They teach their young viewers about manners, saying "thank you" to each other when toys are handed off.  They teach about sharing.  They give each other hugs all the time, and I'm a big believer that you can never have too many hugs.  They love to dance.  They show real children playing and having fun from all over the world.  They also show cultural things like learning traditional dance in India or helping with chores like washing clothes in Africa.  It has taught Gabriel that there are children who may not look the same as him, but they are very like him in many ways.  Plus there are parts that are downright laugh-out-loud funny.  I'll never forget the first time I heard him belly laughing, and ran in to see him watching the part where their favorite meal, Tubby toast, sails out of the toaster and lands on each plate with an accompanying fart noise.  To a 15-month-old, that's comic genius.  

We decided to get him some Teletubbies jammies, and ended up having to order them direct from England.  They took forever to get here, then ended up being long-sleeved.  My Mom was sweet enough to transform them into short-sleeved, and we finally got to show him our surprise night before last.  Most of his reaction was saved on our video camera, but I managed to get a few stills.  They don't do his squealy excitement justice, although the last photo above caught him in mid-squeal.  

Give me weird but sweet over sugary and fake any day.   The Teletubbies ROCK!!