As is the case with a lot of four-year-olds, Sausage is a big fan of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. It’s a pretty good show and there’s always a moral lesson in each episode, cleverly disguised as something that Jake and his swashbuckling buddies must do to help them earn ‘gold doubloons’ for their treasure chest.
I rarely have an issue with the shows that Sausage chooses to watch on TV and I’ve blogged before about how kids shows, these days anyway, are educational and fun. But today, I was listening to Jake while ironing my work clothes and something about it bothered me. Captain Hook was throwing some shit-fit about the fact that he had no treasure for Pirate Show and Tell and Mr. Smee asked Jake and his mates if they’d hide some treasure so that Captain Hook could think he’d found it all by himself and be happy again.
So far, so schmaltzy.
But my problem is this; Captain Hook treats Jake like shit in every. single. episode. Just off the top of my head, I can recall him stealing the Neverland Pirate’s football, tricking them out of Bucky, their ship, stealing Izzy’s puzzle box, also stealing her hula hoop and kidnapping Cubby’s goldfish. I get that there’s a strong theme of ‘taking the moral high ground’ in the show, but surely it all goes a bit too far? Why should Captain Hook get away with behaving this way and still deserve help? I’m afraid this level of tolerance is a step too far for me.
Kindness is a hugely important lesson to teach children and I’m proud to say that Sausage is the kindest person I know, but at the same time, I’d never expect her to be kind if it was consistently being thrown back in her face. Are Disney trying to teach kindness, or simply make doormats of our children?
What do you think? Have you seen the show and thought the same or do you think kindness is something that should be unconditional and I’m a hard-hearted cow?!
Well I’ve never seen the show and can’t exactly say you’ve sold it to me now, lol. But you’re right, we need to teach our kids kindness but at the same time teach them not to be doormats. Unfortunately, there are too many doo-gooders in this country and that’s what happens when making children’s programs. These doo-gooders then go on to tell us their kids are being bullied. Not surprising really.
CJ x
We are terrible in this country at dealing with emotional intelligence. It is unlikely our kids will get much, if any, education about being kind in school so we have to make sure we give them this lesson at home. We are all big fans of ‘Old Jack’s Ship’ on CBeebies and that is gentle and kind and I like that the Butternut Squash in ‘Mr Bloom’s Nursery’ like cuddles – no shit-fits here 🙂