‎"Heavens to Murgatroyd!"

Does anybody remember that?  Do you remember the cartoon character who said that?  He was one of my favorites.  Even if he was a pink mountain lion in a string tie!

What happened to those old cartoons?  Some I have seen on Boomerang TV like The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Looney Tunes.  But what about Snagglepuss?  Mighty Mouse?  Good old fashioned slapstick comedy, stupid jokes that still make you laugh, and scenarios that you can actually picturing happening now with our kids.  And most of them are just GONE.  Oh, sure, you can look them up on YouTube.  The Sesame Street Martians are still hilarious with their increasing speed of saying, "Yip. Yip.  Yip! Yip!" to communicate.

What happened to our kids?  I use to LOVE those old cartoons when I was growing up.  Now my kids are watching cartoons that I have to censor.  Who would have thought television would air cartoons that advocate lying (The Regular Show), or being a brat (The Simpsons), or aren't even fit for kids to watch At All (Family Guy)!  Okay, I admit, I got into Kim Possible for a little while, she was a cool teenage kid fighting crime.  And my seven-year-old has a penchant for redheads like his dad.  She was great!  But Adventure Time?  Really?  Resurrecting dead candy zombies?  Cat and Dog?  Obnoxious and stupid.

But what is this junk that is on Cartoon Network that manages to get by the Parental Controls by not being rated?  I thought Parental Controls were to help us parents so that we wouldn't have to watch EVERY show on the Cartoon Network, Boomerang, etc just to make sure it was age appropriate and inoffensive?  I'm just now discovering that Parental Controls don't always work.  But I just don't have time to censor everything my children watch.

Bring back Speedbuggy, Captain Caveman, Hong Kong Phooey.  Bring back the real non-animated shows for kids like Isis (my personal favorite), Shazam, and even The Afternoon Special (which is where I first watched a show based on an Edgar Allan Poe story and was hooked for life).  Bring back shows I don't have to worry about my kids watching.  Even Scooby-Doo has been updated to the point I'm not sure about him.  What do you tell your child's preschool teacher when he innocently bursts out with, "What the!" that he heard from Fred Jones.

I miss the innocence of childhood.  I miss not having to protect my children from television.  There is enough in this big, bad world that's going to hurt them soon enough from which I can't protect them.  I'm trying to put off their heartbreaks and loss of innocence as long as possible.  I thought living in a rural setting would help protect my children, but I can't protect them from technology.  As hard as I try, someone out there will figure out a way to expose them to things I don't want them to see yet.  Someone will figure out a way around my safeguards.

I wish I could shield my children, but even they struggle out from under my safeguards.  Reaching for knowledge, but not always knowing that knowledge isn't always good.  Not yet.  Trust me a little longer, children.  Trust me to know what's best.  And stop getting angry when I change the television channel or put in a dvd for your own good.  And my own peace of mind.  ‎"Heavens to Murgatroyd!" said Snagglepuss.  Things could be worse.  But let's try to make them better anyway.