Now, I like the Curious George series, plus the concepts seem to resonate well enough with our son. However, the more I read these stories over and over, coupled with my becoming ever more experienced as a father, I can't help notice something.
The Man with the Yellow Hat is one seriously crappy parent.
Honestly, how old can that little monkey be? Maybe 3 or 4 years old, tops? Now, I give him props for trying to be a good father figure, but what does this Yellow clad (not just the hat) parent do every single time they go out to spend a bit of quality time together?
YES! I know!!
Now, picture if this were me and Lukas. "Lukas, here we are in the middle of a crowd at the zoo, I want you to stand here by yourself while I go waaaay over there, out of your sight, for 10 minutes or so and buy us some cotton-candy. I'll be back after you've had ample time to put your life in jeopardy, but even though you have only seen these animals before in books, don't get too curious"
It's a no brainer that after a couple of episodes similar to this I would either have my back side thrown in jail for child endangerment, or at the very least had someone call Child Protective Services to have my little guy taken away. But the Yellow hatted dude? Well, he is a bonafide celebrity. Even been in a recent movie! Go figure.
(Lukas, sit here and read while daddy runs out for coffee, but don't get too curious)
And while I am at it, does anyone else wonder what how this guy became the guardian of a juvenile monkey in the first place? Did he buy George at Petco? Or worse, off the black market? I am sure there is a story behind it, but I haven't seen it explained in any of the tales that I have read. I probably should check Mrs. LIAYFapedia to find out.
What I do know is that times have changed, and some things that passed muster for good parenting over 60 years ago when George first came out, could get someone in some mighty hot water in today's day and age. Yet the series is still as popular as ever. Somehow we can all look the other way in the face of parenting skills as blatantly bad as Yellows. Curiously enough. I wonder if our two year olds are picking up on those finer details?
No, I didn't think so.
"Yes, of course buddy. Jump up and I'll read it again."
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11 comments:
I wonder how many kids grew up to smoke and chew because of the classic cartoons.
I wonder if book publishers would even allow a new book/character to let issues such as that fly. I doubt it.
I always wonder if the Yellow man was gay. Not that it matters, but was always curious.
According to the first book, he takes him out of the jungle after meeting him there. Basically, he's an illegal trapper, probably working in the black market.
(They circumvented this in the movie by having George stow away on a cargo ship.)
@Jay - Nothing like the classics!
@DC - Mrs. LIAYF said she saw him with woman in one of the stories, but what does that really mean?
@Scifi - A poacher, huh? No wonder they changed it in the movie.
And where's Mrs. Man with the Yellow Hat? Perhaps he's gay!?!
Has Lukas had any Max & Ruby yet? There's a lesson in parenting. No parents at all and Ruby bitches so much that little Max is going to end up doing hard time at some point.
I think the bigger question is, how does everyone in the city know exactly what a monkey is saying. Just sounds like a lot of squeaking and squawking to me.
But I can get over it, because at least it's not Dora. Bitch quit pausing, I already told you we need to use the map!
I must be one hell of a bad parent, because I never picked up on any of this in the George books. Cooper loves George, and we encourage.
Good lord, my kid is toast :-)
Gotta love those old books. Another one I don't get is "Fish Out of Water". Where are the parents during this tramatic moment in this young noys's life? He will always remember "Never more than a pinch, or you never know what will happen!"
@Vegasdad - Probably a good guess.
@Captain DA - Oh yeah, we are very familiar with Max and the bithcy Ruby.
Grandma is there, but she just feeds them ice cream for breakfast.
@1sttimedad - You need the universal monkey translator. Thankfully, I know nothing of Dora yet.
@Rob - Yeah, Lukas loves George too. And we don't discourage him, even in the face of terrible father figures. lol.
@Super mega dad - Not familiar with FOW either. Oh, the fun I am missing.
having seen the movie SEVERAl times, i can say that:
1) yellow hat went looking in the jungle for a statue to save the museum he worked for.
2)george fell in love with the yellow hat (whole outfit sold to him because it was the "in" thing he was told by shady sellers looking to dump the buttload of ugly yellow outfits...but i digress) and the man wearing it and stowed away unbeknownst to yellow hat
3)yellow hat is not gay because he hooks up with a teacher? bringing her kids to the museum where he works.
anything else you need to know about ole george...just let me know ;)
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