Just Say No to False Emotion, Synthesizers and Overacting

Summary: As parents, we have the power to choose the things we and our children will see. I choose not to expose my child to videos like Let's Play School, in which the lesson consists of false emotion, unbelievably over-acting child actors and annoying synthesized music.

Plot Synopsis
Baby Bop, a dinosaur too young for school, wants to go anyway. Barney and a group of human kids oblige Baby Bop by "playing school" -- role-playing the different parts of the school day. Singing and dancing ensues.

We have the Power to Choose
Looking at the other reviews of various Barney videos, I'm struck by the number of parents who seem to abdicate control over what their kids see. Some say they have no choice but to let their kids see Barney videos (often making a side comment that they personally find the videos annoying). Others describe situations in which their kids whine and wheedle until they get Barney.

Look, folks, parenting young kids is all about deciding what's best for your kids and organizing their lives accordingly. This means it is our job to separate the good from the bad in all sorts of things -- including children's videos. In that spirit, I've got to wonder whether I really want Let's Play School playing in my VCR.

False Emotion and Overacting
One of the things that bothers me about this (and just about every other) Barney video is the false emotion that permeates the production. Everyone's always perfectly supportive of everyone else. Everybody's perfectly attentive to everybody else. Everyone smiles at everyone else -- all the time. These dandy expressions of emotion lie on the surface of faces and voices like the ever-so-thin candy shell of an M&M -- except there's nothing underneath. Add overacting to the mix: the poor kid actors move around like trained monkeys, twirling in contrived fashions and reading each of their lines as if they were saying the MOST IMPORTANT thing in the WHOLE WORLD!!!

When viewing this video, I picked up on the fakeness of the proceedings pretty quickly. I give enough credit to my son that he'd pick up on that too. The last thing in the world I want my child to learn is that he should focus on putting up false fronts when interacting with others.

Cheap Production Values
Another weakness of the video is the poor production value. This is a common trait of Barney productions -- music plinked out on a synthesizer, simple sets, uninspiring scripts. The proceedings in general have a churned-out quality to them.

Good Alternatives
There are good alternatives out there. If your child is 2 or under, I'd recommend Tele-Tubbies. The segments with tubbies are carefully arranged with eye-catching colors and simple humor. The segments with children in them aren't contrived: they're simply snapshots of everday kids doing everyday things (with helpful narration).

A great option for all ages is the Wallace and Gromit series. The high-quality animation has rich, colorful detail that will keep your kid's eyes glued to the screen. The simple slapstick that appeals to kids is supplemented by crackling, witty humor to keep adults entertained.

In Sum...
In sum, there's good stuff out there for your child to watch. Why go for something trite and shoddy? I cannot recommend this video or any others in the Barney Collection.