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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Dear Noggin,


Thank you for putting Little Bear on at 4:00 pm each day. The theme music begins to play and it just makes me smile. I fetch my little one from wherever she is in the house and sit her down in front of the tv as the voices of Little Bear and Mother Bear and Cat and No Feet and all the others fill our home. I love Mother Bear. She is so sweet-- much sweeter than I am. She inspires me to always be so kind to my little bears, to speak softly and gently like she does. She is my hero.

Because of Little Bear being on at 4:00, I can freely go into the kitchen without guilt and work on dinner preparation. I am guaranteed that for that full 30 minutes, my 3yo will be absorbed in the adventures of Little Bear and I can chop and dice and saute to my hearts' content. I am sad when the music comes on at the end, because my time is up. Noggin, I confess I wish there were back to back episodes of Little Bear. Sometimes I need more than 30 minutes. Sometimes I am still cooking dinner.

I know there will come a day that no one watches Little Bear in our house anymore. That day is arriving faster and faster. I remember when my nearly 17 yo used to watch it years and years ago. Now he walks through the den and I point at the tv, "It's Little Bear!" I say. "Don't you remember?" He pats his little sister on the head absentmindedly and says something about her standing too close to the tv. Then he goes upstairs to his room to plan his life via cell phone from behind closed doors. For a moment, I wish that my little bear could have stayed little forever. But Noggin, that's just not going to happen, then or now.

Instead I choose to be grateful for Little Bear at 4:00, and for the chance to do it all again with this little one... and this time around, I am appreciating it so much more. So I wanted to take a moment to say thanks Noggin for your public service to moms everywhere.

Signed,
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10 comments:

Lysa TerKeurst said...

Sniff... sniff... my little bear days have sadly come to an end.

They need to develop a Big Bear show and then a teenage Bear show. I best sweet mama bear shows some color to her personality on those shows. I bet she doesn't talk as gently and her hair is a bit frizzed and her nerves a bit frayed.

Heck, I'd watch it just to see Mama Bear come unglued. Now that would even entertain our teens, I'm sure of it.

Arlene G said...

My little granddaughter is a big Noggin fan and I enjoy most of the shows as well. For me, Mr Rogers came on at five pm and he entertained my children while I got things ready for dinner. Or sometimes I just sat with them and listened to Mr Rogers kind adult voice after a long day with the kids!!

Tina said...

Oh Marybeth...we should be friends! I have 2 girls, a 10 y.o. & a 3 y.o. and I have had almost continuous Little Bear watching for 10 years. Every season I pray that Noggin doesn't replace it with something else! I agree about it being the perfect time for dinner prep...as long as I can tear myself away from that sweet show. Sometimes I wish we could jump in the t.v. and live with them, they are so gentle and kind...pretty good role models compared to much of the other children's programming. Have a great day!

Arlene said...

For me, it was PBS, and the show was Dragon Tales. My little monkey loved that show, and I got a half hour of free babysitting. I remember watching Mr. Roger's Neighborhood as a little girl with my siblings, and being in total concentration with that program. It was my mom's favorite show. These are TV classics that moms everywhere think of and smile.

Shelly Wildman said...

Hi Marybeth! I don't pop over here often enough, but I'm glad I did today. My kids are too old for Noggin or PBS kids shows or any of that, but when they were, I used to use Barney much like you use Little Bear. Except that Barney came on at 8:30 in the morning--and that's when I would rush to the shower. I would laugh to myself as I thought of all the moms getting in the shower while Barney was on and how the water table in our county was surely much lower at that time of day.

Cute post!

Holly Furtick said...

Amen. Thank you Noggin.

Anonymous said...

Hi Mary Beth.. I LOVE Little Bear and I too am sad that my little bears are growing out of it.. It give me comfort just to watch it.. :)

heidi said...

I am so thankful for Little Bear... innocence. My boys are growing out of it but my 2 youngest girls still find it quite sweet to watch as they sit so peacefully.

Angie said...

Oh..I remember those Litttle Bear days. Along with The Busy World of Richard Scary and Gulla Gulla Island.Those days do pass away too soon. I miss Mama Bear.

really.truly said...

We love "Little Bear"! I love the music as well.....soothing and relaxing for the kids and mom :)