Question: Et tu, PBS?

Well, it’s becoming clear to me that even PBS Kids is not the idyllic educational alcove upon which we’ve all pegged our hopes and dreams of uninterrupted dinner-making or shower-taking.

What am I talking about?

"WordGirl".

Sure, on the surface, it’s about vocabulary and words.

But do you think my children are expanding their vocabulary?

Or do you think they’re running around the apartment with their blankies, “dying” the bad guys from the series and pretending to be WordGirl and WordBoy?

Of course it’s inevitable, isn’t it? My kids have just experienced two deaths of people they knew or knew of. They talk about death, but who knows how much they understand? They do, however, totally get the whole good vs. bad thing.

And "WordGirl" is such a mild version of that dichotomy. I could understand their play better if they watched StarWars, like some kids their age do. There’s some pretty hardcore evil in Darth Vader. But this is PBS. This is Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. (Although I don’t know that he’d approve of WordGirl's shenanigans, plucky though she is.)

And now they’re pretending the chairs are the bad guys, and they’re whipping their blankets furiously at them.

Do I need to just accept that we all have “killer” instincts? That we all basically have the ability to be vicious, if only in play? Am I reading too much into their violent blankie play? What’s next, dueling teddy bears? I don’t think I can take a murderous Pooh (that didn’t sound right) or a vitriolic Tigger.

I know we shouldn’t suppress children’s natural curiosity or their dramatic play. So I guess I just have to put up with killer blankies as long as we're staying somewhere where I allow them to watch network TV. I know, I know, I could turn it off. But I'm weak. And alert readers know that I have a love/hate relationship to TV myself. I'll be many things, but not a hypocrite. If I can "So You Think You Can Dance" then they can have Mr. Rogers. And maybe even "Wordgirl". The music's really good.)

At least they aren’t fighting each other. But if I see Pooh going down, the TV goes. (That doesn't sound right, either.)