Is Barney Evil?

This morning my husband told our five year old that Barney was evil. Sigh. I had muttered that sentence in response to my son's question about why he couldn't watch Barney last year. I said it, under my breath, with my back turned to my son as I walked from the living room into our bedroom. My husband, lying on the bed, didn't realize I hadn't actually said it for my son's ears and repeated it loudly so our boy could hear it. What a pickle.

Our son's response was, "Oh." For a five year old that means he'll store it and process it at a later date. It also means that a rehash is forthcoming, probably at the most inopportune moment, like at the doctor's office, or at the Ontario Early Years centre, or at a play date, parroted back to his friend's mom. My stomach is in knots when I think about it.

But am I right? Is Barney appropriate viewing for children in the 21st century? The values of "happy family" and "let's all get along" seem fine enough. Sure the high pitched voice and the flailing armlets are pretty annoying as an adult viewing it, but from a child's perspective?

I know our kids are mesmerized, which I think was the original point - a non-violent babysitter who socialized kids appropriately. Barney isn't flashy (by modern standards), doesn't shout at the kids like Dora and Diego do, doesn't have quick edits like a music video like Bunnytown or some of the other Playhouse Disney shows do, and seems to have more educational content than the Doodlebops (which I refuse to let our kids watch, ever).

In the era of full-day early learning promised by the Province, where society is focusing on early childhood education as opposed to babysitting, nursery school or daycare, where preschools advertise their curricula, Barney seems just a bit archaic and quaint. The kids are squeaky clean, the special effects of the standard that most four year-olds could create on their own with iMovie, and the music is...well, let's just say it's not Yo Gabba Gabba. The premises are sweet and very simple, with no real conflict or arc. And that's not bad. My son puts his fingers in his ears whenever he's alarmed that a character has done something wrong or that there will be conflict (possibly because my parenting style involves lots of volume). That never happens with Barney - it's stress-free viewing.

Today's life puts little children under an enormous amount of stress - they hear or see death, destruction and fear everyday when their parents watch the news. They are bombarded with genderized, sexualized, monetized images of people in various states of distress on billboards and bus shelters, in ads and in magazines. They hear their parents discuss layoffs, foreclosures, and debt. Children are very aware of their own lack of control, and to see adults have little control over their lives undermines all the positive messages we put out.

So, no. Barney is not evil. Barney is a vacation for our kids - a temporary respite from the day to day stress every family feels. And why not - my Barney is called Grey's Anatomy!