I think it was Friday afternoon, during the period of nothingness between morning insanity and school pickups. I think that I needed some quiet time, so on went the TV for a few minutes of distraction for girl-child and peace and quiet for me.
There wasn’t enough time for a movie, my usual choice for down time, so I flicked over to ABC2. Now generally I am happy with the nothingness that is shown as it is nothingness with a pleasant moral story but I haven’t seen all of the shows that are on their current playlist. This afternoon included a particularly offensive mindless drivel called Yo Gabba Gabba. Girl-child was beside herself with excitement, so I sat on the couch with her and tried to ignore what was on the screen as I flicked through blogs online.
The show kind of reminded me of Teletubbies gone horribly wrong. I get how the cartoon-like backgrounds are mesmerising and the songs are addictive repetitive and in my mind totally annoying, but if it keeps a 4 year old entertained, who am I to complain?
I happened to actually look up during on of the song sequences as girl-child was singing and dancing along with the show. I can’t actually remember the lyrics but essentially one of the Yo Gabba Gabba’s dropped some food on the ground and picked it up to eat it again. The dirty germs on the food sung a song about how germs are dirty and evil and you aren’t allowed to eat anything with germs in it.
Now I am sure that this is a totally normal response for parents to not want their kids to eat food from the floor, but not me. I am afraid that I have taken the ‘3 second rule’ to another level. Most people have that rule – if it has been on the floor for less than 3 seconds it is still good to eat. Well for us it just wasn’t long enough and soon 3 seconds became 3 minutes. That then extended to 3 days and finally to if it hasn’t grown fur or been carried off by animals, it is good to eat. Mind you, I wouldn’t eat it, I’m just not going to be precious if a little person chooses to eat it, who am I to argue. Hell, I have memories of eating mudpies and plants (not specifically fruits and vegetables), playing in the mud and generally enjoying the outdoors when I was a kid and I turned out OK.
I guess it goes without saying that I am not precious about anti-bacterial anything and follow the philosophy that germs make us stronger.
Anyway, after the song sequence we had a lengthy discussion (read argument) about the benefits and perils of germs. It is really hard to argue with a 4 year old trying to explain that she is healthy and strong and very rarely sick as a result of our living/eating practices when mind numbing animation disagrees. I wasn’t sure of her thoughts when the discussion ended but hopefully I convinced her that we weren’t complete ferals.
I had forgotten all about the stupid song until this morning. We were sitting in the park at the zoo snacking on crackers and carrot sticks. Girl-child dropped a cracker onto the ground (a tan bark surface) picked it up and then began singing the ‘germs are evil’ song. Clearly I can’t compete with animated evilness, I must learn how to sing my arguments to be in with a chance.
NOTE – just because we have an extended 3 second rule, do not use antibacterial everything when we wash and occasionally spend all day in pyjamas does NOT make us totally gross and disgusting!
