Holiday Treats
December 17th, 2009 by Jane SchneiderRan across an interesting post on Babble.com recently. A Canadian sociologist evidently viewed 23 episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine with her young daughter and determined that Thomas’ worldview is decidedly sexist. Not many good girl role models either. Dear, dear.
Of course, my brothers and I watched enough episodes of Wiley Coyote as youngsters to imprint on us the value of using an anvil as a problem-solving tool. Yet, remarkably, we resisted the urge. (HINT: IT’S ONLY A CARTOON.)
So hey, you thought police — take a powder.
Instead, light up the smile of your train-loving sprite with Thomas and Friends: Holiday Express ($9.95). This latest release features six older episodes of Thomas, all with snow or holiday themes. It even comes with a special Thomas car, festooned in garlands for the holidays.
While Thomas’ world might be a bit parochial, the lessons of teamwork, friendship, patience, and endurance are just right for the preschool set. My son loved building train towns at that age, and we’d spend hours running the cars, making up Thomas stories of our own. It’s not such a bad world to reside in, just keep Sir Topham Hatt in check.