Disney Junior Shows Have Made Me A Better Human
Kristyn Meyer is on a journey to make herself the best human that she can be. These posts are a reflection of that. She welcomes your support via reading and through commissioned affiliate links within her posts! To stay up to date on all of her shenanigans, please subscribe to her email list!(psst…there’s a free gift involved)
Pre-child me said that my kids weren’t going to watch television. At all.
As it turns out, pre-child me was a moron.
My kids definitely watch TV, sometimes more than I’d like. Some of their favorite shows are Blippi, Paw Patrol, T.O.T.S and Puppy Dog Pals.
As it turns out, I owe a lot to Bob from Puppy Dog Pals.
For those of you who haven’t seen the show, Bob is the owner of the two puppies. To summarize briefly, he is a single man who is very into his pets. Very into.
When it comes to real life, I can’t say that Bob and I would be friends. I just find that his interests and my own don’t really jive.
In the past I may have made some off-handed comments to my husband, regarding Bob, that were not the most kind. At times I may have made reference to his need to find a life partner, or perhaps felt that he needed to just get a life, even without a partner.
But my four year old put me in my place. Over a Disney Junior show.
One day we were flipping through Disney Junior shows and she wanted to watch Puppy Dog Pals. The episode that was on was one where Bob gets his eyes dilated and can’t see well.
At one point, Bob ran into a pole.
I laughed.
The four year old did not.
Instead, she schooled me. “Mommy, you should not laugh at Bob. He can’t help it because he can’t see well. It’s not nice to laugh at him, it isn’t his fault that he couldn’t see!”
Well geez Louise.
I constantly lecture her about being nice to people, and here she was calling me out for not practicing what I preach.
After that I found myself thinking about what had just happened. As it turns out, my daughter is wiser than her mother. She was able to recognize that it was no fault of Bob’s that he couldn’t see, that he was doing his best to get through the day. Similarly, she understood that he needed to be advocated for.
I just saw that someone ran into a pole and I laughed.
But really, how often in life do we judge others without even knowing the full story? Pretty much all the time. Someone could be speeding down the road and we call them careless. On the other hand, how do we know that they aren’t racing to a loved one who is in trouble? Perhaps someone doesn’t complete a project by their assigned deadline and we call them slackers. Subsequently, how do we know that their best friend wasn’t just diagnosed with cancer?
We don’t.
Being kind needs to be a priority, and setting an example needs to go right along with it. How can I expect my daughter to express kindness when she witnesses me laughing at the misfortunes of others?
Learn from each other, help one another and be kind.
