When I was a kid...
...we watched TV in black and white and had only four channels: 2, 5, 7, and 9...
My sons roll their eyes at me when I start down this path. They can't even imagine a life without 250 channels of nonstop digital cable. And they certainly can't understand that in all that there is to choose from why I am drawn to Little House on the Prairie and All in the Family and The Jeffersons and The Andy Griffith Show. Especially The Andy Griffith Show! To them, there is something very, very wrong about a show that is in black and white.
But I think Colin is getting hooked--and it makes me smile.
Tonight he watched The Andy Griffith Show with me for the second time. He protested at times, noting that "they should make it in color," but his protests soon subsided, and he became completely engrossed. He giggled repeatedly at the antics of Barney Fife. I was careful not to let on that I noticed, out of fear that he would snap out of it and want to change the channel.
I smile because I feel that in this moment of nostalgia I have expanded his horizons somehow, that I have given him a glimpse into something special that kids of his generation will never know. As parents we have to be very sneaky about these things--about pulling them back into a black-and-white world when everything else around them sparkles and glitters. And when we are able to do this, we must savor the moment, because once The Andy Griffith Show was over, it was all over. Colin was not about to sit through an episode of Sanford and Son.
He said, "I'd rather watch Pimp My Ride" and walked away.
Well, he'll be back tomorrow. Aunt Bea is taking flying lessons.
My sons roll their eyes at me when I start down this path. They can't even imagine a life without 250 channels of nonstop digital cable. And they certainly can't understand that in all that there is to choose from why I am drawn to Little House on the Prairie and All in the Family and The Jeffersons and The Andy Griffith Show. Especially The Andy Griffith Show! To them, there is something very, very wrong about a show that is in black and white.
But I think Colin is getting hooked--and it makes me smile.
Tonight he watched The Andy Griffith Show with me for the second time. He protested at times, noting that "they should make it in color," but his protests soon subsided, and he became completely engrossed. He giggled repeatedly at the antics of Barney Fife. I was careful not to let on that I noticed, out of fear that he would snap out of it and want to change the channel.
I smile because I feel that in this moment of nostalgia I have expanded his horizons somehow, that I have given him a glimpse into something special that kids of his generation will never know. As parents we have to be very sneaky about these things--about pulling them back into a black-and-white world when everything else around them sparkles and glitters. And when we are able to do this, we must savor the moment, because once The Andy Griffith Show was over, it was all over. Colin was not about to sit through an episode of Sanford and Son.
He said, "I'd rather watch Pimp My Ride" and walked away.
Well, he'll be back tomorrow. Aunt Bea is taking flying lessons.
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