When I was a child, I had a speech impediment. Due to my father having a Scots accent and my mom a prairie Canadian accent, it was discovered that I couldn't pronounce certain words properly. After several years of speech therapy I finally managed to speak like everyone else.
Watching Teletubbies, I fear we're setting up a whole generation of kids who can't speak properly. The show's content itself is neither here nor there. I've come to accept that pre-school television is now supposed to be banal, stupid, and uneducational (just look at what has happened to Sesame Street in recent years). And there is no denying that the show's production is among the most unique I have ever seen. Full marks there.
But my problem with this show is that everyone uses baby talk, and worse yet, baby talk with a British accent. I have no trouble with a generation of latchkey kids who will probably end up with British accents as Teletubbies is the show that teaches them to speak ... but at least let's get them speaking properly.
If you have young children, and they are still developing language skills, I urge you to not let them watch Teletubbies. You'd be better off letting them watch Barney. It's just as stupid and mindless, but at least you can understand what they're saying. Better still, lobby someone to release DVDs of classic shows like Mr Dressup, Mister Rogers, pre-1990s Sesame Street (before Elmo ruined it) -- or even Barney. Anything but this potentially dangerous series.
Watching Teletubbies, I fear we're setting up a whole generation of kids who can't speak properly. The show's content itself is neither here nor there. I've come to accept that pre-school television is now supposed to be banal, stupid, and uneducational (just look at what has happened to Sesame Street in recent years). And there is no denying that the show's production is among the most unique I have ever seen. Full marks there.
But my problem with this show is that everyone uses baby talk, and worse yet, baby talk with a British accent. I have no trouble with a generation of latchkey kids who will probably end up with British accents as Teletubbies is the show that teaches them to speak ... but at least let's get them speaking properly.
If you have young children, and they are still developing language skills, I urge you to not let them watch Teletubbies. You'd be better off letting them watch Barney. It's just as stupid and mindless, but at least you can understand what they're saying. Better still, lobby someone to release DVDs of classic shows like Mr Dressup, Mister Rogers, pre-1990s Sesame Street (before Elmo ruined it) -- or even Barney. Anything but this potentially dangerous series.