A Closer Look at Children’s Television: Now Mom and Dad!!

The last two people I would like to say thank you to are my parents. There are many reasons I feel I owe them a lot, for example if it weren’t for them I wouldn’t even be here, I wouldn’t be in college, and I wouldn’t have had any of the experiences that inspired and influenced Zuko…the Bo…and Me!!!

Aside from those facts, there are still more reasons to thank them. First of all, if it weren’t for my mom I never would have even thought to make a children’s show based on our cats. It was my mom who thought it would be a good idea since my brother and sister do the voices all the time and other people would probably find them just as entertaining as we do.

Next I want to thank both my mom and my dad for all the advice they gave throughout these past two semesters. When my professor capstone said we should have mentor(s) for our projects I immediately thought of my parents. My Dad is an Elemetary school principal and my mom is a music teacher, so who better to ask about what they think would work for children than people who are with children all day long. I also asked Dr. Mandy Medvin who is the chair of the Psychology department here at Westminster and specializes in Early Childhood Development and she gave me some great advice as well, but it was nice to go to my parents who I could talk to at any time of the day or night and get their opinion of things. I would constantly have them read over my scripts in the summer time and ask them if things made sense or if it was too confusing for kids to understand. I really trust them to tell me the truth about what I come up with and know that they know what they are talking about. I think we’re all used to it since they constantly read my papers throughout high school. They care so much about education and children that I knew that whatever they said would only make the show more effective for the audience.

I also would like thank my dad for letting me use his school for my show. This was really important because since we were using puppets I wasn’t completely sure where we could film that would work so you wouldn’t see my brother and sister controlling the puppets. I changed my mind from so many different locations from my apartment living room, to our living room at home, and then finally the place we ended up using, the nurse’s office at my dad’s school. It was very last minute, but we made it work and I thank my dad for finding the space to film in. My dad also rounded up some of his students that I interviewed for the show about their experiences in school to give the show something extra to make it useful to young children and families. To be able to use a real school in the show in my opinion takes to a whole other level that brings it closer to being like a professional production rather than something teenagers make for their high school English class.

Finally, I want to thank my parents for being such wonderful actors in the show. When I decided that I wanted to have a tour of the school with the principal and a meeting with Bo’s teacher, I knew my parents would be the best people for the roles. That’s exactly what they are. They brought so much realness to the show and such authentic concern that Bo feel more comfortable with starting school that watching the show you know they care. I also loved that when you watch the show they don’t sound like they are talking to puppets, it sounds like they’re talking to real children (I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that they’ve been reacting to Zuko and Bo’s personalities for the past 8 years). It sounds exactly how I wanted it to sound and I am just so grateful to for that.

So once again…thank you, thank you, thank you mom and dad!!!!! Thank you for all the support and encouragement you have given me over the past year and my entire life. You have always believed in me and everything I work for and I really, truly appreciate all the love you have given me!!!!

Thank You So Much!!