A Real Legacy – Passing on The Joy of Learning

I enjoy an AHA moment as much as the next person or Oprah Winfrey fan,  so I’m most happy learning something new. I know we want to pass on a legacy and a real inheritance to our children, but imagine a world where we also pass on the simple joy of learning and discovery. When I watch my son get a kick from being a smart, nerdy boy or see him curled up with a book, far away in another milieu, my heart swells up with joy !

“There’s joy and every other human emotion possible between the pages of a book, if only you’ll look” AD

There is no denying the influence of media on our lives and world view. Shows like Sesame Street, Mr Roger’s Neighborhood, The Reading Rainbow, The Electric Company and *Tales by Moonlight, ignited our curiously and taught us morals, kindness etc. It ingrained in our psyche and minds things we learned in the classroom or from our parents, simply because they were visually stimulating, fun and sometimes, school just wasn’t. Our brains thinks in pictures and loves being tickled!

Even with the distraction of countless cable channels, technology and video games, I made sure he knows that books are essential. A friend who I haven’t seen in a while, walked into my son’s bedroom and stopped short in amazement.

“Wait…na your son dey read all these books?!” she exclaimed in pidgin english (Nigerian slang english)

I burst out laughing, my son has caught the “bug” and in all fairness, I have to thank  SuperWhy and his crew – Princess Presto, Wonder Red, Alpha Pig and Woofster for splashing aerosol on the little spark I tried to light by reading with him as a toddler. As he grew up on shows like SuperWhy, he had exciting adventures with his friends and learned to LOVE reading.

What we watch and consider acceptable on our TV screens or in our tech-savvy mediums of tablets, smartphones and visual social platforms is critical to the society and culture we create.

“We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Anaïs Nin

These SuperWhy Readers live in a magical world created by  Angela Santomero –  The Storybook Village decked out with an amazing Book Club. She is a television executive producer and co-creator of the long-running Nickelodeon children’s television program Blue’s Clues, as well as the PBS children’s shows Super Why, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Peep and the Big Wide World, The WotWots and The Octonauts .

Her creative and intuitive shows on children’s television come from her extensive background in developmental psychology, instructional technology and education and even more from her desire to engage our kids while stimulating the brainiac in them. (Thanks Angela!)

“I became fascinated with the idea that if television could have a powerful negative effect on kids, it could have an equally powerful positive effect on them…” Angela Santomero

Here is a clip below of her interviewing Linda Simensky, Vice President of PBS Kids programming. I’m naturally curious, so I did some research and read about these creative minds behind some of  the popular kid shows – I bet you didn’t know about these champions of educational shows for our kids. They believe in TV shows with “a sense of purpose, clever humor, great characters and interesting story lines.”  These powerful women and  others like them are the real ROCK STARS in my book. 

They are instrumental to helping me pass on a real legacy to my son…the incredible joy and thrill of learning. He is on the right path (with his nose buried in a book…)  and that gives me JOY!

* Tales By Moonlight – A drama series shown on the Nigerian Television Authority based on stories inspired by different ethic folklores with lessons on morals and traditional values for children.

Daily Prompt: Happy, Joy – What does “happiness or joy” look like to you?