Summer is Here: Time for Another Suite Life of Zack and Cody Marathon (Not!)

Family Friday

I thought I had exhausted this topic, but it appears that The Suite Life of Zack and Cody has again popped its shaggy little head(s) into my eight-year-old son’s repertoire of must-sneak TV.

Since summer vacation started, the television has been on slightly (OK, much) more than usual.  Luckily, my son gets so sucked into what he watches that he typically doesn’t notice the stealthy creep of parental feet until we are virtually on top of him.

One day this week, I walked up to my mesmerized son, who was perched stock-still in front of the TV.  It took about ten seconds for him to notice me, at which point he jumped two feet and started to sputter.  Apparently, he was simply walking by the TV and it turned on by itself.  And Zack and Cody just happened to be on.  Despite the telltale double-shaggy-blond-heads, he did not fully realize that the show was indeed Zack and Cody until the exact instant I appeared.  Uh-huh.

A few days later, I note that my son is playing what appears to be a very G-rated computer game, something involving soft fuzzy bears.  I leave the room, returning a few minutes later.  This time, the game he is playing appears to involve Zack and Cody!  How can this be?

My son eagerly demonstrates the objective, which involves moving four or five marble-like circles (containing the heads of the various tween characters, including Zack and Cody themselves) through some sort of trap door before Mr. Moseby blows his whistle.

 "Justin, this is a Zack and Cody game!" I protest rather weakly, knowing all the while what his comeback will be.

 "But Mom, you said I couldn't watch the show – you didn't say I couldn't play the game!"

Sigh.  Well, he's right.  My primary objection to the show is the cynical and way-too-clever repartee running rampant throughout, which the game does not seem to contain.  And it was my son's parroting of the dialogue that led me to nix the show.  I guess the game is OK, for now.

I definitely do not want to create an illicit thrill out of Zack and Cody.  I'm surely dating myself, but I remember sneaking downstairs as a pre-teen and watching late-night (1 or 2am) showings of such R-rated 80s fare as Private School and The Lonely Lady on HBO.  When conscious, my mother (hi Mom!) would never have allowed this.  And this, without a doubt, was what made these films so intriguing.

Would I let my son watch those movies?  No!  Were they moronic?  Absolutely!  Was I permanently scarred?  Certainly not.

As I've mentioned before, pervasive stupidity remains my primary objection to most of what television offers.  To me, the solution is not to ban it from my children's lives altogether, but to help them think critically about it.  Instead of passively absorbing what TV spits out, I want them to actively process it, question it, then accept or reject it.

Here’s an admittedly extreme example of what I want to avoid.  When I first graduated from college, I worked for about a year and a half at an AIDS hotline, which had an 800 number that anyone in the country could call for information about AIDS prevention and treatment.  More times than I care to remember, conversations went something like this:

Me:  National AIDS Hotline, how can I help you?

Caller:  Hi.

Me:  Hi.

Caller:  Hi.

Me: Do you have a question about AIDS I can help you with?

Caller:  No, not really.

Me:  We have a lot of information about AIDS.  What led you to call today?

Caller:  Well, the TV said to call this number, so I called it.

The TV said to call the number, so they called it.  I mentally pair that line with my son's television-induced slack-jawed expression and get horrifying visions of his future.  I quickly quash these, and instead come up with an action plan.

For now, my husband and I are requiring that my son go through the TV program and circle the shows he wants to watch, then have him explain why he's chosen them. The rest of the time the TV will remain off.  Hopefully this will spark some critical thinking and selection.

Anyone have any other ideas?

By Jenny Douglas Vidas

Comments

[Lyn]

We canceled our cable tv recently. Little man is too young to want to watch it yet, and we don't have any time to watch anything ourselves.

Right now the plan for his visual media consumption is to use DVDs and the internet (something called "Noggin" I'm supposed to check out, I guess?) But it will require some serious persuasion--or a complete sea change in what's broadcast--to get us to turn cable back on anytime within the next decade.