>Care Bears Stare

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This week, Encore on Demand on Cablevision is showing The Care Bears Movie from 1985. Always a fan of old-school kids stuff, my wife M put it on for Lilian the other day. She loved it. Then last night, I had a few chores to do around the house (including changing the linens on the bed), so I put Lilian in her high chair and put the movie on for her again. Nowadays, Lilian isn’t that big of a fan of her high chair anymore. But as soon as the music started for Care Bears, she was completely absorbed. For some reason, this movie has a hypnotic effect on her. It’s weird, cute, but a little disconcerting too! I know those 80’s animators were a lot wackier than they are nowadays. And Big-Fan-of-Conspiracy-Theories-Mommy (me) is convinced that they are actually hypnotizing my child or sending her subliminal messages. Or maybe the Care Bears are just cute. I don’t know. I know I certainly had one as a child (Cheer Bear, the pink one with the rainbow on the belly)… did you? Which one? And when they were re-released, M bought me one in 2003 as a gift (which has now been passed on to Lilian). But Lilian’s concentration on this movie is phenomenal. She’ll sit for over an hour without moving, watching from beginning to end.

To be honest, 80’s cartoons have almost no educational value, unlike Dora, Little Einsteins, etc. now that Lilian watches. But for pure entertainment value, nostalgia, and cultural awareness, a little Care Bears never hurt anyone! I’m always secretly glad when she likes something that one of her two mommies likes or liked as a kid!