Captain Kangaroo

The recent passing of Captain Kangaroo(Bob Keeshan) brought back fond memories of my childhood. I began to think of all the goodness he portrayed on his show. My generation grew up with the Captain and his friends, along with shows like Romper Room, Mr. Rogers, and the original Muppets shows. All of those shows taught basic values. We learned it was ok to always do the right thing. We learned that family matters. We learned respect, sharing, to play, to use our imagination. As children we looked up to these people and our parents didn’t have to worry about what we were seeing. I look at today’s children and what they have grown up with, Their role models are the Beavis and Butheads, the Simpsons and more recently the Osbournes. The lessons children are learning today are to be as crude as you can be, that it is ok to talk back to your elders, to not respect anyone, not even themselves and many more things that have changed the way children today think. As a teacher for over 20 years, I have seen these changes in our youth. I know TV is only part of that change, but I still sometimes wish we could go back to a time when life was easier. A time when kids could be kids and being responsible for your own actions was the norm. I for one will miss Captain Kangaroo. I feel a part of my childhood has been taken away from me. My wish for today’s children is that all of them find their own Captain Kangaroo for their own lives.