Barney. The big purple dinosaur. In a very unscientific study, I've concluded that there is a big generation gap when it comes to Barney viewers/lovers. Little kids really love him. Then comes the gap....at about 8 years old, kids start choosing to be Barney-free. The gap is pretty vast--usually lasting until about 49 years old. I draw my conclusion based on my own experience and talking to those around me. Barney made his PBS foray in about 1988, when my kids were little. I couldn't handle Barney and his cheesy little friends so he didn't get much t.v. time at our house but I did notice that my pre-schoolers were pretty in tune with Barney when they got the opportunity to watch.
Fast forward many, many years. I now have a one-year old granddaughter. Her mom and dad were not big Barney fans for the same reasons that had been off-putting for me. One day I was babysitting and I turned on PBS. There was Barney and his little friends, still as cheesy as ever. However Amelia, my granddaughter, immediately started watching. She sat motionless for 20 minutes while Barney sang about saying please and thank-you. He danced. He laughed. He was nice to his friends. I thought to myself "Barney is good. What have I been thinking all these years?" I immediately went out and bought four or five Barney dvds to have on hand and to share with my daughter. Amelia loves "Marmey". When I babysit I have to ration Barney time because she asks for it all the time. My daughter and son-in-law are now Barney converts too because of the good things that he teaches. However my daughter did admit that she prefers to listen to him and not to actually watch him----still a lot of cheesy going on.
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