You Tube Education

I would like to issue a great big thank you to the blogger of Cultural Quirks today. I have already done this in the comments section, but I feel the need to say it again, now a few hours later. The thank you is for the links on today’s post, Caesar Teaser (http://culturalquirks.com/2012/03/31/caesar-teaser/).
Once reading (and commenting on) this post I called the children out. I wanted to show them the commercial while last week’s discussion is still in their minds. I had no idea that they would enjoy this little lesson so much!
Once this commercial ended, I did what every reasonable you tube-r does, I clicked the “Related Videos” tab. I was blown away! Every Canadian Heritage video I remember from when I was a kid was there! There were also some I had forgotten existed, and some I didn’t remember.
Of course the kids wanted to see more. We spent a little more than an hour sifting through the videos, determining which were real and which were spoofs, and watching/discussing the real ones. They were amazed by the fact that these commercials were around twenty years old and I still remember most of them.
This hour was extremely educational and enjoyable. I know that watching you tube isn’t really considered quality family time, but I feel there was more quality here than in playing a board game. The kids actually learned (and so far remember) some key things from Canadian history. The kids favorite facts learned today:
• Winnie the Pooh is actually named after Winnipeg, Manitoba.
• Superman was created by a Canadian
• Basketball was created by a Canadian
• The current Canadian flag wasn’t flown until Grammy was school aged
• Mommy remembers things from a LOOONG time ago!

We spent the next hour doing more you tube-ing. The kids wanted to see more of my favorite commercials from when I was (around) their age. Of course most of the commercials from the ’90s on you tube are food/snack commercials, but they seemed to enjoy my old favorites too.
The main old favorites proved really difficult to find though. Ever try searching for MasterCard commercials? HUNDREDS of spoofs! The one we wasted the most time looking for though was the old Stay Alert, Stay Safe PSAs put out by the block parent association. I KNOW there were almost as many of these as there were Canadian Heritage commercials, but I could only find two of the actual episodes. 😦 We wasted more time looking for these than actually watching them and in the end, frustration over not being able to find them brought you tube time to an end. Besides, the other ’90s commercials meant the kids were ready for snack time.
In the end the kids learned a little about their country’s history, their mom’s TV viewing history and the huge steps taken to get us to where we are now. All in all, I would say this was quality educational time….now to the park to burn off pent up energy from watching you tube for more than two hours…

No matter how dark the day, the sun is always shining somewhere!

Jules