I popped the tape inside the hi-fi system's cassette reader and my mother's younger-sounding voice filled the room, saying things like 'so what are you going to sing now?' and then came my own voice... I'd forgotten that when I was little I was having trouble pronoucing the 'sh' sound, so instead I would pronounce it 'zzz', and I think my mother must have found it too cute not to have it recorded for 'posterity'... haha. I remember very vaguely the day she recorded all those cartoon songs and myself singing, but listening to them feels like a trip back in time. I'd forgotten all these cartoons they used to have on TV at the time - that was in the mid to late 80's. Back then, childrens' TV was the hype. Each channel (there were only 5 channels in France back in the days) had a schedule for kids that included an early cartoon programme in the morning before school on weekdays, followed by another scheduled right after classes ended, and then weekends filled with things that targetted mainly kids at the weekend.
The cartoons themselves, mostly Japanese, were varied to cater for almost all tastes. Most of them had at least one thing in common: there was some sort of storyline to them that meant each episode was linked to the previous one in a developing plot that made the children never want to miss 'what happens next', so to speak. Those were the kind I naturally prefered over the ones that can be watched at random like a Simpsons' episode (where stories are resolved withing each episode) because it built up a strong sense of anticipation while allowing for the imagination to come up with possible scenarios as to what would happen next.
This childrens' TV hype only lasted about a decade, though. I remember vaguely the media complaining that Japanese cartoons were 'too violent' for kids, and by the time I was around 15, kids programmes no longer took up as much air time as they used to when I was younger. And then I noticed that all the Japanese cartoons had disappeared from the small screen, replaced by more 'European' looking ones like the Ruggrats or whatever else. One thing I also noticed, most cartoons now no longer had this component of having a plot that unfolds from one episode to the next. The only thought I had then was: "Lucky I got to watch the old cartoons rather than those..." Mind you, all the old school cartoons may now be found on cable channels for all I know.
Loved that one when I was 10/12 yrs old: Dragon Ball 'saga'
This one, called Candy, apparenty,I used to watch a lot when I was 4/5 yrs old
Same for the Robinson family
Oh, and I liked this one too, Princess SarahThere were many more, I just can't think of them all now.
I actually used to watch a lot of television while growing up... I mean, there was never any strict rule imposed on me, which really means I could often do as I pleased. If I was curious about something - anything - then chances were that I would be able to check things for myself. Usually though, I was curious about all the things that were supposed to be 'wrong' or 'dangerous'. I remember being very little and wanting to play with my mother's matches... of course she said to me not to touch them because I could hurt myself, but what did I end up doing? I took the matchbox when she wasn't looking and ran to my room where I proceeded to strike a few matches. Then I wanted to see what would happen if I lit up a piece of paper, and when I did, of course I panicked because the piece of paper caught fire at once. My mother came storming into the room and took care of the little incident... then she looked at me and asked me if I believe her now, and that was the end of it.
When I was around 5 years old, she got me my first pet - a hamster. I was terrible with that poor creature... but at least this one used to bite me whenever I tried too many things with him (like... trying to put him inside the washing machine because it just looked too much like a giant hamster wheel...). One morning I remember wanting to re-enact the Great Flood in his cage.... I remember strikingly filling the bottom with water and of course the poor creature started to panic - which was alright, since his helpless, panic-striken condition was part of the plot. I was then supposed to be the hand that saved him from certain death, but when I tried to 'save him' he bit me. I remember running into the corridor crying as I held my bleeding finger, which was when my mother stepped in and shook her head in disbelief at what I'd been up to.
One would have thought that after such 'incidents' I would not have been allowed anywhere near animals. Well, that would be wrong. By the time I was 8, I had another hamster, and I managed to convince my mother that it would be a very interesting experience to buy another one to make them reproduce. And so it was that we ended up with around 15 hamsters at some point. What was truly fascinating, though, was the opportunity to watch the process of Life from start to finish.
I was such a strange kid... I used to take one of the hamsters for a stroll with me outside, especially to the park. People would see that little girl walking around in the street with a hamster in her hands... And when I wasn't doing that, I was trying to tame pigeons, imagining that I somehow had a secret power to communicate with them and just needed to unlock it.
I guess I was already living in my own little universe... I lived on an estate, so a lot of kids of all ages were always playing outside, and I remember them making fun of me because I was sitting on the ground next to a bench with pigeons all around me as I tried to tame them.
The way I see it, I used to be one of those children who are cruel to animals... I really was cruel, but only because in my head, I was playing out different scenarios and wanted to see what happened in reality. I often wonder if that's not the case for all children (being perceived as cruel around small animals) as they push boundaries and discover their own limits. In the end, far from developing a cruel streak in me, it seems that all the 'bad' things I did served to nurture a much deeper sense of empathy and a strong dislike for unecessary pain. So it kind of worries me when I see all these parents out there trying to make their children so perfect and 'proper' when truly, childhood is the age of blunt honesty and the only time in life when there is time to discover our own boundaries before being forced to follow rules to the letter... I guess it must be different when children have a chance to grow up outside a city's settings... The issue seems to be that kids who are made to develop in cities lose out on the crutial need to explore boundaries which is brought about by the ability to roam free and, yes, do what adults look down on or would call stupid, senseless things.
When I was around 5 years old, she got me my first pet - a hamster. I was terrible with that poor creature... but at least this one used to bite me whenever I tried too many things with him (like... trying to put him inside the washing machine because it just looked too much like a giant hamster wheel...). One morning I remember wanting to re-enact the Great Flood in his cage.... I remember strikingly filling the bottom with water and of course the poor creature started to panic - which was alright, since his helpless, panic-striken condition was part of the plot. I was then supposed to be the hand that saved him from certain death, but when I tried to 'save him' he bit me. I remember running into the corridor crying as I held my bleeding finger, which was when my mother stepped in and shook her head in disbelief at what I'd been up to.
One would have thought that after such 'incidents' I would not have been allowed anywhere near animals. Well, that would be wrong. By the time I was 8, I had another hamster, and I managed to convince my mother that it would be a very interesting experience to buy another one to make them reproduce. And so it was that we ended up with around 15 hamsters at some point. What was truly fascinating, though, was the opportunity to watch the process of Life from start to finish.
I was such a strange kid... I used to take one of the hamsters for a stroll with me outside, especially to the park. People would see that little girl walking around in the street with a hamster in her hands... And when I wasn't doing that, I was trying to tame pigeons, imagining that I somehow had a secret power to communicate with them and just needed to unlock it.
I guess I was already living in my own little universe... I lived on an estate, so a lot of kids of all ages were always playing outside, and I remember them making fun of me because I was sitting on the ground next to a bench with pigeons all around me as I tried to tame them.
The way I see it, I used to be one of those children who are cruel to animals... I really was cruel, but only because in my head, I was playing out different scenarios and wanted to see what happened in reality. I often wonder if that's not the case for all children (being perceived as cruel around small animals) as they push boundaries and discover their own limits. In the end, far from developing a cruel streak in me, it seems that all the 'bad' things I did served to nurture a much deeper sense of empathy and a strong dislike for unecessary pain. So it kind of worries me when I see all these parents out there trying to make their children so perfect and 'proper' when truly, childhood is the age of blunt honesty and the only time in life when there is time to discover our own boundaries before being forced to follow rules to the letter... I guess it must be different when children have a chance to grow up outside a city's settings... The issue seems to be that kids who are made to develop in cities lose out on the crutial need to explore boundaries which is brought about by the ability to roam free and, yes, do what adults look down on or would call stupid, senseless things.
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