Help, I have created a monster...

[Jiorjiina]

A Cautionary Tale about Exptnnding Children's Learning:

Once upon a time, a Good childminder looked after two little boys who were got very interested in rockets. Like all Good childminders, she searched high and low for ways to extend those mindees interest into other areas. First she got a cardboard rocket they could play in (which they loved, and played in until it fell apart), then she found a chunky little playmobile one (which they fought over quite a lot, because she was an idiot and forgot to buy a second one).

Then one day they all sat down and watched an episode of of an old TV show called Thunderbirds. Because it also had rockets in it.

Oh, how she lived to regret that particular decision. Because the mindees didn't love it. They became obsessed with it. They demanded it every time they came. They learned all the names and numbers of the machines, and their pilots, and the other machines that needed rescuing, and every damned detail of every plot of every single ****** episode.

And they learned to do the countdown from 5 to 1 (which the childminder duly noted in their learning journals, because they were only two and a half so she was actually pretty impressed). And they performed the countdown at every available opportunity. Loudly. And one of them learned to sing the theme tune. Badly. And he sang the the theme tune (badly) for almost every single second, of every single hour that he was at the childminders (and most of the time he wasn't, according to his poor parents). Those were the dark times.

And in that time of great need, the childminder and the mindees parents called upon the powers of the mighty youtube and smartphone for aid, and were rewarded with many clips and edited videos of Thunderbirds, so the mindees could watch their favourite bits over and over again and see whole videos solely devoted to the machines. And the childminder and the parents gained brief respite from the onslaught of International Rescue

And the one day, at the end of a video, one of mindees touched the screen to 'replay', hit a different spot on the screen and watched a video called 'Stingray'...

[Mummits]

This made me laugh, because we have been where you are, except it was about twelve years ago, and the children were our own! Luckily we didn't have smartphones then, so the technology options were limited. We do still have a huge box of thunderbird toys, which the mindees now love.

AND there is hope.If you wait about twelve years, they will lose interest in thunderbirds, and get into girls.

Though this may be a temporary distraction, since my forty=something brother's reaction to finding a whole toybox labelled "Thunderbirds" was to say "Deep Respect Sis" and play with them all morning!

[shortstuff]

Well as I married into the tracey family I am glad to say I havent bought any international rescue as yet lol :-)

[FussyElmo]

Don't forget Joe 90 and captain Scarlett

Tell me you are searching for Blue Peters Tracy Island

Tracy Island on Blue Peter - get the instructions here!

Inserted a link because I KNOW you wont be able to resist

[funemnx]

Thunderbird obsessed children here too - funny but I got the DVD's several years ago and no children were interested until 2 years ago and now I scour ebay for more figures and DVD's. It's the parents I feel for because you can't buy the toys in the shops, they too have to spend hours on ebay!

I also have Stingray, Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet (I haven't shown them this as it's a bit scary for me!)

[QualityCare]

Had a child who was dinosaur obsessed and granddad found clips on computer for him to watch while he was there one day l only have him occasionally now and last time mentioned to mum that he hadn't asked for me to put computer on to watch dinosaurs she said no he thinks there only on grandads computer and even in this age of children having to be computer illiterate and ICT aware she was not going to tell him otherwise.

[littletreasures]

I've got some Thunderbirds figures and machines if anyone is interested?

[Jiorjiina]

I've got some Thunderbirds figures and machines if anyone is interested?

I'm definitely interested!

[vickylou]

Don't know where your based but the Lowry in Salford, Manchester has an exhibition on currently until October called 'one I made 3arlier' and it's all about childrens television and apparently one of the exhibits is the original Tracey Island built on Blue Peter!!