On the shortcomings of THomas the Tank Engine.

The Small Fry and I are romping through our final weeks together. I find myself relenting on things I generally NEVER let them do, like eat popcorn (hulls in the teeth and gums), paint their faces with marker (marker tips in the eyes and nose... ick), and watch Thomas the Tank Engine (giant bummer).

I stopped the Thomas Tank Engine fanaticism about 9 months ago, when one of tanks called another tank stupid and daft. The TV went off immediately and we never watched it again. I couldn't justify exposing them to bad attitudes and name calling. It didn't seem right.

But today, because its raining, and because our outing never got started due to lack of parking, I relented. We watched Thomas the Tank Engine. But I'm watching it with them, and making more of a big deal of bad behavior, stopping the DVD, and discussing it with them and focusing on alternative, better behavior. 9 months is a long time in the toddler world, and they both understand so much more than before.

On the whole though, I find Thomas the Tank Engine to be a little bit offensive to my adult mind. Sir Topham Hat, the human in charge of the Island of Sodor Railway Company is kind of harsh. He doesn't show a lot of grace in his management style and he doesn't stop to get everyone's point of view. He simply meters out punishment, regardless of what really happened, or why people made the choices they did. This leads to either mousy, lackluster engines who don't see why they need to change other than to avoid punishment, or on the other extreme, to engines that are prideful, often explaining why they better than other engines. These are not character traits small children should be exposed to.

Secondly, the Island of Sodor seems to promote a pretty bleak social order. Bigger trains pick on little trains, and a train's value in its "society" is based on its usefulness to the company. At the same time, the humans force their value system onto the trains, leaving them little ability to be be free agents in their own community. THis is understandable on one level, since machines are technically meant to make life for humanit easier. But the same value system the humans live by does not apply to the engines, who are obviously the minority community. If you prove to be unreliable as Sir Topham Hat likes to point out, causing confusion and delay, you are banished to the sheds, and not used until said engine has "learned his lesson". There are no discussions that lead to heart change or behavior modification. Other humans are equally as bad. A police officer once labeled Thomas "a Regular Law Breaker" and banished him to the sheds, refusing to listen to why Thomas doesn't use a cow catcher. The Engines never fight back against this sort of oppression. Ultimately, Sodor's humans simply don't value the engines as the individuals they are, and I cant really deal well with that. You'd think that children's programming would be a little more zealous about promoting social harmony or unity, but it's not. It's a little disappointing.