Question #6:
Who had the greatest influence on
children?
Walt Disney OR Dr. Seuss?
This week’s argument comes from a fabulous guest blogger ~
Welcome to the blog, Dennis!
The argument:
Before attempting to figure out how
we’d finance our children’s college career, pay our cell phone bills, pay for
our first car, or where to go on our first date…we were kids. We laughed, we
asked questions, we scraped our knees and we had a social network that
consisted of the other neighborhood kids. Our status’ were shouted from the
front porch, we Tweeted from tree tops, Instagramed with a Polaroid, or pencil
and paper…and we read Dr. Seuss and watched Disney movies and were creatively
taught (without realizing it) how to become good people.
But which of these men had more
influence on child development and learning?
Dr. Seuss, the American born writer
and artist gave us Horton Hears a Who!, The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax and How
the Grinch Stole Christmas. As the story goes, during a time when children were
not learning to read because books were boring, Seuss was issued a challenge to
write a children’s book that engaged kids and kept them coming back for more.
To this day, no matter our age, we tell the story of Sam I Am as we try and
teach kids to try something before saying they hate it. No matter the
generation, Dr. Seuss has a story that relates to something kids need to learn.
More than that, we carried those stories, those lessons and those morals into
our adult life and actively practiced them when interacting with others.
And what of this Walt Disney
character? Well, he just created some of the most lovable characters ever and
took classic stories and combined them with a brand new medium…film. Our
favorite childhood characters had voices, became 3 dimensional and showed us
how to overcome obstacles. They also got a huge playground and invited us in to
play with them…for a price of course, but nobody can deny the fun and magic of
Disneyland.
Both men have had and continue to
have a powerful influence on children and their intellectual and moral growth
and development. I had the Dr. Seuss collection as a kid, along with the Cat in
the Hat carryall bag. I learned some things from him to be sure, but, I dare
say I was influenced more by Disney and I think the same can be said of
children and adults across the globe. Through film, music and theme parks
alone, Disney captured my imagination and does the same for kids worldwide.
Bippity
Boppity Boo!
Walt Disney it is. J
(But be sure to register your vote or post your own nonsensical
question/suggestions in the comments below. Who knows? I might just run with it.
J)
And now, it's time to return to my day job: writing Dark Fantasy
Fiction & Gothic Romance!
Please tune in next week for another utterly-mindless, nonsensical
question!
Until then...
Cheers!
