Sharing the Muppets with your children

[revtrashheap]

Hello Fellow Muppet Fans!

I was born and raised a Muppet girl. Now I have two children and potential fans of my own.

While driving home from our latest vacation, my youngest child (age 4) heard the Fraggle Rock theme song. As soon as it was over, she leaned over, put her fisted hands under her chin and said, "Down at Fraggle Rock," just like Boober Fraggle. At that moment, I realized part of my love and adoration for the Jim Henson Company has rubbed off onto my children.

My oldest child (age 8) was born during the golden time of Bear in the Big Blue House. His favorite movie is Muppet Treasure Island.

I am interested in hearing some of your stories about how you have shared the Muppet love with your children and/or important children in your lives.

Blessings,
Revtrashheap

 

[Katzi428]

Hi RevTrash Heap!(and welcome to Muppet Central!)
I don't have any kids of my own,and my 3 yr old niece is getting tired of Elmo (thank goodness..he grates on my nerves! )
However, I grew up with siblings 10 and 12 years younger than me (respectively) I used to ask my brother when he was about 3: "What does Kermit the Frog say?"
His response:" Thank you!Thank you!Welcome to the Muppet Show!"
Me:"OK...what does Miss Piggy say?"
Him:"HiiiYAA!"(Miss Piggy doing karate)
My little sister liked Fraggle Rock & Red was her favorite.She (my sister) wore pigtails often so I told her she looked like Red. Every so often I'd sneak up from behind her,say "Ooohh...a FRAGGLE!" and pick her up.
Kathy
PS my screen name on here is Katzi but please call me Kathy. Everyone does!

 

[dmoss]

Howdy, Rev! Welcome to the boards!

Like Kathy, I don't have any children of my own (yet), but I've been sharing my love for the Muppets with my niece (3) and nephew (1) over the last year or so! I took The Muppets Take Manhattan to their house one night, and Allie and I watched it together, and she loved it! You never know just how much little ones are paying attention until they start quoting things, or requesting things...I think she asked to watch "the pig and the frog" 3 times that night!

So, I moved on and bought the Sababa plush set of 8 (Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, Animal, Bunsen, Beaker, and Swedish Chef) for them on eBay...an instant hit! Allie's new favorite is Gonzo, and she likes it when I do his voice, and make him do funny things...she likes to imitate him, too! Sammy likes to chew on Fozzie's nose, which is cool...

Tonight, I got to visit them, and as I had received a Fozzie in the mail of which I already had a duplicate (one of the big Muppet 3D Plushes), so I passed it on to Sammy...I'm so happy to have something so special as the Muppets to share with them...they allow us to spend so much meaningful time together. (Even if it weren't for the Muppets, we'd still have meaningful time, but it makes it much sweeter)...

 

[revtrashheap]

Thanks for your replies!

Kathy - In regard to Elmo, I understand your desire for your niece to move on. However, my first alto saxophone's name was Elmo. Obviously, I had an addition...

The big hit in our house for my 4 yo is Sid, the Science Kid... There's something about the song, "I'm looking for a friend, I'm looking for you!" that is quite catchy and tolerable.

@dmoss I'm excited that you purchased the plushes to share! As for Sammy, I love that he eats the noses.

Thanks for your replies!

 

[beakerfan76]

My little cousin is fastly becoming a Muppet fan. I often read her some old Sesame Street books (In the character's voices, of course), I let her watch my Fraggle DVDs and even let her play with my Red plushie (As well as my puppet and Kermit).

 

[Davina]

I have 4 step children (23-11) and a 2.5 yr old grand baby... the youngest was 4 when I married their dad.. Muppets have just been a daily part of their lives when they've been with us since. We had all the movies, I had old episodes of the Muppet Show, Dinosaurs, Muppets Tonight and a ton of specials that I'd recorded years before, and of course all the audio tapes and cd's. The youngest was just learning her alphabet and how to count, so we had lots of fun with that sort of thing. Luckily for me, the oldest gal (momma to the grandbaby) was already a big fan of Fraggle Rock, and she's gotten the little one started on that. They just moved closer, so when the little one is over here, we have lots of fraggles and other muppety music around because she loves to sing.
We're hoping to adopt at some point soon, and I've always wanted to do a muppet themed nursery room, with figures painted on the walls and such. Not sure if I'll get to do that, but, I already have SS crib bedding (from when the grandbaby was visiting when she was younger...) the movies and music are still a part of our daily lives.. lucky for me hubby loves em too in fact our courtship really took off when he started asking me Fraggle trivia.. heh
the teens will sometimes roll their eyes at us now, but, teens are supposed to do that.. and we know that it sticks with them and influences them.. (so does school house rock.. heh.. the now 16 year old was the only one in her class a few years ago that could answer a question in class - all because we'd made her watch that.. lol.. she thought she'd never use any of that info.. )

 

[TelephoneRock]

When I have a child in the future, I hope to raise her on old-school Sesame Street (for fear that she may be an Elmo addict ). I want to show her all the Sesame stuff I was raised on during my childhood in the 90's, such as "Mary Had a Bicycle", "Telephone Rock", and many others.

 

[Davina]

oh we also have oodles of the SS and muppet babies books that get read at bed time when the grand baby is visiting right now.

 

[beaker]

I love hearing these stories! I believe it would be a sad world if JH's work wasn't inspiring or delighting somewhere on the planet

As soon as it was over, she leaned over, put her fisted hands under her chin and said, "Down at Fraggle Rock," just like Boober Fraggle. At that moment, I realized part of my love and adoration for the Jim Henson Company has rubbed off onto my children.

Oh man, that is *too* cute! I can so picture that.

Well I know when I have kids they'll be religiously raised on the Muppets/all things Henson. I've been alive for 32 years, and ain't nothing more positive/uplifting/inspirational/magical I've experienced in this world than the magic of the Muppets. Fozzie Bear's innocent naivity, Kermit's deep empathy and caring, Red Fraggle's encouragement and spunky fun, Tutter mouse's sincerity and couriosity, Big Bird's naive'ness which trumps Fozzie's, etc.

My wonderfully rad mom, a rabidly obsessed Muppet fan, raised me since day one on the work of Jim Henson and I hope it continues for generations to come. (My mom remembers being delighted by Rowlf the dog on the Jimmy Dean show in the early 60's)

As a huge huge fan of all things Muppets, Bear in the Big Blue House, Fraggle Rock, and yes, even (non Elmo) Sesame Street; there is such a richly woven tapestry of Muppety delights to show generations to come. Heck, I even love the more obscure stuff like Big Bag, Animal Jam, Stinky & Jake, Mopatop, Hoobs, etc.

 

[beaker]

So, I moved on and bought the Sababa plush set of 8 (Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, Animal, Bunsen, Beaker, and Swedish Chef) for them on eBay...an instant hit! Allie's new favorite is Gonzo, and she likes it when I do his voice, and make him do funny things...she likes to imitate him, too! Sammy likes to chew on Fozzie's nose, which is cool...

Wow, that's the one character I've never heard anyone attempt to do/be able to do!(I do a pretty spot on same eagle, beauregard, pepe and dr honeydew tho!)