It’s Easter time at preschool! I really love teaching the Easter story because watching them learn and internalize it is exciting. They put the pieces together and tell me what happens next. We have a couple of Easter videos that are helpful. Granted, they are cartoons, but they really help put all the story snippets into sequence. (One is a Hanna Barbara cartoon, and while it tells the story well, I can’t get over how wrong Jesus looks. Blond hair, blue eyes and a goatee? Is he auditioning for a grunge band?)
“Say, Lauren, why is there a shark at the top of your post when it seems to be about Easter?” I hear you ask. Relax – I’m getting to it.
In the cartoons, the Leaders Who Didn’t Like Jesus are portrayed as real villains – forked beards, scowly faces, evil voices and all. Those scenes are a little spooky, and there is one girl in my class who starts to Freak Out when they come on. I tell her that she can go look at books for a while – she does not have to watch something that frightens her.
How did I learn this lesson? Well, I didn’t learn it when I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (original version) as a kid, and holy cow – I wish someone would have told me.
Those Oompa-Loompas scarred me for life. Lloyd just has to start singing the song and I shriek.
I learned it by watching Jaws.
Children, let me take you back into Olden Times when movies were on giant rolls of magnetic tape contained in a book-sized plastic box, and you rented the VCR player (which came in a suitcase-style carrier) from the video store because no one actually owned one, except the rich folk. My family rented ‘Jaws’ and turned it on in front of their young, fragile flower – me.
Have you SEEN Jaws? Do you know there’s a SHARK in that movie? Do you know he leaps at the camera with his WIDE OPEN MOUTH and tries to eat the camera and you can see all the way down his gullet to your new home?????? AHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I believe I hyperventilated through half of the movie and then had to go to the kitchen for a drink…
… where I realized the movie wasn’t on.
There were no sharks in the kitchen. It was safe! I have no memory of the rest of the night but – realization made and filed for future use.
There’s no telling about the Oompa Loompas, though. They could be anywhere.