by Monie Sosh

Created on: November 25, 2008

Dead People Dancing Good!

As any good parent, I monitored what my children watched on television, especially when they were very young and impressionable. As we all know, there are many programs not suitable for children or even for adults for that matter, but that is another article altogether!

In the afternoon, cartoons were the norm, and usually pretty safe. I felt I could cook supper and check in every few minutes or so and not have to worry about them getting into too much trouble.

One afternoon, I suppose the cartoon of choice had not held their attention, and my son, the oldest, took control of the remote and began surfing the cable selections. I had not been out of the room but about five minutes, upon returning, found my son sitting a few feet from the television with his mouth hanging open in disbelief. I was horrified at what was on the screen! My son's surfing had landed him on MTV and Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' was playing. Of course, it would have to be at the part where Michael led the undead in their dance, the scariest part of the entire video! Thankfully, my daughter, nearly two years younger than my son, had occupied herself playing with her doll and was oblivious to what her brother was so enthralled about.

My first reaction was to grab the remote and turn off the television but for some reason I didn't. Something about his expression stopped me. Where I thought I would find fear or at least disgust, I saw something entirely different; amusement! I wasn't sure if he really understood what he was looking at so I began asking a few questions to see what he was thinking.

My son acted like he didn't hear me at first, but when I repeated, "What are you watching?" he turned and grinned at me. I was a bit taken back at first but I said, "What is so funny? He watched for a few more seconds and I was amazed that his expression never changed even when the camera went in for closeups of the realistic makeup and as the video ended he turned and grinned again and said, "Right! Like dead people can dance that good!"

I'm so thankful that a few slip ups in our parenting skills don't scar our children's minds forever! After realizing my son knew how to use the remote, and regretting that I hadn't done it sooner, I blocked all the channels I didn't want them to watch. Of course, when he got older he figured out the parental code the same day as I changed it, no matter how difficult I tried to make it, but that is another entire story!

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