This section is devoted to those of us who do not have a ready-made set of various aged young people at our immediate disposal who could help us understand what is of interest to children these days. In order to help us escape from the bottomless depths of our grownup ignorance, this page will provide insights from prominent small people into whatever happens to currently pique the interest of the younger set. Armed with the information contained herein, grownup pediatric anesthesiologists will be able to converse knowledgeably with their patients about things important to the children or at least be able to fake it until the induction is over. Things will be kept simple since the target audience is grownups. As editor, since I am also one of those aforementioned poorly informed grownups, I will exercise little control over content, but may from time to time help with grammar or comment on a particular topic. I welcome suggestions for topics to be reviewed in future issues and will endeavor to find authors of the appropriate ages for those topics. The ages represented here will be from 2-12. I am afraid that what passes for teen-age culture is simply too foreign and painful a subject to include.
Thomas J. Mancuso, MD
Taran Mitchell Sun, age 3
Winnie the Pooh
A.A. Milne wrote and Ernest Sheppard illustrated these children's books in the 1920's and they have enjoyed widespread popularity for decades. Those of you in your 40's may remember the 70's song "The House at Pooh Corner" (as if the bear of little brain needed Loggins and Messina to memorialize him). Well, they have made yet another comeback with the toddler set and with teenage girls as well.
The cast of main characters includes: Christopher Robin, the only human; Pooh, the honey-loving bear of little brain; Tigger, the happy-go-lucky tiger whose exuberance regularly causes all sorts of trouble; Eeyore, the dour, pessimistic donkey; Piglet, the friendly sidekick of Pooh and Rabbit, the victim of both Pooh and Tigger in many of the stories. Tigger is Pooh's friend who specializes in bouncing on his tail and getting himself into trouble. Others in the series are Owl, the wise school-teacher like authoritative figure; Kanga and Roo, a kangaroo mother and child, respectively.
Pooh's search for honey results in his becoming stuck in the entrance to rabbit's burrow in one story and mixed up with a swarm of bees in another. Tigger on one occasion bounces himself (and Roo) so high into a tree that he is too fearful to come down.
SpongeBob Square Pants
Children's cartoons certainly have changed since I was a regular viewer. No longer are there intricate plots involving all sorts of gratuitous violence and fully developed characters such as a flying squirrel and talking moose which molded us into the well-adjusted adults we are today. This character is typical of the newer cartoons the children watch. My son patiently explained the unusual name to me as follows: His name is Bob, he is a square sponge so his pants must be square in order to fit. Almost all of the action takes place underwater. SpongeBob is something of a goody-goody nerd. He has a friend, the starfish Patrick, who lives in a meatloaf with whom he shares adventures. Squidword, who surprisingly is a squid, is the bad guy of the show, causing trouble for the others. Another friend, squirrel, wears a divers helmet in order to live underwater and play with his friend, SpongeBob and Patrick.
There may be more to this , but I could not watch any further.
101 Dalmations
Several editions of The Kid's Page could be devoted to the Disney oeuvre but only 101 Dalmations in it's various forms will be reviewed here. This classic has endured over the years, was re-released in it's original cartoon form recently and also was released as a movie starring Glenn Close. The dalmation story and stuffed animals and other paraphernalia are as popular with some young teenage girls as it is among the toddlers.
The main characters are of course the Dalmations. The parents, Pongo (dad) and Perdida (mom), arrange the marriage of their respective humans in order to be together. Perdida then joyfully has a litter of 15 puppies. Shortly thereafter, the nefarious Cruella DeVille's henchmen, Horace and Jasper, kidnap (dognap?) the puppies as part of their effort to acquire enough Dalmation puppies to make a coat of their fur. As Pongo and Perdida set off to recover their progeny, the puppies themselves continually outwit the two buffoons working for Ms. DeVille. Many adventures ensue involving trudging through blizzard condition, much reckless driving and near misses.
Surprisingly, all ends well. The humans are left with 101 dalmations and live happily ever after while Cruella De Ville and her henchmen get their just desserts.
The new Movie 102 Dalmations is due to be released in the near future.
Taran Mitchell Sun, the author, acknowledges the help and support of his adults, Drs. Kristin and Yao Sun.
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