Originally, this comic was going to end with a comment about how children tend to live out an idealized version of our long gone past. I decided to try to be subtle instead, hoping people could make the connection between family farms and pirates, dinosaurs, and other “things of the past.” Then I realized that the average viewer of this sight will likely spend less that 30 seconds looking at the page, so I’ve spelled it here: Children have a tendency to live out an idealized version of our long gone past.
And for the record, I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with teaching children farm animals and the sounds they make. It just seems strange to me that in the big cities they also teach children about cows and pigs, even when cows and pigs aren’t a part of the local culture.
Do you listen to This American Life?
T.A.L.
The Poultry Slam podcast (episode 116) from Sunday made me think of this cartoon while I was listening at work today. You should download it.
I’d never really thought about this before.
I suppose here in England though, farming is still a really big part of our society, it’s a lot more relevant for kids.
Then again we do have the whole increasing ‘plastic generation’ of city kids.
Farming is still a pretty big part of the States, too, but as I said, its becoming more and more conglomerated and industrialized. There are more organic farms popping up, which is nice. Still, there are plenty of urban areas where no one has ever seen a pig or cow or other farm animal.
Children live out an idealized version of practically everything; even the monsters in their fiction are soon slain by valiant heroes. And I’m not sure that farm toys are more popular than city toys. I remember having toy cars and a toy parking garage, and a toy city playset for Spider-Man to swing around in.
Yeah, I’m sure city toys are more popular. In fact, I’m not sure if those John Deere toys and other farm toys are still in the stores. I would have loved having a city playset for Spider-Man! I did have a lot of City Lego sets, though.