Blog

Wild

Lions, tigers, bears I have always been fascinated by the larger predator animals in the wild. Their size, their strength, the way they hunt, the family dynamic. Wild Kingdom was one of my favourite shows as a child. I gravitated to books about them, ones written from the animal’s point of view sucked me in and the circle of life often left me in tears. Natural life, most mothers in the wild had to protect the young from the males because they would eat them. In the lion prides, the male protecting the family would get too old and a new lion would have to take over and often would kill all the male cubs so his lineage would be the new line. It was horrible but fascinating, I remember one show or maybe a book where it followed a momma bear and her cubs, the journey to get the cubs to adulthood was brutal. Definitely stuck with me, part of the reason I wanted to be a forrest ranger, silly city girl, what did she know?

Lion prides were one of my favourites. Of course a big family was something I didn’t grow up with, so that was intriguing. I remember realizing the unfairness within the animal kingdom that infuriated me. The one strong lion was the boss, the momma lions would go out at night and work together to make a huge kill for dinner, then they didn’t eat it because the boys got first dibs before they did and the kids got the scraps!? I loved babies, humans and animals alike, and could not fathom the concept that the kids didn’t come first? How far off was this scenario from humans in the sixties, when this show aired? Did early civilizations borrow this mentality or follow this model in the making of civilization?

Here we are 50 years later, everything has changed. We protect our young, shelter them, except for Disney there is no circle of life, no after school special about,”The Boy Who Drank Too Much.” Kid shows are sooo different. Most watch YouTube, drama reality crap, and beyond overinflated super hero shows that are more for adults. It’s not all bad, I think, haven’t really watched a kid show in awhile. I don’t even know if there are cartoons, besides Anime, and toddler shows that last I heard from a coworker was like music and learning blended. My grands as toddlers, it was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Paw Patrol. I know some kids in grade school are into sharks and reptiles, have theories about dinosaurs and regular cats and dogs. Not many talk about much else in the animal kingdom. Seems to be a more science and sport based mindset. I will say, if they are interested in something, they could write a book on it because of the internet. They know their favourites well, they have searched it up and mulled it over, committed it to memory. I hope parents are monitoring it, I hope they can talk about emotions and social situations with a human as much as they are exposed to the technical world. I hope they are engaged in the real world more than the fake drama reality they follow. I hope the kids are no longer left to eat the scraps.