Lessons Learned From Childhood Shows
Why songs like “I’m Mad At Disney” are created in the first place
If you were born in the 90s, you already know that some of the best cartoons were on during our childhood. Sorry, ’00 babies.
As a kid, I was always into cartoons, and even now, my love for them hasn’t changed. Instead of watching Rugrats and Fillmore, I now watch anime and adult animation (aka adult swim). What can I say? I’m a kid at heart in the body of a 20 something-year-old.
I’m kidding, but I really love cartoons. Some of the shows I watched as a kid include:
- Kim Possible
- The Weekenders
- Wild Thornberries
- Jimmy Neutron
- The Fairly OddParents (early seasons)
- Spongebob SquarePants (early seasons)
- Powerpuff Girls (1st series)
- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- That’s So Raven
- Suite Life of Zack and Cody
- Phil of The Future
- Dave The Barbarian
- Brandy and Mr. Whiskers
- Lilo and Stitch
- Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
- Static Shock
- Proud Family
- Braceface
- Drake and Josh
- Zoey 101
- H2O
- Unfabulous
- Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide
- Anger Beavers
- Rocket Power
- CatDog
- Life As A Teenage Robot
- As Told By Ginger
- Hey Arnold
I’m an introvert, so naturally, I like my alone time very much, and the tv was my savior from pure boredom. I knew I could look forward to an episode of the Amanda show. As self-titled, I’m gonna talk about the life lessons I personally learned from some of my favorite shows growing up.
As Told By Ginger Taught me the realities of growing up.
This early ‘00 show was so ahead of its time. It tackled so many topics like going through puberty, peer pressure, first crushes, being from a divorced / single-parent household. At the time, I was about 8, and I remember how relatable ginger’s situation was to mine. As someone who came from a single-parent household and had a similar relationship with my own father, I felt I understood Ginger’s character on a certain level. Growing up is a bittersweet period. On the one hand, we yearn to grow up, but on the other hand, we get scared of leaving our old ways behind.
Plus, one of my fav scenes will always be Maisie performing “ Seal Girl.”
Hey Arnold, Taught me the realities of the real world.
Now, this is one that’s on my personal top 20 shows of all time list that I’ll be releasing soon. To this day, it’s one of the few shows that demonstrated real issues but from a kid’s perceptive. I mean, some of the best episodes are always the ones where the kids go on outlandish adventures and even expand on their feelings on social issues.
It was the first time I saw kids my age who not only live in an urban setting (city kids) but a whole cast of interesting side characters. Their diverse character developments were (and still is) some of the most mature I have seen in children’s programming. Plus, there’s always the occasional underline jokes that I still find funny as an adult.
The Proud Family Taught me to accept others.
It's a bittersweet statement to say, but it’s the truth. I rarely saw any cartoon black families in a positive light. I usually have seen POC (black people) characters in the ghettos or as that one “token” best friend in the suburbs. It was nice to see a family living in an area similar to me growing up. It was also pretty diverse for a kid show. They even had two episodes dedicated to different religions.
It taught me to learn and respect another person’s culture. It was also one of few who made an episode about the Civil Rights Movement and its importance.
That’s So Raven Taught Me to see myself.
This show was one of the ones I was obsessed with as a kid. I wanted to be a fashion designer when I was younger. I used to look at various Seventeen & Essence issues before 13. I even have a few of my mom’s old stitches from her college days.
Raven was inspirational, not simply due to her legendary fashion sense. She knew from day 1 what kind of career she wanted. In later seasons, we see her going after her passion by doing an internship. She eventually gets a position within the same company. Kid me was happy for her accomplishments, but the adult me secretly envies her success.
Even now, Raven has influenced me to go after my own creative passion, becoming a writer. I wasn’t a great writer in school, and I honestly don’t think I am now.
Strangely, I’m ok with it.
Anyway, that’s another article waiting to happen. 😅
Raven was very ambitious and determined to make her dreams come true, and she managed to do it before turning 21. That’s an amazing feat!
Career wasn’t the only factor why this show is on my top 5.
That one episode with the store manager where Raven applied for a job was a great one for kids to watch.
Kim Possible Taught Me Anything is Possible.
“Call Me Beep Me” is such an iconic theme song that I still remember it to this day. Every time I hear a similar beep, I start mumbling the lyrics. Kim was a straight-A student, captain of the cheerleading squad, was nice and popular in her school, worked part-time at Bueno Nacho, and still managed to fight crime. This girl was on fire!
As far as feminism, I would consider Kim part of the #GirlBoss spectrum. The central idea a woman can have it all and eat her cake too. Kim has perfect grades, a social life, a great support system, opportunities to travel and save the world on an everyday basis, AND the guy. Dreams do come true if you work hard for them. At the same time, Kim can have it all partly because of one thing.
Think about it: She’s a white girl who lives in a two-parent household where one parent is a doctor while the other is a scientist in an upper middle-class environment. In the real world, we would see her struggle juggling in her everyday life. Guess anything is possible as long as the right people and circumstances surround you. I’m not blaming the creators, but I wish we would have seen her struggles more in-depth during the later seasons.
Overall, all of my childhood shows weren’t always warm and fuzzy. Sometimes, there were moments where characters and their issues came to life. Childhood is an important period where you learn some of the most life lessons such as right and wrong. They don’t tell you that not everything is going to solve itself in an hour or half an hour time span. Not everything is puppies and rainbows, nor can you wish on a shooting star to make your problems disappear.
