The shoutout this week is to a reader named Daisy, who commented this on The True Story And Urban Legend Behind Caillou:
I love caillou my daughter has cancer and loves that her and him have no hair.
I believe the show is great and positive no matter what the real story is. And whatever parent is against their child watching for that reason is immature and should be ashamed of themselves!!!
Yeah I was pretty shocked to hear that some parents out there will ban their kids from watching Caillou because of rumors he is bald because he has cancer. It’s hard for me to understand why people would choose to act like that :(. Maybe some of them will come across your comment and realize how deeply harmful their decision is.
My heart goes out to your daughter, I’m glad that Caillou is such a positive force in her life and that she has a very caring mother to look out for her!
A lot of parents ban their kids from watching Caillou because of the grating, high-pitched whiny voice! It’s irksome enough to hear it on tv, but then when our children begin to emulate Caillou’s voice and phrasing, it can be quite migrane-inducing:( Don’t get me wrong though; I disagree with the level of hatred for the character based solely on the high pitch of his voice; he’s supposed to be a little kid….that’s the way they sound! Worse is the idea that an adult would despise the character because he is bald, and perhaps because he has cancer? ….if anything, (if Caillou is indeed undergoing chemotherapy), our children would learn empathy and also that even though someone is going through a medical battle, they can still live, love and learn! The point of the show is to show a child learning about the world around him….parents who allow such hatred to not only build up inside of themselves, but also to spill out in conversation with or around their children, are doing their children a disservice.
Strength and courage to commenter Daisy’s daughter…. <3
Hi Thea,
“our children would learn empathy and also that even though someone is going through a medical battle, they can still live, love and learn!” <--- Wise words, I like how you put that! I think a lot of parents feel uncomfortable with the reality that people get cancer, even the most innocent of children, and don't want to have to enter into the subject with their kids. It probably seems easier to simply ban their kids from watching the show, but of course that's the wrong way to deal with those feelings...especially around impressionable children. Now as for the whiny voice thing...well I don't blame parents for having an adverse reaction to that lol. I've read a lot of complaints by parents online where their kids had picked up the whiny/bratty elements of Caillou's behavior and they had to ban the show because of it. That seems much more reasonable to me than parents who ban their kids based on the suspicion that Caillou might have cancer.