I hope I'm not the only one that was a huge fan of cartoons and TV shows growing up. They were so simple, yet sometimes they covered real-life problems. In this day and age, I feel like the shows geared towards children are watered down. Rather than addressing life scenarios, today's shows try to make everything seem fine and dandy with cheerful songs and dancing. Now, I don't have a particular problem with this, but I find it hard to believe that children actually take morals or ideas from these silly shows. When I was a little kid these programs used to mean something, and they had substantial messages attached to them. That being said, here are a few shows that taught me valuable life lessons.
"Rugrats"
If your childhood didn't contain episodes of "Rugrats," I'm deeply sorry for you because you missed out on one of the best shows ever. The plot of the show was so simple, babies living their everyday lives and getting into mischief along the way. Now, the writers could have just left it at that, but they didn't. They wanted the show to serve a purpose. I mean, "Rugrats" handles some pretty grown up topics, like when Chuckie gets a new mom, adjusts to another sibling in the family, and confronts bullying. My personal favorite is this line from Tommy.
"Rocket Power"
OK, "Rocket Power" had like the coolest theme song ever. Plus the show was about kids who surfed and skateboarded, I mean how awesome is that? But beyond all the skating and hockey and surfing, the main concept of this show was friendship. Friends are always there to support you, to tell you to follow your dreams, and never doubt yourself. I can't tell you how many episodes the gang had to convince Squid that he could do something he didn't think he could. That's what true friendship is all about, right. Having fun and supporting your buddies when they're down. Oh, and a sweet handshake doesn't hurt.
"Drake & Josh"
"Drake & Josh" was a really cool show. It covered some more mature topics on the surface such as dating and relationships, but the main concept of the show stuck with me for a long time. Drake and Josh hardly ever got along; OK they almost never got along. However, no matter how bad things got between them they were still brothers at the end of the day. Family is something that is so important in today's world, Drake and Josh taught me that. You might fight with your siblings, you may disagree, but at the end of the day they will always be there for you. Always. In a way, Drake and Josh was a representation of the relationship my younger brother and I had. We fought quite a bit, we definitely had our fair share of disagreements, but as the years progressed I realized how fortunate I was to have a brother that cared so much about me. That's something that will always get me through the rough patches in life.
