My little one has roped me into watching a new cartoon with her called Shimmer and Shine.  Unfairly, I was prepared to dislike it from the onset.  Aesthetically, the colors are vivid and beautiful and the opening theme song is really good.  Also, three girls are the central characters which, as the mother of a daughter, makes me happy.  All I had as a kid to see mostly was the bombshell ditsy Daphne or the unfortunately drawn Velma who was portrayed as the smart girl on my favorite Saturday morning cartoon Scooby Doo.  In this series these girls are smart and pretty (proving the two are not mutually exclusive) and, best of all, each episode centers around correcting their mistakes and remaining positive.  In an age where everything is three dimensional (which is cool, don’t get me wrong) it is somehow comforting to see just an “old school” cartoon drawing.  I love the Indian influence and lately I have found myself watching movies like, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Bend It Like Beckham, and Bride and Prejudice, an all-time favorite Bollywood movie of mine that remade Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice.  Even our Siamese is in love with Nahal, the girl tiger cub on the show.  You can see from this picture how he watches her on TV.  I know some parents do not allow their children to watch any television, or very little.  My feeling is, it’s summer and our little girl is five.  She is still taking swim lessons, reviewing her work to start kindergarten, and practicing taekwondo.  Plus I’m speaking French with her.  The Chinese born American lawyer Amy Chua, author of the book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, said:

“Tiger parenting is all about raising independent, creative, courageous kids.  In America today, there’s a dangerous tendency to romanticize creativity in a way that may undermine it.”

I believe that without a little freedom one cannot learn to be independent, creative, or courageous.  My parents were very strict but also empowered me.  If a little girl can’t spend part of her time watching magical flying carpets soaring over rainbows I do not see how she is to find satisfaction in the mundane.  She lives in a house where anything is possible, including watching a Siamese in love with a tiger.