The other day the educators were playing the last half hour of the day by combing and stylizing the hairs of the remaining kids. All involved love that activity.
As I passed by the room, an educator showed me one of kids. I said, "hey, he looks like Richie Cunningham."
She looked at me and said, "who?"
"Richie Cunningham. Happy Days. Sit on it. Bucko. The Fonz. You know? Aiieee!"
It was a met with a blank stare.
"Ron Howard?"
You know when a cat just stares back without a response after you ask if it's hungry?
Same thing.
My educators are between 19-21 years old and have no clue what happened before their birth dates.
I told my wife that while me and my friends were aware of what came before us in pop culture and history, it doesn't seem to be the case with this generation. For us, reaching back was key to present knowledge.
We grew up during a time when books, newspapers TV and radio were still the single most powerful mediums. My wife, the teacher, made the point the landscape is completely different now with technology. We were the last generation that depended and used the aforementioned forms of communications.
Happy Days used to play on cable reruns during supper time during my high school days. Now, it plays on specialized channels. That's probably why no one knows it.
Even a cartoon like The Flintstones, so revered to kids born between 1950 and 1980 (I arbitrarily choose that time frame. Feel free to adjust) is hardly known today.
Which, in part, explains why so many cartoons and shows from the 1980s are being turned into movies now. While we may roll our eyes at the idea of a The Smurfs movie (I always wished Gargamel would eat at least one of those motherfuckers), it's not so crazy from a marketing perspective. Those of us who watched it back then, now have kids who would go and slap down $10 to watch it. Sure enough, my kid wants to go see it.
Anyway. This started out as a daycare update but ended up a pop culture discussion. The gin tonic is starting to set in so...good-bye.
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