When I Was a Kid: Mr Yuk


Anybody out there remember Mr. Yuk? In case you don't, here's what you need to know: Mr. Yuk is mean, and Mr. Yuk is green.

I don't remember if we actually had these stickers in our house, but boy, do I remember this particular Poison Control PSA. It was all over Saturday morning and after-school programming, and proceeded to scare the daylights out of any kid who went rooting under their kitchen sink looking for something to eat.
I doubt very much that a scary but effective spot like this would even be allowed on TV today. Just because it kept me from swallowing Drano doesn't mean parents groups want their youngsters waking up with nightmares about an ugly green floating face backed by creepy synth/boogieman music.

Oh well, still, kind of a fun find on YouTube.

Celebrating independence with children

We had a relatively nice long holiday weekend, except that:

1. Heidi had to work on Monday (so really, not a long weekend)
2. Colin was sick

Still we managed to:

- take an 8-mile bike ride
- get Colin's hair cut--he needed it
- go out for dinner
- watch some fireworks from our porch
- eat some encased meat (turkey bratwurst)
- go to Ravinia for one of their children's concerts with Justin Roberts

So it was a good weekend, despite the fact that we were pumping the boy full of medicine and wiping his runny nose with alarming frequency. Hope you all had a nice Fourth.

Two other observations that have no bearing on this blog but are parenting-related things I wanted to share somewhere:

1. The Ravinia concert reminded me of a conversation Heidi and I have had before, which is that there should be more 80's/90's bands putting out kids music. Not ones who are currently selling millions of CDs and concert tickets, but the ones that are on the state fair/summer concert lineups. You know which ones I mean, the ones fresh from the "Where Are They Now?" files - I'm talking to you, Spin Doctors, Madness and Bananarama, among others. Heck, Hootie and the Blowfish is ALREADY a better kids' band name than half the ones playing in minivan CD players across the nation.



Listen, all you has-beens, follow the lead of They Might Be Giants, who started realizing their fanbase was getting older and popping out children. Those new parents are doing the purchasing of music for their youngsters, and if they can equate kiddie music that won't make them retch from too much sugar coating with BRAND RECOGNITION, you've got a whole new generation of fans. Just don't do what Devo's done - form a child group called Devo 2.0 to sing all your old songs - that's just creepy.

2. The Daddy Types website is hosting a Bizarre Kids Book Contest that makes for good reading. I'm thinking of buying a copy of Good Dog, Carl just for my own enjoyment.