I grew up watching Sesame Street and Batibot. Although I’ve heard of Barney, I never really knew him until I started teaching and met English-speaking (complete with a twang) grade-schoolers who grew up loving Barney. It seems that Barney has reached a kiddie star status close to that of Jollibee’s. Really, what’s with big butts and weird colors (purple/orange)?

That’s why even before I gave birth, I vehemently told my sister not to buy her future nephew any Barney CD’s. Other educational videos are okay but I draw the line with Barney. Unfortunately, some former officemates gifted Mateo with four Barney VCD’s during his baptism. Not wanting to be ungrateful, we took them home of course – and I stored them deep inside our bookshelf.

I planned on never introducing Mateo to Barney but during one crazy afternoon, I decided to try and see how our little guy would react to the much-hyped purple dinosaur. Things went downhill from there, little did I know that I have unwittingly started a Barneyfication of our household. Just a few minutes into the video, Mateo was already dancing along to the song Mister Sun and pumping his arms to the sound of Chuggy, chuggy. He loves running to me for a hug once he hears ‘…with a great big hug…’ The VCD never left our DVD player for the rest of the week. He’d watch the same CD at least once a day. I admit that we were at fault too, he really enjoys it and it keeps him still for at least thirty minutes even if being still means dancing and singing along in front of the TV.

Worse, before the week ended, I knew the lyrics of almost each and every Barney song on the video. I’d often find myself with a song stuck in my mind. It’s good that Barney comes in handy at times. Mateo’s first haircut was bloodless and hassle-free thanks to Barney. During times when Mateo would act up, Barney would be our last resort in trying to pacify him. Barney’s place in our house got sealed last Saturday when we went to SM and bought a Sing and Dance Barney VCD and Barney’s Favorites volume 1 audio CD. He’s set to invade our car too, you know.

Lest you think that all Mateo knows is Barney, he also knows Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, Uniqua, and Austin. If you know them too then high-five to you! Last week though, Ramil and I made a conscious decision to limit the amount of time of Mateo’s exposure to TV. Sadly, it also means less TV time for everyone in the house. He now gets around two hours of TV time daily, more than half of which is on Barney.

As for me, I have come to accept Barney into our lives. At least Mateo gets to dance and sing along to songs about colors, shapes, numbers, and the alphabet.