What Pee Wee’s Playhouse can teach Parents

Growing up in the 80’s had certain peaks and valleys.  For me one of those peaks was watching Pee Wee’s Playhouse, the kids’ show that adults could love starring Paul Reubens.  Children could enjoy the visuals and the simple jokes while adults (see:  college students) enjoyed the sublime humor or played it later as a drinking game.

Even looking back at the show today the show is super creative, well produced and the cast was out of this world.  As a dad I’m even taking some educational cues from this classic show that used to entertain us early in the morning and late at night.

In our kitchen we have a dry erase board that my wife and I will write down things we need from the store or messages.  The high chair that we feed Baby Mojo is in front of this dry erase board.

Trying to keep a toddler occupied while you feed them can be a challenging task so I started doing the word of the day.  It’s a short word that’s used often on a daily basis.  It’s not a secret like it was with Pee Wee and Cowboy Curtis, but it does help teach new words and spelling to a 15 month old toddler.

I’m not down with purchasing products that I originally saw in an infomercial.  While those DVDs may do the trick; I’m relying on my experience as a teacher and the word of the day to help with reading comprehension.    Of course we read books to him during the day; the word of the day just reinforces the letters and sounds, in addition to keeping his mind busy during meals.

Oh, for kicks you can watch every single one of the secret word of the day in a montage from Pee Wee’s Playhouse.