I have avoided the Big Green Bear for a long long time. When Boz first came out several years ago, I said, “Honestly, Christian Companies. Can you be slightly original? Big Green Bear. Big Purple Dinosaur. Please.” I passed Boz over for Veggie Tales or well, anything.
Fast forward to Christmas. I get a big box of products* from Mom Select and the companies with which they work. They asked me to blog about any or all of it. (And I’m pretty sure they wanted me to do this BEFORE Christmas so people could buy this stuff for, you know, Christmas gifts. Alas, this is my life.) Anyway, inside this box was a set of BOZ DVD’s.
One of which was A WowieBOZowee Christmas. Already I’m rolling my eyes. But I pop it in and my TV-lovin’ daughter is spell-bound! She laughs, she sings, she interacts! Even my huh-is-the-tv-on 1 year old was watching it! And as I started watching it, I knew I was right–annoying green bear who giggles too much, little kids that love him, parents that don’t think it’s weird their kids play with a big green bear and really, not a lot of Bible stuff going on.
But as I sat through the whole show (and the second DVD: Thank You God for Bananas, Bubbles and Busy Bodies), I started to get it. Boz and the kids were just playing in the snow, or having fun exercising or making a veggie pizza—all things you’d see on Playhouse Disney or Nick Jr. any time of the day. But interspersed would be little phrases like, “God made all these fruits and vegetables to make our bodies strong!” OR “I love all the different seasons God made!”
It is exactly what we try to do here at Impress Your Kids: “talk about [God’s Word] when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
The two Boz episodes we watched were examples of how to incorporate God into normal every day activities. There were a few more obvious Christian parts, of course—the kids pray before bed/dinner in every episode and Boz ends the show by saying, “God loves you!”
After watching both shows, I clicked over to the Boz website and read a little more about the philosophy behind the show. One of their main goals is to show “healthy family interactions with Mom and Dad (and even Grammie and Grampie) [as] an integral part of the kids’ everyday world”. I LOVE THIS. One of my pet peeves about kids’ programming is the lack of parents! Or if there are any parents, they are complete morons. So, this is refreshing to see a show with parents who love their kids and kids that respect their parents.
Not to mention the website is full of lots of fun online activities for the kids (including clips of the show) and printable parent-kid activities/lesson plans! Plus, Boz is hooked up with MOPS. And last but not least, Boz is produced by Exlaim entertainment who made the best Christmas DVD ever: The Very First Noel.
So. I guess I’m eating crow. I like Boz. And I might even buy another DVD next time I’m at the Christian bookstore.
*I was given these DVDs. I was asked to blog about them. The fact that they were free to me in no way affected my post or my feelings about the product.
Amanda says
Oh my goodness! We are in love with BOZ! I couldn’t stand barney and then they come out with this guy and I love him! So similar, but maybe because of all the positives you listed. My kids were hooked and we own everyone! Glad they won you over! 🙂 I would hate to think your little ones would be missing out on this big green God loving bear! 🙂