Some Things Are Hard To Talk About

October 15th, 2009 by Echos

While I was dropping my cards this afternoon, I parked Chloe down in front of the TV and put the boys to bed, while Darren stacked Legos in order of colour on the floor. During the Arthur commercials, this preview popped on:

There’s a spoiler here that I read through to make sure this was something we wanted Chloe to watch. The story is of one of the characters in the show, an elderly lady, gets cancer, and how the cast and characters react to it. The summary from PBS is as follows:
“When Lakewood Elementary’s beloved lunch lady Mrs. MacGrady is diagnosed with cancer, Arthur and
his friends all react differently to the news:Arthur and D.W. rush to her side with heaps of chicken soup and
stuffed animals, Muffy tries to pretend that nothing in her life has changed, and Francine is so upset she can’t
even bring herself to visit Mrs. MacGrady. In this moving episode, both parents and kids learn how they can
come together to support Mrs. MacGrady and each other; and Lance Armstrong makes a special appearance
to show Francine and the Elwood City residents how they can take a stand, or ride a bike, for cancer survivors.
“The Great MacGrady” will air every day the week of Monday, October 19. ”
Naturally, Chloe recognized the woman as having cancer, and she wants to see the episode because she can relate to it. Her sister died of cancer. Her great-grandmother died of cancer. Her step-grandmother died of cancer. Her mother has cancer. I read through the book on YouTube and the woman doesn’t die in the episode. I’m still uncertain if I want her to watch it. I have over a month to decide what to do; the episode is going to be on all next week (overkill much?) and it will re-run again on November 20th.
Chloe is four years old, and she has been exposed to so much already that I am unsure if it’s a good idea to let her watch this show. Ideas? Suggestions? Thoughts? Would I be a bad mom if I let her watch it? Or if I told her it was canceled?