Back-to-School: Dinosaurs and Indians

Adriana often asks if the things she sees on TV are "alive," as opposed to asking if they're "real." Today she said, "Are there any alive Indians?" So I asked, "Indians like Pocahontas?"

"Yeah."

"Yes, there are, but they don't really live like that anymore. Some of them live on reservations where their land originally was, and they maintain some of their traditions, but they live like we do, too."

She thought for a second and said, "The Indians were alive with the dinosaurs."

I of course explained that they weren't, and that there were no people alive with the dinosaurs, but that there were cavemen who lived a long time ago. It's funny to watch her make sense of the information she's gleaning from books and TV, especially because a lot of what she's seeing isn't anthropologically sound. For example, Pocahontas did help John Smith (although apparently Historians question that now, too) but she probably didn't have a rack like she does in the Disney cartoon, and she definitely didn't run around singing Vanessa Williams hits. (No disrespect, Vanessa, but why Disney didn't release the Judy Kuhn version of Colors of the Wind I have no idea, because as I told Adriana the other day, "She's the best in the business.")

It makes sense that Adriana's found a way to combine Pocahontas (her current favorite Disney film) with dinosaurs, because her favorite television show is called Dinosaur Train, a new fall offering on PBS that combines three things that children love: dinosaurs, trains and... time travel? Sure, why not?!

If dinosaurs can talk (and they speak English, naturally) and take a train, that train can totally enter a time-warp tunnel that drops said dinosaurs off to whichever Mesozoic period they choose. The lead characters, Mr. and Mrs. Pteranodon, live in the Cretaceous period and are blessed with 4 children, one of whom (in a nod perhaps to modern-day adoption?) is a Tyrannosaurus Rex. One can only assume, despite being raised by a loving family of fish-eating reptiles, Buddy (and honestly, what else would you name something as cuddly as a T-Rex?) will in future episodes discover his true meat-eating dinosaur nature and be forced to devour his family in their sleep. It's like Dexter meets The Flintstones. You know, classic children's fare.

Yes, all kids love dinosaurs, and at Adriana's school, there are rubber dinosaurs for the students to play with and dinosaur cut-outs with each child's symbol on them, to be placed in a basket upon arrival, which lets the teacher know you're in attendance. Here's Adriana on the first day, looking not at all ferocious in her Hello Kitty shrug dress, another of her latest obsessions.

My little dino-loving princess.