Most parents tune out the beautiful sounds of their toddler’s favorite cartoons. Not me! While others are escaping into their iPhones to check their social media feeds, I am joining my little girl on amazing animated adventures. I love cartoons. Always have and always will. The Simpsons, Ren & Stimpy and Rick and Morty barely scratch the surface of a long list of favorites.
Of course, Hazel has more refined tastes than I do as her favorite comes from across the pond. It’s called Peppa Pig and, unless you’ve been living under a rock, any parent with a child under the age of five knows about Peppa and her family of swine. In fact, Hazel and I watch so much Peppa Pig that we stated calling episodes, “Peppisodes”. You’re welcome. Across five seasons and 254 episodes of pure animated gold, I’ve uncovered three key lessons in understanding the value of a dollar or, in this case, a pound.
When you want something fixed, get it right the first time.
Reoccurring throughout the story arc, the roof at Peppa’s school always finds itself in disrepair and Mr. Bull, who is responsible for anything having to do with demolition or constriction, finds himself continuously fixing the thing. On one such occasion (Peppisode 187: “The Children’s Fete”) Mr. Bull even makes fun of the shoddy work done by the previous roofer, but shortly after lea
rning that the less-than-caliber work was that of his own, he goes on to say, “Lovely job, it will last you a lifetime!” I hope this guy has insurance. Naturally, the children then must go to raise money for a new roof only to find themselves giving it right back to Mr. Bull to attempt another repair that undoubtedly will not hold up.
Why they keep hiring Mr. Bull to fix the school’s roof? I don’t know. But I do know that there’s only so many times you can put a Band-Aid on something before it starts to cost you more than if you had simply fixed it right the first time. Maybe the school’s roof wouldn’t be prone to leaks and damage if they had simply replaced the entire thing instead of having Mr. Bull make repairs. It’s like when Heather and I bought our house. During inspection (thank goodness on a rainy day), we caught a leak in the attic stemming from the flashing on the chimney. Instead of asking for the flashing to be fixed, we asked the sellers to replace the entire chimney and, much to our delight, they obliged. So far, no leaks, which is good because us running a neighborhood fête to raise money for a new roof isn’t in the cards.
Sentimental value can be greater than material value.
Speaking of leaky roofs, on a different occasion (Peppisode 71: “Jumble Sale”), a leaky school roof leads to a school sponsored yard sale in which the children are asked to donate something to help raised money to fix the school roof. When Peppa inquires what Daddy Pig will give for the sale, she suggests his old chair (complete with hovering flies). Daddy immediately expresses his reservations about giving away his favorite “antique” chair before learning from Mommy Pig that he had it found it at a nearby dump. When Madame Gazelle, the school’s teacher, comes by to collect the family’s donations, Mommy Pig donates it behind Daddy Pig’s back, suggesting that Daddy Pig will never notice. Later on at the jumble sale, Daddy Pig finds his chair thinking that it is a perfect match to his beloved chair at home and pays top dollar for it. With Daddy Pig’s generous contribution, and sudden realization that he got scammed by his own wife, the school raises enough money to fix their roof and everyone falls over laughing.
I really feel for Daddy Pig on this one. While his chair might not have been worth a lot of money, it meant a lot to him. It was also unfair for Mommy Pig to give away his things like that, but we’re not going to get into that right now. It’s kind of like how my wife’s nighttime t-shirts from concerts and sporting events past will never be thrown away unless they literally are reduced to a square of unrecognizable fabric. They remind her of “good times” as she puts it, and I am sure she places a much higher value on them then the negative dollars they are actually worth. So, remember, just because something belongs at the dump, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. I guess the expression, “one pig’s trash is another pig’s treasure” holds up.
Value is subjective.
In Peppisode 203: “George’s Balloon”, Granny and Grandpa pig take Peppa and her little brother, George, out for some ice cream. However, rather than enjoy an ice cream with the rest of his family, a dinosaur obsessed George sets his eyes on a green dinosaur balloon tied to Ms. Rabbit’s ice cream cart. Grandpa Pig nearly has a coronary when he learns that the balloon costs $10, but Ms. Rabbit (purveyor of the ice cream) assures Grandpa Pig that it’s for a “good cause”. The rest of the episode is spent watching how many times the balloon almost floats away. The suspense is truly palpable as the very last thing we want to see is poor George cry over losing his precious dinosaur balloon. After several saves including one by Grandpa Pig’s pet parrot Polly (say that five times fast), the episode concludes with Daddy Pig tying the balloon’s string to George’s wrist, allowing us all to one again breate easy.
Grandpa Pig is hands down one of my favorite characters on the show. He’s an amazing grandfather to Peppa and George and, very serious now, reminds me of how amazing my grandpa was to me. My grandfather would do anything to put a smile on my face, much like how Grandpa pig was willing to shell out $10 for a balloon that likely costs 10 cents. Value is subjective, folks! For my wife’s birthday this year (sorry to pick on you again, honey), she wants one of those Flour Shop cakes that, when you cut into them, explode candy and sprinkle treats everywhere. That 10 second Instagram-able moment would (for her) easily justify its lofty $150 price tag. Now, will she get this decadent treat to commemorate her 33rd year of life? Probably not! But I rest comfortably knowing that she will find even more satisfaction in my use of her birthday desires it here in my blog. Right? Dead pig walking? Oh pig. I mean, SNOOOOOOOORT!