Little House on the Prairie

[parrot]

Our daughter was raised on Little House on the Prairie which aired during her young preteen days. We didn't have cable then.......so pickings were limited and LHotP was a weekly must see show. My wife and I like to think we raised our daughter as Charles and Caroline raised their daughters.....only in a different era.
Except.......when my wife recounts her childhood days, I often remark that she lived in an era similar to that of LHotP....no electric, no flowing water, no vehicles, lots of trials and tribulations of living off the land and counting on the weather. My wife would accompany her father on trips to the Khonkaen area.......in an ox drawn wagon, her feet swinging from the rear as a variety of bamboo pipes carrying water, fish paste etc clattered down the bumpy road. She cleaned her teeth with charcoal and a variety of herbs....got her first toothbrush at 13. Her mother collected the cotton, dyed it, wove it, and fashioned her school uniform. She walked 2km to school. Stuff like that......not too different from the days of the Ingalls.

This morning, over our morning cuppa, we talked about the day JFK was assassinated. My wife had just started staying with a Chinese family near Tungsrimuang as a housegirl/babysitter. Although the family had a shop house and a small business, they didn't own a car/motorcycle/refrigerator/tv. When news of the shooting started to spread, crowds gathered in front of the Buddha store at the corner of Makkaeng and Prajak Roads. For many years, the store's offering of a black and white tv for public viewing was the only tv people in the area saw. That same store.....as recently as 2 years ago.....was offering free breakfast to the homeless/poor.....a tradition that goes back to the day when we arrived in Thailand in the late 90's.

My wife and I are still thankful for having LHotP available.....with little else to interfere.....during our daughter's formative years.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Shado]

Enjoyed the read parrot. I think many of our wives had similar upbringings here in Thailand. I know mine did in Sakon Nakhon province. I was raised in the Missouri Ozarks just a couple of hours away from Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in Mansfield, Missouri. She lived there for 61 years and passed away at age 90 in 1957. This is where she wrote the "Little House" books.


We have a home in St. Clair county on Truman Reservior. Many of our neighbors are Amish and still live withhout electricity and use horses for farm work and transportation. Although this is not the normal lifestyle in Missouri, my wife was absolutley amazed about the similarities between rural southern Missouri and her childhood home. She had no idea that she had married such a คนบ้านนอก (khon ban nok).


You're right, the "Little House" series passed along some meaningful messages that are universally relevant.

[Giggle]

Sorry, I'll have to give LHotP a miss. It triggers me. Laura Ingalls Wilder is culturally insensitive. A piece in the NYT claims, “Her works reflect dated cultural attitudes toward Indigenous people and people of color that contradict modern acceptance, celebration, and understanding of diverse communities.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/book ... award.html

Have a listen to one man's take on the subject:
https://www.findclip.net/video/1OTnvCyl ... ing-o.html

[mech_401]

we were brainwashed when young. i remember
watching the andy griffith show, about mayberry
police in north carolina. i still have trauma

[dunroaming]

brainwashed maybe but little house on the prairie was an innocent much loved series even in the UK we waited for next episode. I wish live was so simple now

[mech_401]

im being facetious, almost all tv programs of
that era were harmless and often had positive
msgs. contrast that with what kids see today

[pf-flyer]

[quote=parrot post_id=527754 time=1542868527 user_id=707]
Our daughter was raised on Little House on the Prairie which aired during her young preteen days. We didn't have cable then.......so pickings were limited and LHotP was a weekly must see show. My wife and I like to think we raised our daughter as Charles and Caroline raised their daughters.....only in a different era.
Except.......when my wife recounts her childhood days, I often remark that she lived in an era similar to that of LHotP....no electric, no flowing water, no vehicles, lots of trials and tribulations of living off the land and counting on the weather. My wife would accompany her father on trips to the Khonkaen area.......in an ox drawn wagon, her feet swinging from the rear as a variety of bamboo pipes carrying water, fish paste etc clattered down the bumpy road. She cleaned her teeth with charcoal and a variety of herbs....got her first toothbrush at 13. Her mother collected the cotton, dyed it, wove it, and fashioned her school uniform. She walked 2km to school. Stuff like that......not too different from the days of the Ingalls.

This morning, over our morning cuppa, we talked about the day JFK was assassinated. My wife had just started staying with a Chinese family near Tungsrimuang as a housegirl/babysitter. Although the family had a shop house and a small business, they didn't own a car/motorcycle/refrigerator/tv. When news of the shooting started to spread, crowds gathered in front of the Buddha store at the corner of Makkaeng and Prajak Roads. For many years, the store's offering of a black and white tv for public viewing was the only tv people in the area saw. That same store.....as recently as 2 years ago.....was offering free breakfast to the homeless/poor.....a tradition that goes back to the day when we arrived in Thailand in the late 90's.

My wife and I are still thankful for having LHotP available.....with little else to interfere.....during our daughter's formative years.

Happy Thanksgiving!
[/quote]
Over the 40 years, we lived in the U.S. our kids grew up watching Little House on the Prairie also. Our Kids grew up eating Thai food and Thai cooking. Quitill (Spelling ?), Lots of times we had Glutinous Rice with Lap Beef or Lap Chicken. Every evening all of us would sit down at the kitchen table with no distractions and we ate together and talked together about what happened during the day and we would just enjoy the fellowship or each other, the peace, and calmness of that time together. After we ate Little House on the Prairie was an escape for a short period of time to unwind and enjoy a program to a more innocent and simpler time. I believe that life can be simple but people make life complicated. My wife and I sit out on the front porch in the mornings drinking our coffee to watch the sunrise and we often reminisce how fast those years went by. My wife grew up a lot poorer than I but she has fond memories of growing up with her brothers and sisters in rural Issan also. We were married in 1973 and we often reminisce how much Udon Thani has grown and changed since then and how fast those years went by. They went by too fast.

[parrot]

Over today's morning cuppa, I showed my wife how I superglued a razor cut on my finger from the night before. I learned the trick years ago and have used it on cuts big and small. My LHotP wife chimed in that when she was young, she used the chewed leaves from the Chromolaena odorata plant (สาบเสือ). The plant is a weed, smells nasty (like tiger poop, they say), and is bitter. And, so, if you've been in Thailand long enough you know that such a plant must be good for you: stop bleeding, canker sores, hemorrhoids, dry eyes, constipation, etc etc. Best of all, if you're trying to evade a ferocious jungle beast (other than tigers, I'd suppose), you better your chances of surviving by hiding in a grove of the plant. So, if you find yourself with a nasty cut that won't stop bleeding, consider chewing up some Chromolaena odorata plant to clot things up.

[Earnest]

How about that, Wiki is saying the Chromolaena odorata is native to North America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromolaena_odorata

[Laan Yaa Mo]

I was brought up on 'Leave it to Beaver'. It helped prepare me for life as there are many people out there who remind me of Eddie Haskell and Lumpy. 'The Lone Ranger' and the 'Twilight Zone' also had good moral lessons for the young.

I never saw 'Little House on the Prairie'.

[Drunk Monkey]

I was brought up on 'Leave it to Beaver'. It helped prepare me for life as there are many people out there who remind me of Eddie Haskell and Lumpy. 'The Lone Ranger' and the 'Twilight Zone' also had good moral lessons for the young.

I never saw 'Little House on the Prairie'.

Just for you LYM , hope this helps..

1974 DM was a massive fan of LHOTP ... it was a historical western drama set around the Ingall family the little House explored many different themes including frequently portrayed ones of adoption, alcoholism, faith, poverty, blindness, and prejudice of all types, including racism. Some plots also include subjects such as drug addiction (e.g. Albert's addiction to morphine), leukemia, child abuse, and even rape (NO transgenders n cheats back then ) . Although predominantly a drama, the program has many lighthearted and comedic moments, as well... so a bit like UM really ??

I recall crying when Laura Ingal pet bird was eaten buy a snake and the episode with calf born with only 3 legs was tear jerking .. my first real traumatic event in life to be followed shortly by the second which was Scunny v Newcastle United in the FA cup.

DM

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Sounds like the average post on the Map.

[Earnest]

Yes, it could be quite violent sometimes, Uncle T.

[Giggle]

All the "stereotypical attitudes and racial language" contained in LHotP has me in a bit of a tizzy. I'm surprised such a base, tawdry series, glorifying white privilege, is given space on this progressive forum. I think I'll have a cool sarsaparilla and a lie down.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

That's funny. Did you find it on a porn site?

[Earnest]

No.