Why I am Grateful to 'Tom and Jerry'

When I was a kid, I watched “Tom and Jerry” along with my other Saturday morning cartoons. They weren’t my favorite cartoon duo. So when my children suddenly became avid fans, I didn’t feel any particular nostalgia pull to watch with them, other than to see whether the old-school cartoons, by my parenting standards, were appropriate. I decided they were, though I occasionally cringe at the level of violence and inappropriate stereotypes. Still, it’s a high-quality, smart cartoon, the old ones and newer ones.

In fact, I have to give props to that lovable mouse and rascally cat for doing two things I’d been hoping to do, but so far hadn’t managed to accomplish in my children’s 8 and 9 years on this planet: they’ve gotten my children enthusiastic, not merely interested, but truly enthusiastic about ballet and classical music.

So much so, that my daughter, a proud non-joiner and non-participator, asked about taking ballet lessons. And my son is begging me to sign him up to learn to play the flute or, his first choice, the viola.

The viola.

All this because they watched the “Tom and Jerry: The Nutcracker” special, cir. 2007.

After my daughter watched it, she couldn’t wait for me to see it with her. She loved the cartoon. When I finally did sit down for the replay (probably her 3rd or 4th viewing), I was, well, mortified. It hit me that this was her and her brother’s only introduction to Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker and classic ballet.

I knew I’d just failed as a parent.

But this was something I could fix, I thought. I first went to see if there was any chance at getting Joffrey Ballet tickets to see The Nutcracker leading up to the holidays. No dice…unless I was prepared to shell out $150 a ticket (that’s $600 for the four of us). Um, no. Not this year.

I did the next best thing, started scanning Netflix. I found what I was looking for, only better: The Nutcracker, as imagined by Maurice Sendak and performed by the Pacific Northwest Ballet. I was worried the kids wouldn’t make it past the first few minutes. Instead, just as with “Tom and Jerry,” they were riveted. The recognized the plot from “Tom and Jerry” (note my face still turning red). Best of all, they loved the music.

Finally, when we loaded up to visit family over the holidays, I played my last card, a CD of Tchaikovsky favorites, including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Even I was surprised how much they dug this music as they were urging me to “turn it up, turn it up” and “play it again, play it again.”

My heart was happy.

But wait, there’s more. Over the holidays, they recognized Tchaikovsky and Nutcracker references everywhere–on the radio, on TV, in commercials and in grocery stores.

They hummed the music and practiced standing on their tiptoes.

Better still, they didn’t want it to end there. So starting Saturday, my non-joiner little girl will start ballet lessons. And soon, we may have our soccer-is-his-only-interest-on-the-planet son signed up for music lessons.

So, thank you “Tom and Jerry.”

Now, where does one find a viola and a viola teacher?