Scooby Dooby Doo!

My children have loved Scooby since their first introduction to him. We first watched the film with J-Man when he was 3. Princess and Tombliboo have watched Scooby since birth. Their television/movie watching habits differ to J-Man's...where he would watch a movie once, then probably not want to see it again for several years- his younger siblings are happy to watch a movie, then play it again directly after.

Both the little ones, as 2 year olds would actually watch the same film only for an extraordinary amount of time- maybe 12-30 times before moving on to another film, and proceeding to watch that same film to the extremes of the first.

I won't pretend it never bothered me...it did. But I tried to keep quiet. If that is what they wanted to do, I was happy to facilitate.

Scooby has lasted such a long time. Right when it seems we have seen every episode a new movie or series will come out. This is a series that began in 1969! Between our own collection, and Fatso (dvd delivery service) and You Tube, we can see a lot of Scooby- and the little ones never seem to tire of it.

Recently they have played Scooby and Shaggy. They take breaks from it, and do other things, but they remain in character for most of the day. They replay snippets from movies/cartoon episodes, and they create their own as well.

Princess (7) plays a great Shaggy- she has a real knack for imitating voices (as evidenced by her American accent, followed by her English one, and currently an odd mixture of Kiwi-American-English). Tombliboo (3) does a good Scooby, and has incorporated "r" words in to his ordinary vocabulary. "Roh-Oh Raggy!"


Sometimes I am enlisted to join in their play. I get to be Velma, because I've got "brown hair". Yesterday I was told I must not say "Jinkies" so often. "Mu-um!", Princess informs me, "Velma says "Jinkies" when she finds a clue, just like Shaggy says "Zoinks" when he sees a monster or ghost- you can't just say them all the time and think that makes you Velma or Shaggy."

This morning, Princess in her ever-imaginative way has created a storyline which would do Hannah-Barbera proud. She has made a collar for Tombliboo, raisins in place of Scooby-snax, and various clues she has left around the house.

I love watching them in their play, listening to how it is developing, noticing how much of the subtleties of the movies they are able to incorporate in to it, seeing just how long they can play at something with minimal props. I love watching them interacting, though there are 4 years between them- this one shared interest enables them to be of equal value in the game.

I think I might clear a space on the bench, and suggest we make scooby snax together!