There's a Bear in There... tweeting and e-mailling his same sex partner?

In the morning we often like to watch a little TV while mummy jumps in the shower, hangs out some washing, unloads a dishwasher or some other riveting task. Chicken Little likes lots of different shows but Play School would be way up there amongst the favourites. I'm partial to a little Playschool myself and don't mind joining in with the occasional sing-a-long or listening to the story of the day.

Last week I was in the kitchen and half listening to playschool when I heard them in the middle of a role play about calling a friend on their mobile phone (I didn't even flinch), e-mailing (fair enough) , tweeting (WTF?) and then going to meet a friend using their GPS navigation system. I put down my coffee...what I mean to say is... I peeled off my rubber gloves, put down the scrubbing brush and went to see what educational feast Little Ted and Jemima were feeding my 2 year old.

I'm old enough to remember the introduction of all of the above to our everyday lives and to remember life before them, yet I'm young enough (I like to think) to imagine I've embraced all of the above (apart from twitter) and mobile phone and e-mail are certainly part of day to day vocabulary, but do I reeeaaallllly need to have to explain to my 2 year old that tweeting is not just a noise made by the birdies?

So, I did a little digging. I was just curious as to the demographic (0-4 year olds) and what other content was planned for future episodes so that I might prepare myself in advance for any new nuggets of knowledge that toddler might absorb but which I may not even have heard of yet.

Turns out that Play School is quite the creator of controversy (click to read more). Way back in 2004 there was a little 'through the window segment' about a little girl being taken to the amusement park by her two mums. Apparently, hysteria ensued fuelled by comment from everybody including the Prime Minister down to parents commenting on Play School's "political statement". I read ABC's media release regarding the episode in question and I liked their response. I should point out that I haven't actually seen the episode in question but the various statements they made (I won't quote them all again...click above if you're still reading and even slightly interested at this point) made me reflect back to my initial response to the tweeting reference and I thought 'ya know...just cause I'm not a tweeter doesn't mean there aren't families who ARE tweeters and whose children might just understand the reference and appreciate the acknowledgement'.

Keep it coming Play School, I can handle it!