Finally a practical use for a reality show!
Personally I don’t usually enjoy these types of shows…especially now that my television watching has been reduced to mindless comedies in the background while I work. But I did enjoy Beauty and the Geek just to watch the guys blossom and the girls look stupid.
And of course…I had to watch The Cougar! The eye candy was luscious even though I thought it was ludicrous that she was looking for serious love on this type of show. And that she didn’t sleep with more of the cubs!
But Eithne and I were talking about how she really enjoys watching The Bachelorette with her girls (age 12 & 8). She uses it as a teaching tool, pointing out why one guy’s approach is good or bad and another’s style is too overbearing. And I realized it really is a great training for young girls to see how men try to ‘win’ a female on a date, especially with parental commentary!
Add to that the fact that it starts out slow and then heats up…just like many 3rd & 4th dates usually do and it really gives you a wonderful way to let young girls ‘see’ dating without having to learn it ALL from experience.
In my day we had The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. Not a whole hell of a lot of ‘learning’ about male styles from those two! And while The Bachelorette still has Hollywood’s gloss over all the guys (that many good looking guys all at once…THAT’S not reality!) And the guys real motivations (actor/model/musician/I’m doing this for the exposure) is classic Hollywood. But you do get to see different male styles.
Maybe I should try to find old episodes of Beauty and the Geed and watch them with my boys. Of course I think mostly what they’d learn would be what NOT to do! Geeks rock in many ways…they’re wonderfully stimulating company intellectually, they find me fascinating (always a plus!) and if you take one home they’re often incredibly appreciative!
But suave and confident geeks rarely are. I’d like my sons to be confident, comfortable and just a little bold around women. I think if they managed that, they’d be successful enough in the dating scene to truly learn what they want in a woman. So when they find it they grab it.
Hell, sometimes I think I wrote Cat with them in mind. Wanting to teach them the things I think they should know about dating but as their mother I absolutely cannot teach them.
Ah well, I guess their father will just have to take them to Vegas! Think he’ll mind?