There has been no time in my life that I have not loved Curious George. It’s a show meant for preschoolers, but even as an adult, I love the nostalgic feel of the inquisitive monkey living in The City with The Man with the Yellow Hat! Images of Curious George flying over the city with a handful of balloons, painting the townhome walls while The Man with the Yellow Hat is at work or having other mischievous adventures still bring a smile to my face.
When my girls were little bitty, I always had the show on. I knew they would love it and fall in love with this classic character, too! More than watching my kids in awe over the character I grew up loving, I hope they learn from the show. Since the goal of the series is to inspire children to explore science, engineering and math in the world around them, I feel great letting them watch and learn just as I did as a kid. In fact, I see a binge-watching party in our future! Beyond that, though, there are six lessons from Curious George that I hope my kids take away.
1. Be kind
Above all else, Curious George is kind! Most of his antics and missteps come from trying to be nice and help people. Sure, his curiosity often makes his kindness sort of messy and a pain for The Man with the Yellow Hat — but his heart is in the right place.
2. Own your mistakes
Due to the nature of his curiosity and his desire to be creative and experiment, Curious George makes a lot of mistakes, but in the end, he always, always owns up to them and tries to make up for them. As a mom, I love this lesson for any age child. Even if you mean well, if you make a mistake, break something or create chaos for others to endure, owning up to it, apologizing and trying to make it right is a lesson I want them to learn!
3. Learn every day
Part of what fuels George’s experimentation is his desire to learn. He isn’t happy just sitting around doing nothing. He wants to explore the city, learn more about the animals at the zoo and walk the halls of the museums time and time again, drinking in anything new. I want my kids to have the same desire to explore what is around them and learn as much as possible about it.
4. Be a good and honest friend
Curious George encounters a lot of pals on his adventures. From The Doorman’s dachshund, Hundley, to The Pigeons on the Roof, he is a good friend to them all. They may be competitive at times and confuse one another often, which only leads to the hilarity of the show, but they are kind and watch out for one another. Learning how to be a good friend from a young age is so important. I love that this show teaches it in every episode!
5. Be kind to animals
The base of Curious George is that a monkey escaped from a zoo and The Man with the Yellow Hat took him in, loved him, gave him food and shelter and treated him like a part of his family. We have dogs in this house — three of them — and I love that watching Curious George makes the girls want to pet and love on them, sometimes acting out the show they just saw and asking whether their dogs get into mischief like George does when no one is around.
6. Be curious
You knew this one was coming, but let’s be honest — in this day and age of families on the go, curiosity is sometimes lost in the to-do list. I love that when my kids watch Curious George testing his ideas and calculating the risk of things — often badly, however — they immediately want to go and experiment with their own ideas. George exhibits the healthy and innocent curiosity all kids and adults should cherish!
All nine seasons, as well as the animated film Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey, are now streaming, only on Hulu. As with all kids programming on Hulu, it streams commercial free.
This post is part of a sponsored collaboration between Hulu and SheKnows.
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