Guest Post: The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters, the Musical Review

Guest writer Liat Ginsberg is a mother and former journalist for the Israeli newspaper, Maariv. She taught at the Film and Media Department at Hunter College.

How many of us have to deal with our kids constantly nagging us for unhealthy snacks? It’s a non-ending battle, and as a parent you know that there is no perfect solution that fits all.

If you want to feel good about your everyday battle, take your young kids to see The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters, the Musical.

The musical combines three books, Bears Learn about Strangers, The Berenstain Bears’ Trouble at School, and The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food.

The Berenstain Bear family will also teach your little ones in a fun way how to wash hands when they come home, not to talk to strangers, about responsibility to your sibling, the importance of homework, how not to keep secrets from parents, the importance of exercise and more.

Some might argue that the play should have focused on one book or one issue. I assert that the kids in the audience were able to tolerate all three books. They sat and listened for 55 minutes.

The play is a combination of entertainment and education. The smartest way to educate kids is not through lecturing, but through fun, stories and by example. The kids have fun with music and don’t even realize that they are being lectured, the main reason is because the story is told from a perspective of Brother and Sister Bear whom the kids can identify with.

Don’t be surprised if your kids will ask you to read The Berenstain Bears for days after the show.

If you are not familiar with the books, the series of books is about a family of Bears – Mama, Papa and their cubs, named Brother and Sister and their day to day problems and how they solve them . In the 1960’s and 1970’s, parents probably did not have many parenting classes as we have now. Rather they had children books.

The actors were very energetic, warm, real and were able to keep the young ones tuned throughout the play.

The kids; favorite part was when Papa Bear bends over and splits his pants, revealing his colorful underwear. Papa is doing what many parents will not admit. They do what they tell their kids not to do, especially when it comes to eating sweet.

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