Caillou Review: Episode 84

Caillou is a Canadian children's television show airing on Télétoon on September 15, 1997 and its last episode was realeased on October 3, 2010. It's a five season long show with 144 episodes and a movie titled Caillou's Holiday Movie. The show details a four-year-old Caillou's life as he slowly grows up and experiences life lessons. The name Caillou is French for "pebble" or "stone".
In the episode I watched, were taken through the last four days before Christmas. Caillou and his family make a big deal about sharing and sing about it several times, Mommy and Daddy sing to him a few times about different Christmas traditions. We get to see Caillou join a school play, a Christmas dinner. And lastly, the family opens their presents.
Now, on the surface this sounds pretty okay for a children's Christmas episode. Bland even, if I'm being honest. I almost fell asleep during a few songs. But as I watched the episode, it's clear that the only thing really wrong with this show, is Caillou's behavior. Everyone else in it is nice, supportive, and they act like normal people you'd come across in real life. Even Rosie--originally named Mousseline--tends to mind her business, is surprisingly compliant and quiet, and really just spends the episode trying to make her family happy.
No, I'm not saying Caillou only thinks about himself, because that's not the case. I'd say seven or eight times out of ten, his heart is in the right place. Which is completely normal for any four-year-old really. The only issue is, that during those three times out of ten, when he's being nothing more than a spoiled brat--as children occasionally do--no one really corrects him. They might hug him, give him a little of what he wants, and softly tell him the right thing to do. But the kid really just talks over them and doesn't seem to soak in any lessons unless he feels like it. For a period of time after learning something, he'll demonstrate it a bit, get praises for it, and then forget the lesson by the next episode. And no one tries to set him straight again. As long as he vaguely shows that he learned something in the long run, everyone's okay with it.
Not only does this mean that his three out of ten are extremely annoying and do almost nothing towards his character growth, but it also influences his seven. Even if he's thinking about others and trying to help them out, he's still whining for what he wants and screaming over everyone. And his parents simply sit there and smile as this sort of behavior ensues.
So is Caillou a bad kid? No, not at all.
Is he being raised poorly? Definitely. And my prayers go out to the parents whose children have watched this and started imitating the Prince of Imagination.