"Why I Love Barny"

Want to get a reaction? Say you love Barny in a group of adults. Want to get a really strong reaction? Start singing the Barny song to a group of 7 year olds. They will try and overpower you with "I hate you, you hate me, let's all kill Bar neeeee"

I'm just amazed that this character that is nearly universally loved by the very young is thoroughly hated after 1st grade.

This is what we can learn from Barny. Be accepting. Be forgiving, Be pure love.

To a 3 year old and please remember, Barny is for 3 year olds, what they crave, what drives them are hugs and love.

Barny was a phenomenon because the inventors put many elements together that children desire. Some would think this crass. I think it's nice and if it were easy, everyone would do it.

I remember a study of a little monkey that got no love, no touch no other monkey interaction. I saw pictures of this poor little monkey in a class I took in college, probably psychology. The experiment was pretty basic, deprive a young monkey of all interaction. The monkey was fed by a nipple.

The monkey clung to a pole for comfort. It needed love. The little monkey went crazy, never had a chance.

So look at Barny in a fresh way. Children need love, acceptance in it's purest form. They cling to it, long for it.

Our most enduring characters are of the same mold. Santa. The Tooth Fairy, Mr. Rogers, Captain Kangaroo, Barny. No judgement, no scolding just, you are a good boy or girl and I love you.

In performing, you can channel these icons. What is it about Santa that makes him so enduring? It's pretty powerful stuff if you are dealing with 2 and 3 year olds. To this age, they are unquestioning that a clown is fun, silly and their friend.

When I'm dealing with this age group, I think, what they crave is love, they can sit on my knee while I do magic.

Now the question why do older kids turn on Barny? Because with self knowledge comes judgement. As we judge we get embarrassed, even if a part of us still remembers how we felt about Barny. Who wants to be uncool and say they still like him?

For adults...Children do not sit around watching old Seinfeld episodes, it does not feed their needs in any way. Switch it around, we are just so far removed from Barny we are disgusted by something so sweet. Get over it. Look into the eyes of your child, they see magic.