Adoption on Little House on the Prairie, the TV series--Part One

by Pam Connell | More from this Blogger

15 Feb 2009 04:21 PM

As I mentioned in my last blog, my girls are really into Little House on the Prairie lately. That blog talks about a mixed message about adoption in one of the books.

The "Little House on the Prairie" television show was based on the characters in Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, but it veers from the books on several major plot issues. For example, in the show, Mary gets married, the Ingalls family returns from Dakota to Plum Creek, more emphasis is given to the town characters such as the schoolteacher, minister, shopkeepers. Among these major plot departures are the adoption of three children into the Ingalls family and other adoption storylines.

On the whole I approve of the way the show deals with some tough issues. I've censored a few of the episodes until the kids are older, but I have let them watch some which deal with death, alcoholism, or a classmate being abused. I'd rather shelter my kids from these issues if I could, but I know they will come up. I'd rather be there when my kids learn about them so I can talk to them, after being introduced to the topic in the safety of our home and the familiarity, yet distance, of the Ingalls' TV family.

On the positive side, the show always portrays children who have been adopted, either into the Ingalls family or other families, as full and dearly loved children. The adoptions are rarely referred to, after the initial storyline. . There is a lot of love shown, which makes it easier to deal with the more problematic elements.

The biggest problem, from my point of view, is that-perhaps true to life-the adoptions happen almost by chance. The children are sometimes paraded around, presented as desperate for a family. Some orphanages are so eager to place the children that they don't seem to care if they are being placed with a harsh taskmaster or a mentally unbalanced person.

The "Little House on the Prairie" DVDs are widely available at libraries and rental outlets. In addition, the Hallmark Channel airs several reruns of the show each day. Some of the adoption storylines are in the paragraph summaries accompanying the DVDs. But sometimes there isn't any warning. My next blogs will attempt to point out the episodes I've found which have adoption as a storyline so that parents can be prepared to discuss issues with their children.

Please see these related blogs:

The Little House on the Prairie series -- Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie: the Musical

Learn more about Pam Connell

Pam Connell is a mother of three by both birth and adoption. She has worked in education, child care, social services, ministry and journalism.

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Dale Harcombe (10373) 15 Feb 2009 05:05 PM

My husband and I have recently started re-watching these DVDs. They were a big hit too when our family was young.

centraloregonmom (295) 15 Feb 2009 08:42 PM

We are on the waiting list for the DVD series from our library: my daughter is anxious to put faces to the names in the books and objects to the descriptions... I'm anxious to relive my childhood when I watched them on tv before they were re-runs!