Yesterday morning, while listening to A Tribe Called Quest’s “8 Million Stories”, also while taking a shower, Phife Dawg had a line around the 30-second mark.

“My little brother wants Barney, cool I’m gettin’ it. Took him down to KB, they ain’t sellin’ it.”

This simple line about Phife’s little brother not getting what he wants may leave some listeners completely untouched, but for me it brought all kinds of memories flowing back about my early childhood and my closest friends, Barney, Baby Bop and BJ.

Being an only child, and living with my grandmother for the first six years of my life, it was usually just the two of us on a small street in O’ Fallon with only five houses. Most of the people who lived there were older and did not have kids my age, which led to a bit of a sheltered childhood.

There were toys, baseball games in the backyard with grandma and best of all, there was Barney. Barney and Friends was my favorite TV show. If you have never seen it, first of all, I feel sorry for you and second of all, it was a show about big purple dinosaur named Barney that taught kids numbers, the alphabet and how to treat others with respect.

I loved Barney. He was everything to me at age five. I remember having a Barney themed birthday party, even a stuffed toy of the big dinosaur himself. Barney and his friends were my best friends and we hung out every morning in front of grandma’s television with a glass of chocolate milk and a bowl of cereal.

Then kindergarten happened.

I remember in kindergarten trying to relate with other kids by talking about Barney, asking them if they’ve seen certain episodes and asking which brightly colored dinosaur was their favorite. Their response was always the same.

“Barney is for babies.”

This news was devestating. These kids had the gall to tell me my favorite show was for babies, and being young and easily influenced there was no doubt in my mind they were right.

I denounced Barney and moved on to Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers as my favorites. I donated my stuffed toys and put Barney and Friends out of mind for close to 20 years until I heard Phife Dawg’s lyrics yesterday morning.

What happened to Barney and Friends? The last I heard, things were going well for Barney, Baby Bop and BJ. So, I sat down in front of my computer and got to Googling.

Barney and Friends started airing in 1992 and still runs in syndication. However, no new episodes have been made since 2010. In 2006, the show even added another character, Riff, a music loving orange dinosaur that wears some pretty sweet green shoes. There have even been Barney movies, seven of them in fact.

A couple of celebrities even got their start on Barney and Friends. Actress and singer, Selena Gomez, was on the show from 2002 to 2004, and Demi Lovato was on the show around the same time as Gomez. Both of them played some of the lucky kids who got to kick it with Barney whenever they wanted.

The show has taken its first step towards being cancelled. Soon, the episodes they re-air will become out dated and Barney and Friends will just ride off into the sunset and be forgotten.

I’m upset to know that one day when I have children, they won’t have such great role models as Barney and his colorful friends to look up to and learn from. Instead, they’ll have me as their dad to teach them how to be kids the right way, the way I was taught: by a large purple dinosaur.

Tony McDaniel can be reached at [email protected], on twitter @tonymcdanielDE, or at 536-3311 ext. 282