Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 7, 1993 TAG: 9309070059
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DAVIE, FLA. LENGTH: Short
Parents who catch themselves inventing such venomous verses about the object of their preschool child's squealing adoration can join the club: the I Hate Barney Secret Society.
"You don't have to tell your kids you belong," is the motto of the club founded by Robert Curran, an advertising salesman whose 2 1/2-year-old daughter Michelle-Christine is "an extreme Barney fan, if not an addict."
The singing dinosaur has led "Barney & Friends" to the top of public TV's children's series. Parents will spend more than $200 million this year on related merchandise.
Other parents are willing to send Curran 50 cents to join his club.
Greg Hudson writes from Richmond, Va., "What did we parents do to deserve this?"
Donna L. of Hollywood blames her failure to conceive on terror about bringing another Barney fan into the world.
Curran insists he started the club as a joking neighborhood newsletter that struck some raw nerves.
However, his wife, Diane Curran, is expecting another child in December, and worries: "I shudder to think if this one is a big Barney fan. Another few years would be murder."
by CNB