TV Quote of the Day (‘The Andy Griffith Show,’ on the Eternal Dilemma Facing Parents)

Sheriff Andy Taylor [played by Andy Griffith]: “You can't let a young’n decide for himself. He'll grab at the first flashy thing with shiny ribbons on it. Then, when he finds out there's a hook in it, it's too late. Wrong ideas come packaged with so much glitter that it's hard to convince ‘em that other things might be better in the long run. All a parent can do is say 'wait' and 'trust me' and try to keep temptation away."—The Andy Griffith Show, Season 2, Episode 6, “Opie's Hobo Friend,” original air date Nov. 13, 1961, teleplay by Harvey Bullock, directed by Bob Sweeney

There’s a reason why The Andy Griffith Show has aged so well. It’s not just because the sitcom treated its quirky characters with humor and humanity. It’s also because, in his down-home manner, Andy Griffith slipped in common sense and wisdom that viewers from all walks of life could appreciate.

Six decades ago, Andy Taylor had to contend with a homeless person showing son Opie how conniving and thieving could get what one wanted without having a job. Now, the presence of electronics (smartphones, TikTok, you name it—even penetrating a small town like Mayberry—makes it a million times more difficult for parents to “keep temptation away.”

In the early postwar period, they turned to Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care as their bible for raising kids. But the pace of life these days is so rapid that revisions to these and other child-rearing manuals are obsolete as soon as they are printed.

This school year, parents will have to be extra careful to watch out for how “the first flashy thing with shiny ribbons on it” can affect their children. As a matter of fact, they will have to exercise the same vigilance towards themselves lest they fall for consumer—or political—scams.