Welcome to Patrick's Island

Patrick hasn' t been sleeping in his own bed for a few weeks now. As a matter of fact, he's not doing anything you would do ordinarily in a bedroom like sleep, change your clothes or sit at your desk and draw a picture. It's OK, though, because his room is no longer the bedroom of a nine-year-old boy. It is now "Gilligan' s Island."
Patrick has an enthusiasm that only can be described as Gilliganitis. The TV show comes on each weekday at 3:30 p.m. and Patrick likes to plan his afternoon accordingly.
Since I'm on an anti-TV campaign, I ordinarily wouldn't approve such an addiction. A day rarely goes by without my saying,"Turn off that TV before your brains tum into mush."
One of the reasons I object to television is that it limits the imagination and discourages creativity. If you saw Patrick's room you would understand why I don't call a halt to his love affair with 20-year-old reruns of the adventures of seven people stranded on desert island.
With dental floss, scotch tape, masking tape, ribbon, paper from a sketching tablet and his new watercolor paint set, Patrick has transformed his bedroom into Gilligan's Island.
When you enter his bedroom, you can almost hear the theme song, "Sit right back and you'll hear a tale of a fateful ship ... "
There 's a dental floss suspension bridge connecting the twin beds; extended by scotch tape from the ceiling light fixture is the professor's house and garage, but the professor isn't home. He's over at his laboratory located on the left bed next door to Ginger (the movie star) and Mary Anne's house and across the street from the restaurant, which is surrounded by fruit trees that provide the food for the restaurant .
On the other bed is the house of the millionaire and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Howell. Down the road, which is taped to the bedspread, is Gilligan and Skipper's house. To the left is the airport and hanger complete with paddle-power airplanes that only fly a half-mile before they get too tired of pumping.
The people on Gilligan's Island have become more than fictional characters to our family. Their names are interjected into our daily conversation. Whenever I'm complaining about high prices, Patrick says, "Gee, if you were as rich as Mr. Howell you wouldn't need to worry."
When the girls play dress up, they argue about who gets to be Ginger, the movie star. If Johnny starts digging up a plant Patrick tells him that the professor says you never eat a plant unless you are sure it's not poisonous. The Gilligan era probably will come to an end when the networks
rearrange their afternoon programming, but I'm not worried about a drought in Patrick 's creativity. He's already using the expressions of Commandant Klink on "Hogan 's Heroes."
September 1, 1982