History YMMV / TheBerenstainBears

** The Southern Star adaptation of "In the Dark" has a bit of dialogue where Papa tells Brother that he'll get a spanking if he scares Sister again ("If there's another "ooh, ooh, ooh", it's gonna be followed by an "ow, ow, ow".") The episode aired in 1986, when spanking wasn't the hot-button topic it is today. On top of that, the dialogue by itself wouldn't fly well in television nowadays, especially in a series aimed towards young children.

* TheScrappy: Lenny in the 2003 series. He often brags to Brother and Sister but has no problem pointing out the shortcomings of others.

** In "Too Much Pressure", Mama becomes so overwhelmed with driving Brother and Sister to their activities that when the car stalls on their way to one, she breaks down and cries. Since [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Mama is generally the most level-headed of the family]], this is very upsetting to see. To push it further, the 2003 TV series adaptation of said story has the cubs [[EverybodyCries crying along with her]].

* {{Mondegreen}}: Horace T. Honeypot's name in the 1985 show's intro is commonly misheard as "Horse T. Onionfuck".

* AccidentalAesop: In keeping with Mama and Papa's ParentsAsPeople portrayal, the stories contain quite a few parenting lessons spliced in with the ones meant for children. Examples include "Don't hit your children," "Don’t scold them for bad habits," "Don’t indulge their tantrums," and "You can inform your children about the dangers of the world without scaring the shit out of them."
* AlternateAesopInterpretation: ''Trouble at School'' delivers the moral "It's never too late to correct a mistake." It's supposed to mean "even though you've put off correcting your errors, a new attempt to apologize and atone for them can still be appreciated", but it could easily be misread as "if you commit a crime, don't apologize for it until it's convenient, upon which all will be forgiven."

* AngstWhatAngst: In the TV version of ''The Trouble at School'', Mama and Papa show almost no concern when Brother confesses all of his misdeeds, which include ignoring all his homework when he was sick, facing the consequences when it turns out he has a test the day he goes back and subsequently getting a ''zero'' on it, hiding it from his parents when he was instructed to have them sign it, and skipping school the next day. Yet, when he finally confesses, his parents have maybe two sentences worth of "scolding" him (if you could even call it that) before pulling an EasilyForgiven and switching into a more positive and upbeat tone. In fact, they show more concern in ''The Homework Hassle'' where Brother only does ''one'' of those things (letting his homework pile up).

** In ''The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs'', Sister Bear finds that there are no major holidays in March. Ever heard of St. Patrick's Day?
** In the TV version of ''Trouble At School'', after being absent for a week because of illness, Brother is expected to take a test the same day he goes back to school. Most (if not ''all'') schools in the USA would give Brother at least a day to make sure that he understands the lessons before making him take a test.

** Many people think that the "junk food" in ''...and Too Much Junk Food'' looks colorful and delicious, despite the Aesop of junk food being bad for you. To quote one RealLife child looking at the inside cover:

** The InUniverse nightmare-inducing Space Grizzlies [[MerchandiseDriven toy line and movie]] from ''The Bad Dream'' actually looked like a pretty cool franchise (sort of like Toys/MonsterInMyPocket meets Franchise/StarWars).
** In ''...Get the Gimmies'', Brother and Sister actually get some really cool knick knacks.

** The book version of ''The Slumber Party'' opens up with the story explaining that you never know who is on the phone until you answer it. Needless to say, [[TechnologyMarchesOn that's no longer true with the rise of caller IDs.]] Then again, there's no guarantee that it's who the caller ID says it is...
** ''The Berenstain Bears and the Attic Treasures'', released in 1990, has the Bears going through their attic to decide what to sell (and wind up not selling any of it). At one point, they find their old baby furniture and are initially sure they can get rid of it, until the cubs object -- what if they wind up having another baby and needing it then? Ten years later, Mama was revealed to be pregnant again in the 2000 book ''The Birds, the Bees, and the Berenstain Bears'', with baby Honey Bear being introduced in ''The Berenstain Bears and Baby Makes Five'' the same year.

** "The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree" would've lasted a few minutes if Papa Bear went to Gus instead of dragging Brother and Sister in search of the perfect tree.
** "The Slumber Party" relies on every single parent in Bear Country being completely clueless for the sake of having a responsibility moral. Essentially, Lizzie hosts a sleepover and invites Sister alongside two of her friends, which is the plan before it quickly spirals out of control when word spreads to all the other girls (and [[TheBully Too-Tall's gang]]) at school, which leads to a giant party full of uninvited guests. Considering how many other girls get involved, it's a bit of a stretch to think that ''none of their parents bothered to check with the Bruins about it'' (While Mama and Papa do acknowledge the mistake on their end, it still leaves the issues with every single other parent). On top of that, Lizzie's parents aren't even home when it takes place; they just leave Lizzie with a babysitter and apparently had enough faith that Lizzie would be perfectly safe and responsible on her ''first sleepover'' and a babysitter would be all they need to keep her under control. How were they shocked that it turned out as it did?

* InformedWrongness: Sister's nail-biting in ''The Bad Habit'', a mildly annoying nervous tic at worst, is made out to be a much bigger problem than it really is.

** ''The Berenstain Bears Show Some Respect'' has the cubs acting bratty by contradicting their parents and grandparents when the family is looking for a picnic spot. However, a lot of their comments are quite valid. For instance, Mama suggests a spot by the pond because that's where she and Papa had their first date. Brother responds with "That's was ages ago. It's full of mosquitoes now." While he could have said it in a more polite manner, having picnics where there are lots of mosquitoes around is dangerous.
*** The entire family treat the grandparents as though their picnic spot suggestions are awful until they're called out on it, at which point they let them have the final say. Gramps proceeds to lead them...back to the house, to eat in the backyard. While it's easily accessible and not mosquito ridden, this defeats the entire purpose of going on a summer picnic.
** In the animated special ''The Berenstain Bears' Easter Surprise'', Boss Bunny retires from his role as the Easter Bunny. When he is confronted about it by his son and Brother Bear, it's clear to see that he's too old and out of shape to continue the job. While all it takes to get him going is some fresh air, considering everything he has to do to make Easter possible, it's still taxing.
* TakeThatScrappy: At least, how one writer for [[UsefulNotes/AmericanNewspapers The New York Times]] put it: in a review for the 1980s show, the author expressed disdain for the cast as a whole, but particularly paid attention to Mama Bear being overly stern and seemingly caring more about how her house looks than the well being of her children. Thus, he saw the cubs demolishing the lamp in ''The Truth'' as one of these moments.

** Brother for failing the test in ''Trouble with school''. We are supposed to see that Brother fell behind in Math because he never learned how to divide... and the school was operating under the assumption he would learn it ''from homework alone''. On top of this, he returns from an extended sick break... and is expected to take ''a test'' on ''division''. Regardless of whether or not Brother was expected to do homework, his teacher never gave him an opportunity to even ''learn'' division or show he ''could'' do division.
** Papa in the 1980s TV episode "The Great Honey Pipeline". After going back on his word to stay away from the wild honey, the cubs and a skunk teach him a lesson by having the skunk spray him through the pipeline; Papa then has to live outside in a tent because of the stink as well as punishment. While meant as karma and AnAesop about not breaking your word, this seems excessive to the point that you feel sorry for Papa.

** One of their very first books was "The Bike Lesson", which was published in the 1960s and teaches bike safety but never says a word about helmets, allowing Papa to keep suffering AmusingInjuries. The much later book "Safe and Sound" made up for this.
** ''The Berenstain Bears and the Bully'' (published in 1993) has [[BewareTheNiceOnes Sister punching Tuffy, the titular bully, in the nose]] and only getting let off with a warning. The book was [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer intended to teach kids self-defense]] but it was published before many American schools adopted a "zero-tolerance" policy. Under those circumstances, a kid would likely be punished along with their aggressor or possibly face suspension/expulsion. Additionally, Tuffy is seen throwing rocks at a baby bird - that would easily put Tuffy in therapy today as soon as a teacher saw it. (She does get put in therapy at the end of the book, with the hope that she'll get help for her home life.)
** The Southern Star adaptation of "In the Dark" has a bit of dialogue where Papa tells Brother that he'll get a spanking if he scares Sister again ("If there's another "ooh, ooh, ooh", it's gonna be followed by an "ow, ow, ow".) The episode aired in 1986, when spanking wasn't the hot-button topic it is today. On top of that, this dialogue by itself wouldn't fly well in television nowadays, especially in a series aimed towards children.
** "Learn About Strangers" has Papa Bear and Brother Bear warning Sister about being overly friendly towards bears and animals she sees while walking towards the park. But all Sister does is say "Hello" when she passes by – she tends to be minding her own business and is just trying to be polite. Today, it's more likely that she wouldn't receive this message at all, since more likely someone you know will hurt you than a stranger.

** "Mama's New Job" takes an even-keeled approach to Mama no longer wanting to be solely the homemaker. The book notes that she spends most of her time either doing chores or helping out her family with their activities, while she would rather have more time to experiment with quilt patterns. After some neighbors offer to buy her quilts at one of Papa's events, Mama realizes it's ActuallyAGoodIdea. She has some money saved up and rents a shop space, to sell her knitting. While her family at first worries she won't have time to be a mom, look at their response on day one: Mama comes home late because business was such a success that she couldn't stop selling quilts. In response, Papa Bear makes a delicious dinner while the kids tell Mama to prop up her feet and rest. Brother and Sister handle their activities and inform Mama about how their days went. She's so touched by how supportive they are that a few weeks later, she's able to treat them to dinner at a fast food restaurant. The family notes that the extra money is nice, but Mama being happy is even nicer.
** In "And Too Much Pressure": the Bear Family is overwhelmed by a schedule full of extracurricular enrichment activities for Brother and Sister (nine activities between them at the least) and it keeps Mama Bear busy...and stressed to the point where she neglects to have Papa Bear take care of her spark plugs, the family is too busy to have dinner with Gran and Gramps, the whole family has nightmares (or just can't sleep in Mama's case), the cubs can't help out at the house or enjoy downtime, and then the car just wouldn't start and gets Mama on a crying jag. This book is more resonant now as how the standards for parenting, like helicopter parenting, have demanded that parents make sure their children have a large share of enrichment activities and where even colleges are requiring high school students to have a part-time job, volunteer work, extracurriculars, good grades, and experiences to get accepted; also in the "hustle culture" where young members of the workforce are vulnerable to burnout due to focusing more on their work and less on their physical and mental needs.

** The Southern Star adaptation of "In the Dark" has a bit of dialogue where Papa tells Brother that he'll get a spanking if he scares Sister again ("If there's another "ooh, ooh, ooh", it's gonna be followed by an "ow, ow, ow".) The episode aired in 1986, when spanking wasn't seen as corporal punishment. On top of that, this dialogue by itself wouldn't fly well in children's television nowadays, considering that its a parent threating to hurt their child.

* {{Woolseyism}}: In the Nelvana episode "Go to School", Sister mixes up 'synonym' and 'cinnamon' while studying vocabulary for the third grade. This homophone is lost in Spanish ('sinónimo' and 'canela'), so in the Spanish dub, Brother clarifies that 'cinnamon' is 'canela' in English.

* Mondegreen: Horace T. Honeypot's name in the 1985 show's intro is commonly misheard as "Horse T. Onionfuck".

* {{Woolseyism}}: In the Nelvana episode "Go to School", Sister m* SocietyMarchesOn:
** The story about Sister being bullied by Tuffy. Sister only gets away with a slap on the wrist for giving Tuffy a nosebleed just because she was only trying to protect a baby bird - in the present, Sister would have been in ''just'' as much trouble as Tuffy. Additionally, Tuffy is seen throwing rocks at a baby bird - that would easily put Tuffy in therapy today as soon as a teacher saw it. (She does get put in therapy at the end of the book, with the hope that she'll get help for her home life.)
** "Learn About Strangers" has Papa Bear and Brother Bear warning Sister about being overly friendly towards bears and animals she sees while walking towards the park. But all Sister does is say "Hello" when she passes by – she tends to be minding her own business and is just trying to be polite. Today, it's more likely that she wouldn't receive this message at all, since more likely someone you know will hurt you than a stranger.ixes up 'synonym' and 'cinnamon' while studying vocabulary for the third grade. This homophone is lost in Spanish ('sinónimo' and 'canela'), so in the Spanish dub, Brother clarifies that 'cinnamon' is 'canela' in English.

** ''The Berenstain Bears and the Bully'' (published in 1993) has [[BewareTheNiceOnes Sister punching the titular bully in the nose]] and only getting let off with a warning. The book was [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer intended to teach kids self-defense]] but it was published before many American schools adopted a "zero-tolerance" policy. Under those circumstances, a kid would likely be punished along with their aggressor or possibly face suspension/expulsion.

* {{Woolseyism}}: In the Nelvana episode "Go to School", Sister mixes up 'synonym' and 'cinnamon' while studying vocabulary for the third grade. This homophone is lost in Spanish ('sinónimo' and 'canela'), so in the Spanish dub, Brother clarifies that 'cinnamon' is 'canela' in English.

** In ''The Big Road Race'', Brother, the protagonist, drives a red race car and is antagonized by one of his competitors, the driver of a green car, a sneaky cheater who also antagonizes the driver of a blue car. [[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Sound familiar?]]

* MandelaEffect: In the book "The New Neighbours", Papa Bear is often misremembered as claiming his panda bear neighbours "aren't real bears". He never claims this— he claims to dislike the pandas for being "different", then later when they plant bamboo, he claims it's a "spite fence", but he never accuses them of not being real bears.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The entire reason for the series' ''existence'' is to impart moral lessons. The PBS Kids version seems to be [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped a lot better about this]], but several of the Mike Berenstain-created books lean heavily on an overtly Christian message, which can almost come across as proselytizing.

*** Similarly in "Computer Trouble" (2010), the Bear family is still shown to use big, bulky and boxy desktop computers, complete with CRT monitors, something very hard to find in real life the time the book was written, in favor of said sleeker and thinner computers. They even go as far as using [[Website/{{Facebook}} Pawbook]] and [[Website/EBay eBear]] on said computers!

* NeverLiveItDown: Mama Bear's worst moment is considered to be in "The Messy Room", where she gets mad at Brother and Sister for not tidying their rooms. Understandable, but then she ''outright threatens''' to throw away their toys if they don't put them away ''while doing so as they can only watch in agony'', something which many fans are still mad about.

* NeverLiveItDown: Mama Bear's worst moment is considered to be in "The Messy Room", where she gets mad at Brother and Sister for not tidying their rooms and threatens to throw away their toys if they don't put them away, something which many fans are still mad about.

* NeverLiveItDown: Mama Bear's worst moment was in "The Messy Room", where she gets mad at Brother and Sister for not tidying their rooms and threatens to throw away their toys if they don't put them away, something which many fans are still mad about.

** ''The Berenstain Bears and the Attic Treasures'', released in 1990, has the Bears going through their attic to decide what to sell (and wind up not selling any of it). At one point, they find their old baby furniture and are initially sure they can get rid of it, until the cubs object - what if they wind up having another baby and needing it then? Ten years later, Mama was revealed to be pregnant again in the 2000 book ''The Birds, the Bees, and the Berenstain Bears'', with baby Honey Bear being introduced in ''The Berenstain Bears and Baby Makes Five'' the same year.

* IAmNotShazam: The bears' surname is Bear, not Berenstain. And, despite the common mispronunciation, it's not [[AmbiguouslyJewish "Bernstein"]], either. Nor is it "Berenstein," despite what some people will tell you.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The entire reason for the series' ''existence'' is to impart moral lessons. The PBS Kids version seems to be a lot better about this, but several of the Mike Berenstain-created books lean heavily on an overtly Christian message, which can almost come across as proselytizing.

* {{Anvilicious}}: The entire reason for the series' ''existence'' is to impart moral lessons. The PBS Kids version seems to be a lot better about this.

* UnfortunateImplications: [[https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-berenstain-bears-get-an-app-and-find-god As this article]] points out, the new, overtly religious stories sour one of the consistent charms of the bears, namely that they were fallible characters who strove to better themselves not because religion told them to, but simply for decency's sake.

** Brother and his guy friends in the book version of ''No Girls Allowed'' are written as sexist jerks who kicked Sister out of their hangout at the swamp after she outdid them in many activities. However, it's inevitable to sympathize with them more than Sister when you learn that the whole reason they excluded her from their hangout in the first place was because [[UnsportsmanlikeGloating she kept on rubbing her victory in their faces.]] The fact that she even did the same exact thing to them when she discovers their hangout certainly lost even more sympathy points for Sister, and it isn't really easy to blame Brother and his friends when they decide they had enough of her. The TV adaptation does fix this by making Brother an unsympathetic jerk to Sister by mocking her on her inept ability to perform in the activities she participates in along with Brother and his friends though, thus giving Sister a more justifiable reason to rub her victories in the faces of Brother and his friends.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Brother and his guy friends in the book version of ''No Girls Allowed'' are written as sexist jerks who kicked Sister out of their hangout at the swamp after she outdid them in many activities. However, it's inevitable to sympathize with them more than Sister when you learn that the whole reason they excluded her from their hangout in the first place was because [[UnsportsmanlikeGloating she kept on rubbing her victory in their faces.]] The fact that she even did the same exact thing to them when she discovers their hangout certainly lost even more sympathy points for Sister, and it isn't really easy to blame Brother and his friends when they decide they had enough of her. The TV adaptation does fix this by making Brother an unsympathetic jerk to Sister by mocking her on her inept ability to perform in the activities she participates in along with Brother and his friends though, thus giving Sister a more justifiable reason to rub her victories in the faces of Brother and his friends.
** Brother for failing the test in ''Trouble with school''. We are supposed to see that Brother fell behind in Math because he never learned how to divide... and the school was operating under the assumption he would learn it ''from homework alone''. On top of this, he returns from an extended sick break... and is expected to take ''a test'' on ''division''. Regardless of whether or not Brother was expected to do homework, his teacher never gave him an opportunity to even ''learn'' division or show he ''could'' do division.