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Children's Programming

Discussion in 'Tilted Entertainment' started by genuinemommy, Jul 14, 2014.

  1. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    Are shows you liked as a child still enjoyable to you?
    What children's shows do you or your children like?
    What age range is the show designed for?
    Is it educational? Moral? Religious? Adorable? Other?
    Why does your child like it? Why do you like it?
    Or do you just tolerate it?

    I loved Mr. Rogers when I was a kid. It is still aired every once in a while on PBS. I do still enjoy it, even more now in fact. I have become a huge Mr. Rogers fangirl and would go so far as to nominate him for Sainthood. c


    #1 in our house is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. It is a PBS animated series that derives its character base and format from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. My daughter screams and points and giggles when she sees Daniel Tiger's face. She loves dancing along and saying "yep" when he asks if she wants to play make-believe. I like it because the songs are applicable and catchy. We use the songs as we go about our day. Leave for work? "Grown ups come back." Using potty? " Flush and wash and be on our way." Etc. She recognizes the songs and knows what to do. I especially like the fact that each episode is 2 mini-episodes so you can watch half and shut it off, then come back for the other half another day.
     
  2. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    I don't watch children's programming as much as I once did. As a nanny, I definitely had my preferences. I love Shining Time Station/Thomas the Tank Engine. That will always be a favorite of mine. I still enjoy Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Mr. Rogers was also a favorite of mine as a child, and is still a favorite as an adult.

    I tend to prefer shows that are educational or adorable, but not too twee. I dislike religious cartoons. Kids have plenty of time for indoctrination later, and I feel like shows like Mr. Rogers do a good job of teaching kids morals without an overtly preachy tone.

    I will not, and do not, watch Barney. I will tolerate most anything else. Barney is unacceptable, though.

    For anyone whose kids are into construction/transportation/etc, check out Mighty Machines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It's on Netflix and it's actually pretty enjoyable.
     
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  3. redravin

    redravin Cynical Optimist Donor

    Location:
    North
    My kids found Mr Rogers far too slow.
    We watched pre Elmo Sesame Street and Eureeka's Magic Castle (which was written by R.L. Stine much to my surprise).
    Also Blues Clues and Dora.
    Basically a lot of classic Nickelodeon.
    Later it was all about Rugrats and Doug.
     
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  4. Levite

    Levite Levitical Yet Funky

    Location:
    The Windy City
    I remember loving Mr. Rogers, and Sesame Street, and The Electric Company. I never watched a whole lot of TV when I was very small, those were about it. When I got a smidge older, I watched cartoons when I could-- I fucking loved me my Scooby Doo.

    I've seen some kids' programming today, and I have to say, I don't care much for it. I hate Barney, I hate the Teletubbies, I hate Dora, I hate Thomas the Tank Engine, all those motherfuckers. Call me a purist, but if my kid is going to be subjected to crap media with no redeeming value and a shit ton of commercialistic marketing strategies attached to it, why not wait until he gets old enough for the Star Wars prequel trilogy, or at least for streaming some classic He-Man or Transformers cartoons, which were good enough to stoke my little pubescent materialistic acquisition spark back in the day.

    And Sesame Street has gone way downhill. I mean, I thought it went downhill a little way back when Mr. Hooper died, but now.... Jesus, it's fucking all Elmo all the time, and I hate that little fuzzy son of a bitch. I will not let Little Levite get hooked on him. Again, call me a fucking purist if you want, but if anyone is going to teach my child bad grammar, it's going to be Cookie Monster, just the fucking way God intended. Mrs. Levite agrees with me: sometimes I make her laugh by imitating Elmo (I can actually do it pretty well) in heinous mock-episodes like "Elmo's Trip To Guantanamo Bay: Elmo Discovers Waterboarding" (that episode brought to you by the letters C, I, and A).

    So far we have exposed Little Levite to nearly no media: we don't have a TV in the living room, we don't let him play on the iPad, we don't let him touch our phones, we don't show him movies or anything. The only media we've exposed him to is music, and not even kid music: the Pandora station we mostly play is heavy on folk, lesbian folk/pop/rock, a Irish drinking songs, and Jewish music. We can't help what he gets exposed to at day care or at the houses of other kids, but we can at least make sure that kind of stuff isn't what he comes to know and expect at home. When it comes time, I'm going to see if I can find some classic episodes of Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Mr. Rogers, and leave it at that.
     
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  5. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    This is a good call.

    One of the parents I worked for was surprised when I said that I would only let their kids watch half an hour of television per day while providing summer care; their kids were 4 and 8. They also got half an hour of computer OR iPad time for a total of 1 hour of screen time. It was their choice to take it or not; more often than not, we only watched half an hour of television at the end of the day after cleaning up the house from our shenanigans. It was the summer of 2012, so we joked later that we'd saved up all our screen time for the Summer Olympics. It was a compromise as it was less than they were used to but more than I was used to giving kids; most kids I've nannied were allowed very little screen time, if any.

    Also, having kids listen to a variety of things is always a good idea. I'm a huge advocate of listening to public radio as background, even with young children. Why? Research has shown that kids exposed to a variety of words from a young age develop better, stronger vocabularies. Public radio uses a wide variety of words without there needing to be screen time, and most content is appropriate; bear in mind, very little kids aren't really going to understand what isn't appropriate as it will just sail over their heads. Plus, I find it interesting, and it functions as a "clock" of sorts for small children (believe me, every kid I've ever taken care of has known it was 4pm when the theme for All Things Considered came on; before that, it was Marketplace in that slot, and these two kids I nannied loved Kai Ryssdal). It also has music thrown in, and public radio music is usually a good variety.

    And a pro-tip I learned working as a preschool teacher: foreign language music is always entertaining and fun, plus you don't have to worry about inappropriate language. My Pandora Jrock station was a preschool favorite. Three-year-olds bopping to Asian Kung-Fu Generation is just so incredibly awesome.
     
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  6. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    Good for you! I bet it will work out very well for your family because you're making each interaction with media so intentional.

    I was raised in a church where the vast majority of my peers were exposed to no television and had very limited computer access. I was a babysitter for families that had a strict no-screen policy. I had no issues with respecting their wishes. Most of those kids turned out to be social, brilliant, college-educated adults whose careers benefit society.

    I am well-aware that my pediatrician recommends zero hours of screen time prior to age 2. I am familiar with the scientific studies that encourage this policy. But I have no interest in raising my daughter with such restrictions. I see the benefit of moderation. If watching a specific commercial-free show is a social activity for us, where she gets to learn and interact and grow, that's great. On the other hand, it deeply bothers me when I see a baby or toddler who is completely focused on a screen and has a blank look on their face. If my daughter starts to take on that kind of an expression, I turn it off immediately and change things up. I think the major developmental issues that are often correlated with television have more to do with lack of care-taker interaction than anything else.

    Right now my mother-in-law is watching my daughter as I work. I'm well aware of her habits, and expect that she has the TV permanently tuned in to the Catholic network (EWTN) or the Public television station called Create (painting, gardening, and sewing tutorials). I am OK with that. I know both she and my daughter couldn't care less about what is on the TV 90% of the time, and they just have it going for a little background noise. I'm not about to tell my mother-in-law that her harmless background programming could damage my child's brain in some irreversible way. I just don't believe that.

    When I get a special day with just me and my daughter, our television is the furthest thing from my mind. We play, paint, sing, dance, run, garden, visit museums, go to the park/pool, etc. We are out of the house 80% of our waking hours because I see that is what makes her happiest. She is incredibly social and being cooped up in our house for an extended period of time drives her mad (she starts banging her head against walls and throwing endless tantrums). We go out because when she's exposed to new and interesting things, she turns into a smiling, giggling kiddo who follows my instructions.

    Oh - and the cookie monster thing... I don't think my daughter has ever seen Cookie on the screen. I gave her my 3-foot-tall stuffed Cookie monster (gift from age 4) and I sing her "C is for Cookie" in a goofy voice while moving his arms. She goes crazy whenever she sees a Cookie Monster in the store. I'm pretty happy she likes Cookie and not Elmo. We also despise Elmo.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2014
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  7. redravin

    redravin Cynical Optimist Donor

    Location:
    North
    I didn't include these on the list because they aren't children's shows but what we stuck in the video player was musicals.
    As toddlers my daughters watched Meet Me In St . Louis, West Side Story, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Singing In The Rain, Showboat, Band Wagon, wizard of Oz, on the town, guys and dolls, kiss me kate (they really need to revive that one just for Brush Up Your Shakespeare).
     
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  8. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars
    I don't know if there are any programs that I would call children's shows that I enjoy, but if we look at family entertainment (which some might call children's programming I suppose) there are a few more. I am a great lover of Looney Tunes. Although I don't have children of my own yet I look forward to someday being able to share that joy with one or more tiny humans of my own manufacture.
     
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  9. Levite

    Levite Levitical Yet Funky

    Location:
    The Windy City
    I actually play NPR all the time when I'm in the car, so LL is totally used to hearing it, and he seems OK with it.

    Yeah, moderation is a good thing. I'm inclined to lean heavily toward the zero side of screen/visual media time while LL is very small-- like let's say under two or three-- especially because we plan to give him a comparative amount of flexibility or free rein making his media choices (with considerable supervision, of course) when he gets older-- say, over six or seven.

    Good for you! Fuck that little high-voiced bastard.
     
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  10. Fremen

    Fremen Allright, who stole my mustache?

    Location:
    E. Texas
    If you're going to be manufacturing tiny humans in the future, then I want to hear about you taking this thread title literally. ;)

    *hi-5's @redravin for the musicals he listed watching with the wee ones...

    I think most of The Looney Tunes hold up really well. For that matter, so do a lot of cartoons from the 60's, 70's and 80's.
     
  11. fresnelly

    fresnelly Getting Tilted

    Location:
    Toronto
    I'd just like to say how satisfying it was recently to drop off the whole lot of our kids' Dora and Thomas DVDs at the Goodwill.

    Now they're into any cartoons that are snappy and actiony like Avatar, My Little Pony or Pokemon.

    My son gravitates more to computer games these days such as Minecraft and because its the gateway to online interaction I wonder how much TV will be in is life in the future.
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2014
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  12. genuinemommy

    genuinemommy Moderator Staff Member

    We just discovered "Peg + Cat" It's a super cute math show that screams "girl power!" Super adorable, too.