Help me remember...cartoon

[Bubblingbrooks]

I am a diehard Mister Rogers fan; and a station that we get shows (strangely) a single episode every Friday afternoon, so my kids have become fans too Hm, I should see if there is any DVD availability, that'd be a good Christmas present for my younger son.

Of current-production tv cartoons, I don't let the kids watch anything on a channel that has commercials, nor anything with serious merchandising tie-ins. Arthur is good, IMO; and Word World if you want educational. Most other cartoons give me hives (notably Caillou and Thomas the Tank Engine, which I am not impressed by AT ALL in all sorts of ways)

OTOH I was a big Kimba the White Lion fan when I was my kids' age, and seeing it recently after 40+ years away, oh my goodness, what WERE my parents thinking... it is hugely stupidly violent and has very unpleasant class/race overtones and absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Although, on the OTHER other hand, I survived and turned out reasonably ok regardless

Pat

We are very picky too. Got rid of the tv years ago.
Mr Rogers is fine too, but I agree with the other stuff. The agendas presented do not jive with our values.

The little I do find ok, will only be viewed on a single night a week. And no video games!
I would love to go screen free, but the computer will always be part of life due to business and such.
I grew up with very few screen hours until I was an adult, and would like to offer a similar path for DD.

 

[moolie]

Please pardon the hijack:

If I can offer encouragement from the other side, I have two teen daughters (ages 15 and 14) who only ever watched CBC morning tv programs and PBS, and no more than a few hours per week when they were small. Some of the programs mentioned here (Franklin, Little Bear, also Zoboomafoo, Katie and Orbie) although some are new to me and must have come out since the girls started school.

In any case, both are rabid readers and don't/won't watch tv. They hate commercials. And they also don't play any video games (we have never owned a console) other than a few educational computer games we had when they were in the primary grades.

Kids don't need to get addicted to tv, and to this day neither of my girls has any regrets about how much "screen time" they've been allowed over the years. Both have said numerous times that they would rather read a book than watch any tv show or movie.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Please pardon the hijack:

If I can offer encouragement from the other side, I have two teen daughters (ages 15 and 14) who only ever watched CBC morning tv programs and PBS, and no more than a few hours per week when they were small. Some of the programs mentioned here (Franklin, Little Bear, also Zoboomafoo, Katie and Orbie) although some are new to me and must have come out since the girls started school.

In any case, both are rabid readers and don't/won't watch tv. They hate commercials. And they also don't play any video games (we have never owned a console) other than a few educational computer games we had when they were in the primary grades.

Kids don't need to get addicted to tv, and to this day neither of my girls has any regrets about how much "screen time" they've been allowed over the years. Both have said numerous times that they would rather read a book than watch any tv show or movie.

Its not about getting addicted for us. Its about the exposure to things we do not find appropriate. So no actual tv in our house period.
No one ever died from small doses or no doses either

There have been in depth studies into teh benefits of delaying screen time fully until age 12. In fact, there are schools that require that kind of lifestyle.

 

[Henrietta23]

I am a diehard Mister Rogers fan; and a station that we get shows (strangely) a single episode every Friday afternoon, so my kids have become fans too Hm, I should see if there is any DVD availability, that'd be a good Christmas present for my younger son.

Of current-production tv cartoons, I don't let the kids watch anything on a channel that has commercials, nor anything with serious merchandising tie-ins. Arthur is good, IMO; and Word World if you want educational. Most other cartoons give me hives (notably Caillou and Thomas the Tank Engine, which I am not impressed by AT ALL in all sorts of ways)

OTOH I was a big Kimba the White Lion fan when I was my kids' age, and seeing it recently after 40+ years away, oh my goodness, what WERE my parents thinking... it is hugely stupidly violent and has very unpleasant class/race overtones and absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Although, on the OTHER other hand, I survived and turned out reasonably ok regardless

Pat

Hmmmm, I know from my parents telling me that I was an avid Kimba fan myself, but I have no memory of a single episode. I wonder if I blocked it like I blocked the flying monkey scenes from the Wizard of Oz....
Caillou is one of the most annoying things ever!! He is soooooooo whiny and why does he have no hair????
I am a big Mr. Rogers fan too and remember an episode where he showed different birds' eggs from a hummingbird to an ostrich. I was fascinated. Who knew where it would lead me!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Another Mr. Rogers fan!! LOVE him! My mom said I used to cry when his show went off. I also watched Reading Rainbow, and a show with Bill Cosby...can't remember the name but he had a special pen he used to do worksheets and stuff and I had one too! Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[patandchickens]

Hmmmm, I know from my parents telling me that I was an avid Kimba fan myself, but I have no memory of a single episode. I wonder if I blocked it like I blocked the flying monkey scenes from the Wizard of Oz....

Aiiiieeee, the flying monkey scenes -- that always scared the pants off me as a kid. I *wish* I could have blocked out the memory of it

Caillou is one of the most annoying things ever!! He is soooooooo whiny and why does he have no hair????

I think he's meant to be a millenially-updated Charlie Brown. Unfortunately I don't think much of the creators' idea of what millenial childhood is supposed to involve (apparently a great deal of whining and pouting). Although that doesn't explain why Thomas the Tank Engine (the stories were written back in the 30s and 40s I think?) is equally obnoxious. Go figure.

I like Shaun the Sheep too. Not a whole lot of "exposure" to anything, appropriate or inappropriate, just a bunch of claymation sheep. Well ok they do get in a lot of trouble, but then so do actual sheep

Untalkative Bunny was the VERY BEST cartoon ever, but I don't know if it was ever even shown in the States? If you ever get a chance to watch it, do. No words, no fireworks, no violence, very simple and zen and childlike, but wonderful.

Pat

 

[Neko-chan]

I found Thomas the Tank Engine to be very boring. Surprisingly though, I (and the kids) loved Wallace and Grommet. I also enjoyed watching Mr Rogers, and Reading Rainbow both. Seasame Street was okay. I remember watching it too, but it was less engaging than the others.

I was an early reader, and remained far ahead of everyone in class. They didn't catch up till about high school. I was reading college level stuff in sixth grade. To this day, I can sit down and read a large novel beginning to end in a day or two.

On a slight segue regarding reading:

What I found most frustrating about some teachers? The supposed "reading teacher", who was there to help kids who had trouble reading, must have really sucked at her job, if a 2nd grader felt she wasn't doing well enough. I got told off multiple times for helping classmates with pronunciation. I'm pretty sure if I'd been older that I'd have gotten myself in trouble by making a scathing remark towards her teaching skills. (It also occurs to me that the school I went to had a lot of surly old women there, who probably shouldn't even be around kids.)

 

[rebecca100]

We only get 2 channels and one of them is pbs-Martha Speaks, Arthur, and sometimes Jakers! when it shows. Other than that we get the news and weather. When we stayed with in Louisiana with dh's family they got satellite and some of the shows that came on on the childrens channels were unbelieveable. I refused for mine to watch them, but they stayed on the tv nonstop for their cousin. That was one thing I was glad to leave behind when we left there.