No I am not speaking of the father, the son and the holy ghost. In my house the Divine Trinity is Dora the Explorer, Little Einsteins and The Backyardigans or in Arianna speak - Dora, Rocket and Pablo (she refers to all shows by her favorite character in them).
I am a self professed TV junkie, always have been, always will be. To this day I am still called the walking TV guide by many in my family and sometimes receive phone calls with the sole purpose of asking when a particular TV show is on. Knowing this about myself I knew in having a child that I wasn't going to be one of "those" moms. You know, the ones who ban television from their children's lives as though they will be corrupted to the dark side and/or grow up to be dysfunctional illiterates. My take, growing up I loved TV and I was an avid reader, played outside, had endless play of barbies, house and anything else I could fathom up with my playmates. So for me, moderation and control was the key to success.
I say this because I am failing miserably. TV is a crutch for me and a convenience that I sometimes overindulge. When Arianna wakes up, comes home from daycare or from anywhere really the first words out of her mouth are inevitably "Mommy I want Pablo, Rocket or Dora". Sometimes I say no, most days I don't. So what I have tried to do is limit what type of shows she watches and avoid commercials. DVRs are a magical thing.
The trifecta that she watches play into my great loves for sure.
Dora the Explorer - While I personally find Dora only slightly less annoying than Barney I feel a personal obligation to support any minority lead character on television and appreciate that she is a proud Latina who speaks Spanish and English.
- Little Einsteins - This one plays into my inner band geek. I love the fact that these four kids go off on adventures set to classical music and the backdrops are famous works of art. Yes they should have dubbed the little girl who sings so it doesn't make parents ears bleed, but the pros outweigh the cons. But the mini-UN looking cast taking off to commands like 'Accelerando' does a body good.
- The Backyardigans - OK truth be told, this is my favorite cartoon and I will be sad when she outgrows it. What is not to like about a cartoon about 5 friends in a neighborhood who create adventures in their backyard that takes them into their imagination. With accurate portrayals of genres of dance and music and the occasional dash of sarcasm there is little not to love. And if that doesn't get you, the trigger for them to return home from their adventure/imagination is one of the character's stomach growling, in which they promptly return to someones house for snack.
This one mirrors everything about my childhood that I loved. So, academic studies be damned Arianna and I are going to continue to do the "Yeti Stomp" to the elevator every morning.
What is your take on television and kids? I have a lot of friends entering into parenthood, think what you would do and then observe how it all plays out in reality.
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Yeti, Yeti, Yeti. Keith and I love movies, TV and have a fondness for kids TV programs. My personal favorite is Little Bear. It too captures imagination in just the right way. He tries to understand and appreciate the world around him and ultimately tries to just enjoy it. My kids still watch Dora and Diego (we met Diego's mom in a supermarket nearby - he does exist) and they went from watching it with blank stares to screaming out the Spanish words and instructions- something that amazes me every time they do it. They do watch and like the Batman, Superman and PowerRangers shows to bring out their inner boy, but I find that as they get older they like shows that are more interactive and appeal to their interest. For instance, there are some new dinosaur shows that they LOVE and they like some of the PBS shows on words and spelling - really neat shows actually. The had a Backyardigans (agree that it is good and songs are very memorable) and Einsteins stint and occasionally watch them still. One family favorite is Wubzy. He's adorable, the show is very silly, but we find ourselves singing a lot of the songs -which actually try to teach a lesson and tie it back to the episodes they just saw. The great thing in that show there is a character in every episode that says "Kooky" and when they do amazing jumps in the show they use the bionic sound from the 6 million dollar man- classic. There is surprisingly lots of decent stuff out there, Upside Down Show, Wonder Pets, Dragon Tales, Handy Manny (more Latinos to be proud of). There are also the classics we grew up on that the kids also started watching like the Flinstones and Scooby Doo. The key is as you said moderation and monitoring what your kids watch and letting them know if they are too young for it and why. The one thing Keith and I discovered is that we believe because we did not expose our kids to TV or videos or Movies until they were 18 months to 2 years they had time to develop their imagination. May not sound like a lot of time but now that they are 4 we see that they don't sit to watch TV very long they'd rather play and act things out on their own. The TV can be on all day with all the shows I mentioned above coming on and they will barely glance at it. As for movies - well they will sit down and watch them repeatedly for days on end. I wouldn't fret you turned out great - your smart, funny and you certainly had a great imagination as a child - I hardly ever remember watching TV at your house...we had too many barbie stories to act out and mysteries to solve as Charlie's Latina Angels.
LOL - the Latina Charlie's Angels, ohh there's a flashback!
I agree about there being good stuff that engages them to interact. As for PBS words and spelling - I have a great affection for Between the Lions. The plays on words kills me everytime, in particular that the library has a dinasaur named "Theasaurus".
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