I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that Linda, from Purple is a Fruit, is reading my freaking mind. I have all these ideas for posts, or sometimes I just mention something in passing (usually to Heather, as we talk most often about 1-year-olds) and then I go check Bloglines, and what do I find posted on Purple? Something similar to what has been going through my mind that week. The thought actually flitted through my mind that HEATHER was Linda… HAHA! I thought… “She has a SECRET ALIAS!” but then I realized that Linda does post pictures of her son, and that ideas was kind of silly.
Anyway, onto my post for the day. Which is oddly similar to Linda’s post. Oh well. I have my own ideas, even if they are pretty much…well… the same as hers.
TV. For kids. You hear soo much about “Infants and toddlers should NOT watch tv. At all. No way.” Well, I felt guilty for, oh, a millisecond, when P was a baby and I put on Einstein for him. So I could stay sane. And take a shower and not stink up my house. I did, though, try my hardest to make sure he only watched one half hour movie of Einstein a day. I kind of got anal if he watched it at one of his grandmas, and had watched it that morning at home too. Yeah, I’m queer like that. Like that extra half hour was going to rot his brain.
Being an educator, I’m kind of anal about educational things for my son. I don’t want him watching shows that will…well… just rot his brain. Or teach him bad values/morals. (Which, for under 2’s there’s not too much of that available but once kids are preschool and older…watch out!!) While right now its not a big deal what he watches, as he still prefers one of his 587 books to watching the tube, I am selective when turning the TV on for him. And I’m having a really hard time finding things that a) he will watch for more than 5 minutes and b) that are also age appropriate and somewhat educational.
Right now, the winner is Sesame Street. Or, I should say, Play With Me Sesame. PWMS isn’t as “educational” as Sesame Street… it doesn’t seem to have a specific curriculum in mind, rather it is more singing and songs, which totally captivates Porter. He also loves Elmo’s World on Sesame Street. Which drives me nuts. Can they give the furry red freak a more annoying voice… please… because the constant nagging whiney high pitched voice isn’t quite annoying enough to make me want to blow my brains out yet. I’m on the edge though. However, Porter does like Elmo, and when I need to get ready for work, that’s fine with me.
Have you noticed that Sesame Street is so weird now? Ernie has a new gay voice. And all the characters are so old! Miles and Gabby are graduating! I remember when Miles was born! HAHAHA! I don’t remember too much the old Sesame Streets.. I mean, I do, but not enough to hate the new ones like some people do.
I’m in the process of testing out new TV shows for him. We have DVR, which I LOOOVE because I can record shows for him and play them at my leisure. Heather said Sawyer loves Blues Clues… the old ones… so I have been recording that. He doesn’t give a flying crap for Steve or Blue. There don’t seem to be songs or anything interesting (as far as I’ve seen) on the show… and it just doesn’t get his attention… yet. Maybe in a few more months? As I type…. PWMS is on. He’s waddling around the house, with a dry washcloth, covering his head, wiping up the floor, throwing it in the air… catching glances of the TV as he walks from kitchen to living room.
So… the other show I just started DVR’ing today (at noon…oh I can’t wait!) is Jack’s Big Music Show or something like that. Probably not educational, but I’ve heard its lots of singing and dancing, which I do NOT do… so it’ll be good if he can get that from tv HAHA!
Anyone else have suggestions for good shows for under 2’s? I really think Teletubbies is just a little too odd. So is Oobie. I’ve heard good and bad about the Wiggles (haven’t watched it… is there even any educational basis to the show?). He’s not into Dora or Diego yet. I guess I just want to find a show for him that has some kind of curriculum in mind… some sort of goal to teach kids SOMETHING throughout the show. Whether it’s values, a good habit, about feelings, or new words, or language or colors… Heather said something last weekend about Barney but ohhhh… I don’t think I can handle Barney. I used to watch it when I was younger (with my little brother). And the kids just…. Over-exaggerate their lines a little too much. Ewww. I could put it on for him if I wasn’t in the same room, but I think I might start gagging if I had to sit and watch it with him.
Now, once Porter is a little bit older… I will probably turn into super-obsessive educator mother. He won’t have a TV in his room. And many kids shows on TV will be blocked. Cartoon Network will be first on that list. And Nick Jr. will be pretty regulated too. He will not watch Spongebob. Or Power Rangers.
I can’t say too much about shows/cartoons for older kids, I’ve only watch a tiny bit from nannying (the kids were allowed to watch… well… whatever) and from what I’ve seen… uh… yuck. I honestly can’t decipher one show from another, really, but they were all pretty stupid and had no point other than to be gross, violent, disrespectful and rude or just plain nonsense. Ed Edd and Eddy… My Gym Partner is a Monkey… Power-Puff Girls…Fairly Oddparents…. Rugrats. No way. Not in this house.
So… all you moms out there… what shows do you love for your toddler? Why? What shows do you absolutely not allow and why?
nicolebarczak.com 
Nic, Little Louie has liked Handy Manny for a while now. He speaks ENglish and Spanish. It might be a little old for Porter, but you could try it. Anything on Noggin I would say is pretty good. The Wiggles aren’t that educational, but there is lots of colors and music.
If I can remember, I’ll lend you our Laurie Berkner’s Band dvd. The girls love the songs and it’s totally entertaining (for me too, at times). They LOVE Caillou (PBS) as well.
Teletubbies are a little odd at first glance (and I suppose second and third) but if you watch it from a 1 or 2 year old point of view it is perfect. The way they do things and discover things and do things again and again… it really is how a toddler’s mind works. But are they even on anymore?
I’d stay away from Wiggles. They scare me. I’d do Barney over the Wiggles any day. And I don’t like Barney.
I have a old Winnie the Pooh video that Savannah loved when she was little… P could check that one out.
And we have Laurie Berkner Band too… they’re awesome! Savannah’s loved it for the past year and Sawyer really gets into it now too. It’s just fun little kid music videos. Pretty catchy songs too!
You’re right though, there’s really not much on these days for the younger kids. Even for Savannah’s age, we’re pretty limited with what she is interested in/what we want her watching. That’s why when we find a good one we make sure and get a video or two!
Nic~
The kids & I are in love w/ our DVR too! They mastered it before me! I love the Sprout channel, it is a PBS affiliate station & has some great shows! Channel 128 on our Comcast line-up. Actually you may want to pass along to Heather to check out their line-up for Signing Times. Good luck & I agree w/ the banning of Cartoon Network, etc 🙂
Noggin all the way!! Oobi, Max & Ruby and especially Wow Wow Wubzy (which is kinda new). He loves Jack’s music show because of all the musicians from Noggin being part of it. But he’s 4yr old so he’s into the preschooler’s shows too like Dora, Diego and Blue’s Clues.