Did you know that this week is TV Turn Off Week? I thought this might be a good time to talk about TV, specifically about children’s television.
I am a total kids’ TV snob. If I don’t like it, they don’t watch it. Even if it’s supposed to be good. Case in point: Cyberchase on PBS. Melissa Wiley recently made a case for this show that made me wonder what I have been missing. I thought about the latest tutorial I saw on there and I wrote off that particular show a couple years ago after seeing one episode that I thought was inane. After reading what Melissa had to say, though, I think that perhaps it deserves a second look. Similarly, we don’t watch Arthur or its spin-off, Postcards From Buster because there’s too much of the S-word (stupid) and I don’t like the nasty way that siblings interact on those shows. We don’t watch Caillou because of the whine factor. We have enough of that stuff in real life.
Some PBS shows we do like, though, are Maya and Miguel (I like the way the way that brother and sister love and care for each other on that show) and Curious George (not as good as the books, but cute and sweet nonetheless), and the classic Thomas and Friends (once again, completely harmless and fun for little ones).
Are you turning your sets off this week? Or do you do that every week? Weigh in with your own children’s television picks and pans.
We only get 3 channels on our television -Turner Classic Movies, National Geographic, and Food Network. I often leave the Food Network on all day as background noise and occasionally watch a TCM movie.
We don’t get PBS anymore since we cancelled our cable. I can’t really comment on kids shows but I do recall likeing Between the Lions, Curious George, and Postcards from Buster.
I won’t be turning off my TV because the kids don’t watch it much anyway and I just keep it on so I don’t feel too lonely during the day.
We do watch a LOT of movies though.
My kids started with PBS but that Caillou drives me crazy. Now we watch Noggin. It’s tagline is, "It’s preschool on TV". The best thing about this network is that there are no commercials. They use that time to teach little lessons and to promote their own network. Be warned though, late night(around 10 p.m. …and no my kids are not watching TV at this time) this network switches to something called The N that has shows that I won’t even watch.
My kids favorites are Dora and The Backyardigans. I have to admit that even I love The Backyardigans. Their songs and adventures are really good.
Funny enough though, for the past two months my kids have not turned the TV on all day. They love to play outside. I love watching this happen. It’s so refreshing to know that children, when given the opportunity, really can entertain themselves!
I have 3 daughters, ages 6, 4, and 2. We love Cyberchase here — my oldest has learned math concepts from it and talks about them in real life situations. Basically, I allow them to watch PBS from 4-6pm so that I have a little bit of quiet time to get everything cleaned up and dinner prepared. They don’t sit glued to the television during that time, though. Often the oldest 2 will go play outside or with a toy or puzzle instead of watching. They will stop and watch their favorites, though. During that time period on PBS, we see Clifford, Curious George, Cyberchase, and Arthur. We use Arthur as a way to talk about attitude toward others and how we speak to others. I need to sit down and make a plan for how much TV they are allowed each day/week. We’re pretty loose with it right now and some days are worse than others.
We don’t do regular tv, and my 3-year-old is allowed a couple of videos (usually 30 minute ones) a week. She would happily watch more, but I definitely prefer books or stories on tape, since that engages her imagination and doesn’t have commercials. Has anyone else tried Michael John Poirier’s Storyteller CD? It’s got really great stories, is about an hour long, and my daughter loves it. She’s spellbound for that and other books or stories on tape or CD, so I lean toward those. Peter and the Wolf is a current favorite.
My husband and I don’t watch tv either, but movies that we rent. So, yes, our tv is off this week.
I think its interesting that so many of you automatically nix tv shows that contain behaviour you dislike, regardless of the context. Does it make a difference to you if Caillou’s behaviour is corrected during the course of the show (it always is – I haven’t noticed any increased whininess since my son started watching it, but he has gotten more vocal and better at expressing himself, which I think is a good thing)? The kids on Arthur might get angry with each other and use (mild) derogatories, but I always thought the books, and the show, do a good job of showing how hurtful that is and how it takes work to mend and keep up a friendship – too old for my two year old, definately, but I would think it would be good for a 8-12 year old. I am also a big believer in discussing shows – and books! – with kids. My mom always read every book we did, and discussing them with her taught us to think critically.
My Children are grown now 19 and 16…We watched alot of T.V. Chiildren shows while they were growing up. Little Bear, Thomas the Train, Eureka Castle, Barney the I love you song they loved…Prime time T.V was very little in the evening. Were a news family so it was always on news everyday and still is today, The History channel, Military for Dad as we just retired from Twenty Years active Air Force. T.V. was always a important part of growing up especially for me growing up when T.V. had great shows on nightly. Now I don’t watch much prime time I watch alot old movies from a Huge DVD library.
Since we have been TV-free for 10 years now I guess we are part of the TV turn off Week!
We were completely unplugged until my husband deployed for 9 months, leaving me home with two preschoolers and enourmously pregnant with #3. That was 4 years ago and we now have a large VHS tape collection that I have picked up from the thrift store. The kids get to pick, as long as they agree, to watch a movie after school is finished for everyone. This only happens 2-3 times a week, so there is plenty of time for reading, playing outside… No commerical TV means no whining for products, toys, or designer clothes. When we go up to Maine for 3 months every summer there is no TV there at all so they are forced to play *gasp* outside in the fresh air all day, every day. I love it and they do too.
We have WAY too much TV in this house. I wish I had known it was TV off week. The original plan in our house was to monitor but we are always the frog in the pot that doesn’t notice the water getting hot. Especially when we had cable. Sci Fi should be no problem except for the commercials, EWTN would be on all the time but the kids don’t notice Mom listening and turn it off.
The hard part for us is DH, the 18 and 17 year old have such a long draining day they want to watch something inane, stupid, funny, something that doesn’t require thought. Most of those aren’t appropriate for the 12 yo.
Meanwhile I’ve spent the day listening to little girls play house, singing ABC’s for almost 20 years— I want to read something intelligent or have a conversation or watch a good drama.
Kid Shows? I treat them like a babysitter so I try to pick one I trust and can stand listening to: They love Cailou and yes he gets corrected, but I come running when I hear the whining so I don’t get the break I wanted.
I do try to put on music instead.
I like to watch tv shows with my older children because it usually leads to some kind of discussion. I recently enjoyed watching "Hannah Montana" with my 10 and 7 yr old daughters. We talked about Hannah’s mother – Me, "where is her mother?" daughters – "We think that they are divorced". Today I read in the paper that Hannah’s mother died and they will address that on Friday night’s show. I’m looking forward to watching that with my girls.
But most of the time, it’s just fun being with them and watching a show together. Not everything has to be so serious!
It’s very difficult to get children to turn off TV. My trick….put a chart on the fridge and make them log in
the hours they are watching. It’s amazing how they add up over the week. Each week we try to decrease the amount of TV watching hours. As long as we do this, it works. Once we stop tracking, we watch more TV. It’s sort of like the
Weight Watcher’s program!!!! If we don’t write down what we eat, we think it doesn’t matter.
My only child is still in utero (sigh. she was "due" on the 21st. teaching me patience already!) so all DH and I have are theories as to what we’d like to do with our kids. The bottom line is definately moderation. We don’t watch all that much TV ourselves, though I will admit to an addiction to Law and Order. Since we got married (ALMOST been a year now…crazy!) we’ve noticed that sometimes it’s too easy to come home and flop in front of the TV and not spend real time together. So we’ll make agreements on a Sunday that the coming week we won’t watch any TV..I love those weeks! I would like our kids watch as little TV as possible, and as they get older, learn to discern for themselves what is appropriate to watch and make good, healthy choices as far as what they watch and when/how often.
I’ve noticed in my quite extensive baby sitting career that there is a distinct difference between families who do no TV/very limited TV and those who watch a lot of TV. I enjoy the kids who don’t watch it as much a lot more…they tend to be more creative and active on the whole, and just more…child-like in general.
The TV stays on a lot at our house, but like Paigeu pointed out, my little girl doesn’t watch a lot of it, although she is really addicted to PBS kids Sprout and would no doubt watch that all day if I let her. I keep the TV on EWTN or Fox News for background noise, but sometimes will just put on a CD or listen to Catholic Answers which does the job equally well. I think we’ll try to cut down on the TV time this week, but not give it up all together.
As far as actual programs that we let her watch, she does watch Calliou. He’s not nearly as whiny as most four-year-olds I’ve run into, and his parents almost always have good ways of dealing with the fussies, which inspires me. Also there’s something to be said for the fact that this show even features both parents (not to mention a close in age sibling) in a fairly real life setting, something I find lacking in most kid’s TV.
Aside from Calliou she enjoys Seasame Street and Kipper the Dog. I don’t have much use for Nickeloden, the only show I can tolerate that plays on it is Avatar: the Last Airbender, which has a great story line, but is too mature for Abby to watch just yet. (I won’t let her watch it until she is an older teenager.) Does Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends play on Noggin? I can’t remember, but Abby’s watched that a few times and liked it fairly well. All of us, including my husband, enjoy Veggie Tales. I would love to get my hands on some episodes of George Shrinks, which no longer plays in our area.
We don’t allow Boomarang (those older cartoons are, in my opinion, brain-numbing and pointlessly violent) or most Disney Chanel and Nickeloden series (which just don’t appeal to our values). I’m sure you’ll all find it a little weird that show we don’t watch is "My Little Angels" (or something like that) on EWTN. (The puppets frighten Abby.) I find that this is the area where EWTN really falls short. It’s children’s programs are lack luster, poorly written and poorly executed. I can’t see these programs inspiring the faith in children, but that’s just my opinion. (A good Catholic option for babies and toddlers is "Holy Baby".)
I can’t comment on turning off the TV for the kids’/family’s sake, because I don’t have either. Last summer I took up sewing, and wanted something to ‘keep me company’ while I sewed. TV and videos wouldn’t do, since I needed to keep my eyes on my stitching.
I turned to the Internet, specifically Old Time Radio, at OTRNet (http://www.otr.net./). I discovered a wealth of old radio shows. I’d heard of some of them (like the Jack Benny show or The Great Gildersleeve). Others I’d never heard of. Right now I’m listening through the Lux Radio Theater, which has radio dramatizations of then-current movies (1930s, ’40s and 50s) with some big stars reading the roles. For awhile I listened to something called The Cinnamon Bear – but it was a kiddies’ show, so it didn’t hold my interest. The Family Theater is full of surprising things – such as a dramatization of the Passion of Christ, The Hound of Heaven, the Juggler of Our Lady – stuff that’s openly Catholic (all of it seems to be underpinned by Christian values). I was amazed that this was once the radio equivalent of prime-time TV in America. There are western series (The Lone Ranger), mystery series, comedy series (Baby Snooks is surprisingly funny; Stan Freburg is more for adults – witty, sharp), classics like ‘George Burns and Gracie Allen’ – just hundreds of shows.
After listening to radio programs via the Internet for a few weeks, I turned on the TV and was BORED. Now Old Time Radio keeps me company while I work around the house (ironing, etc.) and I really enjoy imagining what the characters look like, the scenes and so on. Seeing it all laid out for me on TV seems boring and oppressive: I prefer to imagine it.
I offer this for those parents who feel uncomfortable with TV, but who want something to keep the kids (and perhaps themselves) amused. Most of the old time radio shows are completely inoffensive for kids (though I was disappointed to see that in the Great Gildersleeve, the siblings go from loving and kind and affectionate toward their bumbling uncle to nasty to one another and snide toward their uncle). I recommended Old Time radio to my retired parents as an alternative to TV. They’re very active around the house, and can get things done and listen – and revisit the old days – all at the same time. I’m told by older relatives that they have great memories of quiet evenings with Dad and Mom and their siblings sitting around or lying on the living room rug, listening to the radio – sometimes with the lights out – and imagining the story they were hearing.
So for a compromise between vegging out in front of the TV and playing imaginative games, maybe OTR.net (which is free, by the way) will help out on rainy days.
The only TV my kids watch is Between the Lions – I think it’s great for a child learning to read. There are probably other good things one, but I’ve never been in the habit of watching TV and so don’t think about them.
They do have a video collection: Winnie the Pooh movies (otherwise try to stay away from Disney,), Veggie Tales, Madeline, some Scholastic picture book collections, Magic School Bus, Thomas the Tank Engine, some taped Between the Lions and various miscellanous.
We try to limit screen time – we count both computer and TV/video and educational still counts.
Marie
We did the limited TV during Lent thing too, so we’re not turning it off this week. That said, my kids might watch Cyberchase once during a typical week (I’ll take all the math help I can get!), and they like Wishbone which only comes on on Fridays. Other than that, they watch movies or DVDs. They do get to watch a few cartoons on Saturday morning, but we don’t have cable TV and there isn’t much on.
For anyone interested in a ‘newfangled’ radio show, we like The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd, a podcast done like an old radio show, but with a modern twist (the villain is using a time machine to steal historical objects from the past to sell them on Ebay). You can try them at http://www.doctorfloyd.com/ .
One more thing about Old Time Radio – try ‘The Couple Next Door.’ It’s about a married couple with a child (or perhaps two?) and NEVER – not ONCE – does the husband make take a nasty swipe at his wife and never – not ONCE – does the wife trash her husband. I listened to every program (I think 140 or so), waiting for it to become ‘Married, With Children’ or something similar, when the ‘humor’ depends on the husband disrespecting the wife and the wife trashing the husband and the kids belittling one another and disrespecting their parents. It never happened. A sweet show, with a married couple who love one another (and occasional drop-in relatives) and put up with one another’s little idiosyncracies with patience and humor and who act like they are married and like it.
I also confess, we watch American Idol, although I disapprove of the title "American Idol" and don’t like hearing my 3yo use the phrase. Also, I don’t like my husband/children exposed to the clothing the girls wear. (Including Paula). So why do I watch it??? I’m not sure. Curiosity kills the cat…I guess. I’ll make this our last season. Anyone else have similar reservations?
We also stopped watching Deal/No Deal cold turkey. I liked it at first because of the Game Theory (I’m an economics major) but I got fed up with the scantily clad women and the greedy contestants.
We pulled the plug on TV totally about 9 months ago. The reception of TV without cable or satellite is limited to local stations, one of which is PBS, but we watch very little of it. I do allow videos, but I control what they are allowed. I agree with you 100% that some of the programs are pure drivel. Another one I don’t like is Dragon Tales. We do like Clifford the Big Red Dog. As with Curious George, it is not as good as the books, but is sweet and cute.
We have noticed a huge difference in our children’s behavior since turning off the cable. They listen better and are more attentive. My youngest also eats better now…he is not being distracted as much by the "idiot box" as I have been known to refer to television. I also have called it the brain stealer.
DH and I do miss things like the weather channel, discovery, animal planet and the history channel, but peace in our home is well worth it!
Christine
My kids (1,3 & 5 years) love the Backyardigans, and I love the creative play it inspires. It’s really taught them how to pretend to be pirates, spies, cowboys, ninjas, robots, and lots of other fun stuff without being mean or evil. The worst bad guy that the kids pretend to be on the show is the one who is trying to steal pies. Other than that, Handy Manny and Little Einsteins are big favorites. You just have to keep an eye on the Disney channel shows so that you turn it off before the 8 minutes of commercials at the end.
I also have a problem with the scanty clothing on American Idol. I use itas an opportunity to point out what is immodest to my 10yo…she is the only child that sees it…but it’s still not much of an excuse. It’s even worse in the beginning of the season when all the crazies are auditioning. I often threaten that this will be the last season as well for this reason.
Does anyone here read John Rosemond? He is a huge hater of the Idiot Box, and makes the point that "educational TV" is an oxymoron. He says that watching TV is a passive, mind-numbing activity that can never be better than reading a book or playing with real toys and real humans.
I like to keep his thoughts in mind when considering TV-watching for my kids. Quite honestly, the times that they do watch is usually for the "mind-numbing" purpose. Sometimes Mom just needs some extra time! I am glad to have his words in mind though. It helps me to stop and think: is there something better the kids could be doing right now?
I also have a few extra comments:
1) Want to limit TV? Move it downstairs (if possible). I can’t believe how less often the TV is on during the day once we moved the TV room downstairs. I used to turn it on to morning shows when I got up "for background noise." Problem is, background noise can suck you in and down into the sofa and tuned out to the world (what a bad example I was setting!) It now takes a conscious effort to go downstairs with the kids and turn on the TV.
I also know of a family who kept their TV in the closet…
2) Libraries are wonderful things. My son gets to pick out 2 or 3 DVD’s when we go. By the time he (or we) get sick of the show, we return it and get some fresh (and free) shows.
3) Has anyone else noticed that Caillou’s programming budget must have gotten slashed? The story lines in the new season are terribly unimaginative and, quite frankly, painful to watch. And did someone tell the actor doing his voice to get *even whinier* or am I just imagining things?
4) I confess: I like Teletubbies… because so do my 3- and 1-year-old children. The creators are some sort of geniuses! That baby-sun thing had my son hooked at 10-months.
5) And a final note to Mish: I’m still laughing about the "they only get these shows in Florida" comment. Have you gone back to Florida since?