What Cartoons Do You Allow Your Kids to Watch?

[Former Teacher]

I rarely have the TV on for the little boy I watch. He is 2 years old and he gets into a trance whenever the tv is on. So the only time I have it on is during meals, nap, or if he is having a bad day (few and far between )

Anyway, he loves Nick Jr. Dora, Fresh Beat Band, Umizoomi etc... Believe it or not, he also loves the Simpsons. Yes I know. TOTALLY inappropriate. However dad is a huge fan so the little boy watches Homer and the gang. Not with me of course.

One day while I was rocking him to sleep for nap, he was watching Dora. While he loves Dora he just wasnt going to sleep. I decided to change the channel and found Tom and Jerry. He now loves Tom and Jerry. So now our nap routine is Dora and Tom and Jerry. Once I put on Tom and Jerry he is out for nap within 5 mins. 10 mins. tops.

I didn't realize how violent Tom and Jerry was. I grew up watching them and I didn't think they were bad haha. However like I said he falls asleep quickly so it's not like he watches a whole program of it.

My question is this: What shows do you or don't you allow your kiddos to watch?

[emosks]

For the daycare kids they get to watch a PBS show (Word World, Dinosaur Train, Sid the Science Kid, or Super Why) in between lunch and naps.

My own kids (5 and 3.5 years) watch those shows along with a few on Nick Jr.

[GretasLittleFriends]

Where we live I don't have tv reception since they did the digital conversion. Yes, I bought the converter boxes, but we're over 60 miles away from the closest tv station... Needless to say it's a blessing as well as a curse.

My kids (and dc kids) don't watch much tv. Unfortunately if they do, it's typically a movie. We visit the library once a week and I pick up movies from there. Some movies are 1/2 hour, some are 1-1/2 hours. I'll let them watch pbs shows (on dvd) and Disney movies/shows.

I typically allow a short video when the kids get off the bus and the older ones do their homework and the littlest ones are waking up. I allow a longer movie at night after dinner and evening snack for my son and the ones who get picked up between 9:30 and 11:30. (3 different children not including my son).

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

my kids dont watch many cartoons. I like magic school bus. I can find it sometimes, I think maybe once or twice a month the tv is on.

[tymaboy]

There are days that we only watch 1 Gabba Gabba - which we watch everyday before nap. Other days all varies by my mood & the kids behavoir. We will watch Signing Time, Elmo in Grouchland, Dora, Wonder Pets, Curious George, or some Disney Movie. We do not watch all of these in the day cuz I too have the kids going into a trance while watching. I down right refuse to put Sponge Bob or anything that is violent on.

[momofboys]

We rarely watch television. On ocassion I may let my preschool age kids watch a little Dora or Diego or Curious George (the PBS series) while I get lunch ready (maybe 15 min or so). But in general we don't watch tv much. Now yesterday was an early release day for my school age children so as a rare treat I let them watch about 60 min of a movie as I had preschoolers napping & I did not want them to disrupt them.
I loved Tom & Jerry/Bugs Bunny cartoons as a youngster & my kids enjoy them also but I don't permit watching them during daycare hours.

[Childminder]

My kids watch tv every morning from the time they arrive till breakfast is on the table. (usually 1/2 hour). My husband has ALL of the Sid the Science Kids episodes memorized (for real). "Is this thing on?" I keep telling him to watch Curious George or something else but he thinks he's funny.

[AmandasFCC]

My dckids watch "Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs" and Thomas after lunch to wind down for nap. If the TV goes on during the day, it's on Treehouse, which shows things like In the Night Garden, Sesame Street, etc .... The only time it goes on other than before nap is if my dd decides she wants to watch Elmo . (she's 19 months)

[booroo]

PBS and nick jr and sprouts. Then my old kids watch nick and disney. But we rarely have the TV on when daycare kids are here, we do other things.

[Unregistered]

Veggie Tales videos are great too. I wish that show was on tv everyday. But yes Dora is the biggest hit here at my daycare.

[MarinaVanessa]

PBS and nick jr and sprouts.

Me too. But only during early morning hours before breakfast while I'm preparing meals and during nap time with the volume turned so low that you can't really hear what they are saying. I find that the kids fall asleep better at nap time when they can see something but can't really hear what they're saying . They consentrate on trying to hear the sound and are quiet and before you know it, they're asleep .

During the day I do have the TV on but I'll put DVD's on like some National Geographic Kids series, signing time, My Baby Can Read, Spanish DVD's etc. They're always educational and I have them low also and play during our activities.

[gkids09]

At arrival time in the mornings, the first few kids get to pick out the movie we are going to watch. It is almost ALWAYS Thomas, Caillou, or Barney. We turn the movie on and they watch until breakfast is ready. If they miss it, too bad. After breakfast, we all play in the playroom. Then they clean up and go back to the living room with my assistant while I fix snack, and they watch Come Inside the Room, which is a DVD by Anthony Richardson. He's from Memphis, TN, and the movie has LOTS of movement. We call it our exercise movie because the kids never sit when it's on. We always do exactly what he and the kids are doing. After snack, we play, do circle time, and art. Then it's time to get ready for lunch. The kids clean up the playroom and art supplies and then can either watch SuperWhy or whatever show is on PBS at the time, or read books. We never force the kids to watch TV. After lunch if we can't go outside we sometimes watch a relaxing, educational show and then read a book. After nap, there's no TV. This kind of sounds like a lot of TV but we never go over 2 hours. I also loved Tom and Jerry when I was little. It happened to be the one movie the boys picked the other morning and I ended up turning it off. I never realized all the violence until I started in this business and now I notice everything!

[kitkat]

PBS Kids all the way! DS LOVES LOVES LOVES watching Dinosaur Train before my dcgirls get here in the morning. He has most of the episodes memorized. He now wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up When my dcgirls are here, we watch 1-2 episodes of Word World on DVD right before nap, but that's not every day.

Monday is Movie Monday and the kids rotate turns picking a movie or bringing one from home. Those have to be rated G and we only watch up to 1 hour of a movie. If it's longer, then we either stop at an hour or skip over parts to get to the end in time. The kids usually end up playing after watching the movie for a short bit. My dcgirls are sisters and I don't think they have ever brought the same movie twice. I think my kids have 10 movies at most! I'm almost sick about how many these girls have. My kids don't watch many movies, but if we want something "new" then I'm a big fan of the library or free kids movies from Family Video. Those are usually Dora or Diego or a non-fiction one.

[momma2girls]

There are days that we only watch 1 Gabba Gabba - which we watch everyday before nap. Other days all varies by my mood & the kids behavoir. We will watch Signing Time, Elmo in Grouchland, Dora, Wonder Pets, Curious George, or some Disney Movie. We do not watch all of these in the day cuz I too have the kids going into a trance while watching. I down right refuse to put Sponge Bob or anything that is violent on.

We watch the same things here, and absolutely no sponge BOb or anything like that!!!

[DBug]

We don't watch tv/movies at all -- there's just not enough time in the day. We don't have a tv in the playroom, or anywhere else in the house, for that matter. (Any tv or movies we watch as a family is downloaded or watched on the network websites.) It's actually a big selling point with parents that we don't watch anything during daycare hours. The kids play when I'm making lunch or snacks. If there are any problems, I'll put one or two of the kids in high chairs or at the table with toys or colouring, just to separate them from the situation.

I may end up letting the big kids watch movies during quiet time in the summer. In that case, they'd watch the typical movie theater kid movies (Up, Bolt, Toy Story 3 ...), rented or borrowed from the library.

But, until then, I know parents like the fact that they can let their kids watch tv at home in the evening without having to worry about whether they've already watched an hour or two during the day.