Worthwile TV for kiddos

Anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows I limit what my children watch for tv. We went through a long phase where they didn't watch any tv at all actually. I now limit the tv time to an hour or less if they watch it at all. It tends to be an hour so that they can each pick one half hour show. I often turn it on when I'm making dinner. I don't know about you but that is the time my boys need to be focused on something because if they aren't then they are killing each other or driving me batty.

I thought I'd share a few of the shows that they really like and I think are worthy of them watching. Oh and many of them are on PBS so anyone can watch them!

Sid the Science Kid. The first time I heard the concept of this show I was in love. Sid is a kid who loves to ask questions. He and his friends in pre-school use the scientific method to explore science concepts. They begin by deriving a question, hypothesis the results and experiment with the concept then finally record their learning in journals.

Super Why. Another show I loved from the get go. This show works on pre-reading skills. In each episode one of the main characters has a problem and they turn to books to find a solution. Each of the 4 main characters addresses a different language learning skill: letter recognition, blending on-set and rime, letter writing and sounds and comprehension. They have recently added a 5th character that has dictionary power to look up the meaning of words.

Wild Kratts. A friend of mine suggested this show for my sons, and let me tell you they love it. The Wild Kratts are brothers who learn about animals. Each episodes begins with the real Kratts who show the real animals that the episode will be about and talk about the animal, their needs and habitates. The Kratt brothers then turn into cartoon Kratts who can morph into animals to help the animal they are learning about. They have helpers who create "disks" that help give them the powers of the animals. The show ends with a review of the animal and other animals who have similar traits.

Team Umizoomi is another one of those shows that I've loved since the beginning. This one is on Nick Jr. Team Umizoomi addresses math skills. There are 3 main characters and each has different math skills. In each episode they typically deal with shapes, patterns, and numbers. They also address measurement, basic addition and subtraction, and so much more. I like that they deal with real math terms and don't try to "dumb it down" for pre-schoolers.

Dino Dan is one we don't watch very often, but the boys love it. Hmmm I should start recording it again here soon. Dino Dan learns about a different dinosaur in each short of the show, there are often 2 shorts in each episode. It is great for those who love to learn about dinosaurs.

Next time your little one is looking to watch tv, check out these shows. I teacher is telling you they are worth it! (learning wise anyway)

TV trouble

Over the years, I've limited what they boys watch on television. We go through long stints where they don't watch any tv at all. Then when they do watch it, it is typically limited to Disney Jr or Nick Jr. They also watch racing (Nascar and Formula One) with Richard. And the occasional football game.

Now that Blake is in school every day and getting to a more impressionable age he is noticing that he not watching some things that his peers get to watch. He has been talking about Power Rangers a lot lately. He tells me that he's going to tell his friends he watches Power Rangers, so then we get into a conversation about the truth vs lies.

But, it is hard as a mother to hear that her child would lie to fit in. I do not plan on letting him watch these shows. Instead I took a different route and talked about some of the things he really likes that his friends might not do such as watching Formula 1. We also talked about other things he and his friends have in common such as playing sports and such.

It is hard to find the balance between what you know is what you want for your child and helping them fit into their peer group. I know it will only get harder and if we can deal with being yourself and not caving in to the "expected norm" now at 5 then maybe we won't have as hard of a time at 15?

absence of tv

If you follow my blog, then you know that I limit my kids tv time, if they get tv time at all. This also means that the tv isn't on in the house while the children are awake. I know a lot of people who can have the tv on mute, or even with the volume on and the children don't care. Well that wouldn't work here. I can't mute it because Blake would just sit and read the close captioning, remember he reads!

I usually try to catch the news in the morning to see the weather while I'm getting dressed in the mornings. Our local news has weather on the 1's so as long as I have the tv on for more than 10 minutes I'll catch the weather at least once. When I work out at the gym on any of the equipment I try to find news on there too. You see I like to know what is going on in the world, but when you don't have the tv on... well you don't know.

The local stations down here are entrenched in the Casey Anthony trial, as in they have that and nothing else on during the day. They don't even show commercials. Yes that's what happens when such a tragic even and all the craziness that goes along with the trial occurs in your backyard.

The last few weeks we have had people arrested at Lake Eola park for feeding the homeless. The city passed a law that says you can only hold such feedings twice a year... seriously! So we have nothing better to do with our tax payer money than arrest people who are feeding the homeless who ALREADY are there? They aren't giving them money, they aren't giving them drugs or alcohol... nope they were feeding them pancakes and donuts. Ummm what's wrong with this picture?

Some days I feel like I miss knowing what is going on. But, at the same time, do I really want to be entrenched in the trial? Hear about the people who are getting in trouble for helping others? Listen to the media put their spin on the world? Hmmm maybe I too enjoy being sheltered from the craziness of tv?

Big changes = big results

Well I hope I don't shoot myself in the foot for posting about this, but I will anyway. Over the weekend, we decided to make a major change with the boys. We had been dealing with some behavior issues that we did not like at all. So after trying a variety of things, including time-outs, extra praise, behavior charts and a few other changes, that would work for a short term and then flop again. We decided it was time for a big change! We took away all of the boys electronics. And when I say we took them away... I mean they are gone. The computer, Leapster/Mobigo, and Wii were packed up and put away. They do not get tv or movies either.

I created a new routine for our days. I moved somethings around and added a few more structured activities each day. We talked about the fact that these are things that are earned and not taken for expectation. That they would earn time to play them again in a few weeks if the behaviors improved.

Let me tell you, it has gotten better than I expected. They also dealt with the change better than I expected. There were a few questions the first day. Every once in a while they will ask where the keyboard is or when they get to play Wii again, but other than that there isn't much asking for it. I did let Colby watch a movie on Tuesday so I could take a shower, but he is less of the issue than Blake.

I decided that in a lot of ways Blake enjoys being "plugged in" better than anything else. When he has the option he will almost always choose something technological. Now, in some ways that isn't bad as this is a very technological world we live in, but he is also 4 and needs to play and run and go. Since he can't choose that he is more interested in the sandbox again, playing with his monster trucks, playing pretend, working in his workbooks and doing art. We also get to the playground everyday to burn off that excess energy.

On Tuesday he had a much better day at school too, which made me even happier. I hated the fact that he was having so many issues at school.

What makes me even happier is the fact that the boys are playing together sooooo much better. They actually enjoy each other's company. Colby actually seemed lost on Tuesday without Blake, and before he seemed to look forward to the days when Blake went to school.

I don't want any lectures on why or why not children should be allowed to watch tv or other uses of technology. I did this to help him and to see if a bit less stimulation would help him at this time. Am I removing it forever... NO! Am I saying that you should do this at your house, nope. I'm just saying it worked for us... at this time.

tv rant (I warned you)

I posted a ton of new pictures of my boys on Monday, so I'm skipping wordless Wednesday.  If you didn't get to see them, click here!

Something has been on my mind for a bit and I've decided it is time to blog about it.  Let me start off by saying I'm not writing this to offend anyone.  I'm not trying to upset the apple cart, but sometimes you just have to talk about your own side of the coin too.  Ok enough of the phrases and onto the rant.

**disclaimer, I won't be offended if you stop reading now**


Something that I have noticed since 2006, yes that is when Blake was born, is the big tv debate.  OMG she is not going to go there.  It feels like some people feel that tv is the root of all evil, or at least the cause of many childhood issues.  They often talk about how bad it is and how they limit their children from watching it and all that with free reign.  But, the parents on the other side of the coin never say anything.  Now, do I have some issues with children watching television, yes!  I think that we are raising a generation or two of children who are being allowed to view things that are not appropriate for their age and therefore are becoming desensitized to many issues of society.  I think that unsupervised viewing of any and all television by young children is wrong.

That being said, I think there is a LOT of good children's television out there.  There are channels dedicated to children's television.  There are channels that are commercial free just for the reason of protecting your child from commercialization.  There is so much children can learn through these shows in addition to what they learn through play.

My boys watch television, they play on the computer every day, they play outside, they play with each other.  Are they perfect... NO.  Are they always well behaved... NO.  Do I think that television or computers caused these any of their behavior issues... no way!  Children learn about limits and boundaries by experimenting with them, in other words... getting in trouble is part of growing up, it's not caused by media. 

After being a teacher for 10 years I could not tell you which children watched tv and which ones did not.  I can tell you which children were supervised and which were not.  I can tell you which children spend time with their parents doing things and which did not.  But to blanket say that tv is the cause of behavior issues, rubs me the wrong way. 

Agree with me if you want.  Disagree with me if you want.  But, know that I believe what I believe and although I'd love to hear what you have to say on both sides of the issue, it will probably not stop my boys from watching tv.  (I don't think I could stop Blake from watching Monster Trucks... he loves them)

tv movies

Ok, I've been on a tv posting kick lately, but this one has nothing to do with the boys... lol!

Lifetime recently showed four new Nora Roberts movies. Now, I love to read Nora Roberts books, actually I read her JD Robb books too. So, I often watch her movies when they are on tv. One of the movies they showed was High Noon which I just finished reading last month, so yes I realize it was fresh in my mind. But, it really bugged me how many details they altered in the movie. If you have ever read Nora Roberts, you will know that she is very descriptive in not only the situations, but also with the characters. So, when they alter the characters it bugs me, but not as much as when they totally alter some of the senerios that took place in the book. Now, don't get me wrong so I expected to be altered because well they would have been very graphic to put on tv, but still...

I'm not going to stop watching the movies, but it just reminds me more why it is so much better to read the books!

Do you like to watch movies based on books? Do you prefer to read the book first or after?

TV free

I have toyed back and forth on the tv issue since Blake was born. I did research in grad school on the effects of television watching on young children, with my focus on the effect of violent tv shows (including cartoons and news shows) on young children's perception of reality verse fantasy. That being said, I also know that there are a LOT of television shows written for children that have some strong backing in providing the educational fundamentals of reading, writing, math, science and social studies skills.

I have gone to both extreems in the last two years (no tv at all and tv most of the day). Now I will say that 75% of the time the tv is on in the house both boys are playing and not even paying attention to it being on. I do monitor what shows are on while they are watching and talk about what they are watching and learning. I am right there with them playing while the show is on and interacting with them and the tv.

When our tv died last week, both boys went without any tv. This weekend Blake got a Thomas DVD in his basket and he asked to watch it. This was the first time in almost a week that he even asked for the tv to be put on. He watched the DVD while we were getting lunch ready, and then the tv was turned off. He has yet to ask for it to be turned on again.

We are enjoying listening to the radio as well as children's music cd's. The boys are playing alone and together with their toys and being engaged in what they are doing. I have actually got more work done around the house without the tv on than with the tv as an option.

Now, am I saying that I will continue to leave the tv off all the time... NO! I live in the reality of there are times when the boys will not feel well and just need that time to chill out and do a whole lot of nothing. I also know there will be days that I will need to put it on because I don't feel well and need to keep them contained to one space. But, unless he specifically asks for it to be put on, I'm not offereing it. I also will limit the time it is on even more than before.

I know this is a for now issue... it is something that we will have to revisit as the boys get older. But, for now I will enjoy knowing that at least maybe our electric bill will be less next month (o:

Oh no...

the tv in our living room is dead... ok the bulb that makes the tv picture work is dead not the whole tv, but still.

It was not fun when Blake realized that the tv would not work. Not that Mommy and Daddy were not letting him watch tv at that time... that it wouldn't work for a while. Boy he can whine when he wants to!

But, we've kept busy and I'm hoping that the time we go without tv, waiting for the new lamp to get mailed by the service plan people, Blake will again realize that there is lots of fun things to do without tv. I'm not going to totally give up tv for the boys forever, but I do limit the tv time always and this will help us limit it even more.

I will say that we moved the DRV into our bedroom so that Richard and I could keep up with our tv shows and not have the DVR begin to delete the older shows.... that would be a BAD thing!

a toddler's obsession

I had been lucky for a while... Blake had been willing to watch pretty much any show that was on during the times he was allowed to watch tv. Oh he had his favorites (and so did/do I), but he wouldn't demand anything specific. It was more likely that he'd refuse to watch a specific show than demand one. Well that has all changed!

Blake has become obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine or "rain" as he calls it. He actually will pump his arm up and down and say toot toot when he wants to watch it more than saying "rain". Now we don't have PBS Sprout so we only have Thomas on demand (which means we only have 4 episodes). So one thing we made sure to pick up at Target was Thomas videos. Richard was trying to watch the Daytona 500 last night and Blake found the videos and kept pushing them at Richard until we gave in and put one on.

Today Disney and Nickelodeon are having marathons of shows Blake isn't crazy about so guess what we are watching!

Oh and a side note... I'm not getting into a debate on how much tv young children should watch. I do limit what Blake and Colby watch as far as time and shows.

Sid the Science Kid

I mentioned this show (Sid the Science Kid) last week, but I feel it deserves it's own post! Yes... a whole post devoted to a children's tv show... that's how much I like this show.

If you haven't seen it yet, it's on PBS kids. Click here to see if it's on your neck of the woods... and when!

The premise of the show is Sid likes to learn about things around him and asks questions about how thing work and what not. He starts the show in his room and sets up what they are going to be talking about. Shows him with his family discussing the topic with them and then off to school he goes. He then talks about it with his friends at school before it is addressed in the classroom. In the classroom they visit the Super Fab Lab where they continue to use the scientific method to explore they concept they are learning about. They also use clips of real children exploring the concepts. The children then record what they learned in their journals and then go "play with the concept". He then goes home and shares what he learns with his family.

Last weeks shows all had to do with science tools. They talked about charts, magnifying glasses, rulers (and non-standard measurements) and estimation jars. Then on Friday they reviewed all the tools they talked about that week... How perfect is that? This week they are talking about different forms of transformation: why fruits and veggies go bad, why your shoes don't fit anymore, melting ice , why pancakes rise and then the review of these concepts... check out the three cycles they have set already.

If you have a child who is interested in figuring things out on their own, this is a great show for them! They even have activities you can do at home. And, Sid's site is updated each week with activites that match what is being shown on the show.

Someone really thought this show through!!

Kids tv shows

Well lets continue yesterdays discussion...

Here are Blake's top 5 favorite tv shows:
1. Little Bill... grrr they switched this from 4pm to 2pm... so much for using it to cook!
2. Super Why ... I would like this show even more if they didn't do everything in capital letters
3. Dora the Explorer
4. Go Diego Go
5. Wonder Pets

My top 5 favorite kids shows:
1. Little Bill.. I admit I really like this one too
2. Sid the Science Kid.. I hope it's still on when he gets a bit older it will be fun to do the experiments with him
3. Backyardigans
4. Reading Rainbow
5. Hmmm I'm not sure I have a 5th one

So what shows do your kids like to watch? What kids shows do you like to watch too?? (come on I know I'm not the only Mom out there who has their favorites!)

Little things bug me

Ok I try not to let little things bug me, but for some reason this one is.... Noggin, Nickelodeon, Disney and PBS have all changed their schedules again. Yes... I understand that they switched things over the summer to give the old kids more time to watch their shows and have now altered the schedules again because school is back in session. But, it's hard when you limit the amount of tv and what a toddler can watch.

Another thing that urks me is Noggin's back to back episodes... there are only so many of each show out there do we really need to watch the samething twice??

So now I'm utlizing my DVR to tape shows for Blake to watch, at the times I let him watch them.

One new show that I think is great is Sid the Science Kid on PBS. If you haven't seen it, check it out. I can't wait until Saturday when the Imagination Movers new show starts too. We took Blake to see them at Disney Hollywood Studios last year.

Baby Borrowers (teens)

Sorry I'm late getting this post up but I just finshed watching it today during Blake's nap.

Sooooo who watched it? (you can watch the whole show ... full episodes on the website check it out if you are interested and/or missed an episode)

I will actually say I was disappointed with this episode. I realize it was sort of silly for teens to parent teens, but they didn't show much of anything that they did with the teens. The whole focus was on the two couples who came to the realization that teenage relationships are hard and often based on anything and everything but the firm building blocks of a stable relationship.

I was at least glad in some ways that these relationships collapsed when the child was old enough to do their own thing. Can you imagine what would have happened if this had happened with the toddlers or infants or even the pre-teens?? I did feel bad for the two teenage boys who were in the "care" of these couples... especially the young man whose parents had just divorced... come on he just dealt with this in real life he didn't need to deal with it in this reality show too.

The interesting thing to look at is which is better... for Daton to have left or for Kelly and Austin to both stay and create more drama. Isn't the question of is it better to stay together for the sake of the children or to separate so they don't have to deal with the drama of an uncommited realtionship?

Next week is the last week... caring for the elderly

Baby Borrowers (pre-teens)

I was going to skip this post and just go on with life, but then decided... hey I started this thing I should finish it!

Soooo who watched it this week?

I actually thought it was better than the other weeks. Ok I would have been ticked off if my kid was in Morgan's care too... come on how can you not make sure the kid follows some basic personal hygiene??

I was also impressed to see how well the guys did this week. It has been interesting to me to see how many of these teenage guys have done so well each week interacting with the children. Maybe we will see a generation of guys who stay home more???

Do share you thoughts and opinions of the show

Don't forget to tune in next week when the teens are parents of... TEENS!

Baby Borrowers (part 3)

ok... so who watched it?

what did you think of this episode?

I just watched it today and I had some very strong feelings about the whole thing being a mother of a toddler

I can't wait to see them with pre-teens next week!

Baby Borrowers (part 2)

Baby Borrowers is on NBC tomorrow at 8 they have a repeat of last week's show and at 9 they have a new episode.


I got an e-mail today from 360i on behalf of NBC... so I wanted to pass it on to you my readers:

Hi Lori-

I know you mentioned "The Baby Borrowers" recently so I wanted to give you a heads up about the (embeddable) highlight clips & full episodes available over at NBC.com. I thought you might want to share them with your readers so that they can also weigh in on the show :).

Here are the highlight's from last week's episode if you want to check em out:

Alicia's Job
http://www.nbc.com/The_Baby_Borrowers/video/#mea=273352


Corey's Chores
http://www.nbc.com/The_Baby_Borrowers/video/#mea=273346

Corey's Struggle-
http://www.nbc.com/The_Baby_Borrowers/video/#mea=273334

Thanks a lot---To be honest, I'm not totally sure how I feel about it and it was interesting to read your perspective.

izzy

Izzy Forman
360i on behalf of NBC

The Baby Borrowers

Anyone watching The Baby Borrowers?? I'm not one to typically blog about tv shows, but I find this one... umm... interesting? (background they took 5 teenage couples... gave them a house, a job, and then they "borrow" children to see how hard it is to parent. They get an infant, toddler, pre-teen, teenager and an eldery person... each for 3 days)

As a mother I find it hard to believe that these families were willing to let teenagers watch their child for 3 days, yes the parents are right there monitoring the whole thing, and yes there is a nanny in the house (only for the just in case moments), but still. On one hand I think it is a great thing to show teenagers how HARD it is to be a parent. There isn't a whole lot glamorous about waking up at 3am to feed and change a baby. Baby's aren't all fun and games, laughs and giggles... babies/toddlers/ kids are hard work.

Yes, I think the show is beneficial if teenagers watch it and see that these teens are struggling. But, we are allowing the teenagers to "play house". Doesn't anyone have an issue with the fact that the show gave them a house (even if they have to "pay rent"), and are allowing them to sleep together on the show? Doesn't anyone have an issue with them being responsible for the health and safety of another families child? Or the fact that the teens refer to it as an experiment... yes I know it technically is an experiment, but if it is seen that way, then they may not look at the outcome as real.

Anyway.... I will tune in on Wed (actually it's being taped on my DVR who knows when I'll get around to watching it) and see how they manage with toddlers.