As a parent, I inherently feel almost a bit guilty posting a thread about what kids look at on TV. It's said they should watch no more than 30 minutes, or maybe it's 3 hours (all I have to say is try prying a kid away from the TV after 30 minutes, if that's the case!)

Anyway, disclaimer aside, I just wanted to make mention of something rather random, yet of interest to those parents who are home during the day with the under 4 crowd, whose kids crave their favorite show or two like their parents.

Three popular PBS kids TV shows - Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Teletubbies -(hey, I heard some rumbles) are getting booted from WHYY's line-up come September 1st.
And, they're bring back Caillou!
(I can't stand that bald-headed whiny kid! Whose bright idea was it to make a cartoon glorifying temper tantrums and overunning your parents? The nerve!)
(BTW, Thomas will be on Sunday)

Why make mention of this?
Because it's conveniently timed from 12:00-1:30, a time slot that seems to work out well for me and my post-toddler/ pre-pre-schooler to watch their favorite programs,
with subsequent toys, of course.
Disruption of such routine will cause meltdown, as this is a kid that knows their schedule better than I do, and reminds me whenever we stray off of it (i.e. unplanned errand, etc.).
Not to mention they're ironically all British shows, and they hold the most attention, as the adult ones do me when I allot myself my "30 minutes" of TV time.
I guess one can call this our British "tea time"/lunch hour.

We don't have cable, so none of that Sprout/Nick stuff over here, as I'm aware from fellow parents these shows rotate heavily on there -perhaps the reason for the boot- and we rarely watch videos.

This is a sort-of bloggish thread about a little random nugget of our daily life. Perhaps some parents/caregivers can relate.

I know it's not the most relevant thing to talk about on this board, but with TV in general being as bad as it is (content and quality-wise), it is nice to have just a little something on there that is free to watch that we all can enjoy, even if it's on corporately underwritten, member-supported PBS (yadda, yadda).

I like the British stuff just where it is, even the Teletubbies (rumble, rumble). I guess my kid will have to have another outlet in place of those "30 minutes", just as adults get shake-ups in their routine. Not a big deal. However, PBS are showing ads for two new shows. Now, my kid is looking forward to this new Jim Henson "animated puppetry" thing about science called Sid the Science Kid and some alphabet soup-eating dog named Martha that forms a vast vocabulary from said soup.

I say let's go learn a second language or raid a playgroup.

Meanwhile, we enjoy our Farmer Pickles, Tidsmouth Sheds, and Tinky-Winky for one more day before WHYY ruins our line-up.
We're still not getting cable for Sprout just yet .

Just a day in the life.

__________________

This was a Tomorrow vs. Yesterday election, and in America,
Tomorrow usually wins such contests.
m.s.e.


what I read a female would do to any trollop if they try to carouse with our new President:
"Proverbs 26:3
A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!"
ouch.

I would recommend finding a way to obtain some these British Kids TV shows which have not yet quite made it to our shores that I am aware of ...


Green Balloon Club
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/greenballoonclub/

Nina and the Neurons
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/nina/

__________________
"All of this will not be finished in the first one hundred days, nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."

~John F. Kennedy

You can get some decent deals on cable these days. May be worth it for the On Demand kids' TV (not to mention the "Curb your Enthusiasm" episodes).

We have mostly used DVDs and VCR tapes of our kids' favorites... That way you can control for commercials (even PBS has them even though they are "brought to you by" messages)

We ahve the no cable approach and we do weekly video selection trips(kids are 5 and 3). The only TV that works *(cable wise) is in our bedroom so they sometimes watch it on Sunday morning when we are trying to explain the concept of the weekend to them

Start Tivoing now!

That *is* sad. Thomas is a HUGE favorite here. Fortunately, there really are and endless supply of Thomas videos out there. And it is nice to control the commercials. I'm guessing you can get Bob on video too.

I find it funny that we get so upset about TV changes...while in England they don't even keep shows on as long as we do!

__________________
"And Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they're going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and Election Day."--Rev. Arnold Conrad

I see your point. I think we tend to get more nostalgic with what we see on TV, more so than our British counterparts, and tend to want to hold on to certain eras and shows longer. That's why we have TV Land and the Game Show Network.....oh, and PBS. However, their penchant for storytelling and old-fashioned ways remains constant, even if their shows don't stay on in Britain as long as we re-air their reruns in the States.

__________________

This was a Tomorrow vs. Yesterday election, and in America,
Tomorrow usually wins such contests.
m.s.e.


what I read a female would do to any trollop if they try to carouse with our new President:
"Proverbs 26:3
A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!"
ouch.

Yeah, I love my shows, but I think sometimes we need to no go another season, or we get stuff that just dilutes the legend of the show.


Its why I'm a big supporter of the Lost plan(Five planned seasons and that is it).

__________________
"And Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they're going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and Election Day."--Rev. Arnold Conrad