I know. There is a lot of conversation about screen time. From warnings about too much television and screens for young children to video game, cell phone and computer use for older kids and teens, it’s a big topic and I guess there are many different ways to look at it. On the list of screen activities, television and young children is one I’ve heard people concerned about. Rather than being a source of active screen time as with a computer or video game, it’s passive. Or is it always?
If you think about it, when a parent takes a child to live theatre where they are watching a production( passively) for close to two hours and need to sit completely still, it’s considered exposing a child to culture but if the child watches the same amount of TV in their living room where they can sing and dance along and ask questions, it’s sometimes considered “less than.” Granted the experience itself of going to the theatre is different than being in the living room, but it still might be interesting to consider.
We’ve always had lots of outdoor time, have read countless books and played lots of games, but TV does hold a special place in our hearts here – especially nostalgic talk about early-ish childhood TV.
TV actually can be a joint, social experience. It can be the centre of jokes and conversations. It can be a jumping off point to talking about and doing all kinds of other things. Using TV to avoid interaction and parental responsibilities isn’t what I’m talking about but TV programming itself is full of the creativity, both practical and functional, that leads us to new ideas, conversations and activities. It has benefits.
Aw, the memories…. my kids are older so I’ll be dating myself with these titles.
They can be physical …
The dance routine G and I had down to a pat for The Wiggles “Romp Bomp a Stomp” which ended with us jumping off the couch in unison😁..
It seemed there were a lot of shows with musical aspects so the dance routines ( I wasn’t always part of them😉) and just spontaneous dancing and movement were almost inevitable.
They can link us to books and and stories …
What a great way to add to the experience of classical nursery rhymes, fairytales and folktales…
We loved these. I think we had 5 beautiful, classic Nursery Rhyme books and sometimes we’d get all five out at once and compare the different versions and illustrations. The kids loved it when a familiar nursery rhyme came on a show and many times, a fairytale or folktale would be introduced to us on a show and we’d either look to see if it was in one of our books or sometimes find it at the library. They memorized so many rhymes, poems and songs completely naturally.
We enjoyed watching Franklin or Berenstain Bears episodes and then reading the picture books.
Watching Stuart Little and The Wizard of Oz movies led to wanting to read the novels.
They can lead to lots of singing…
Oh my goodness, the songs and instruments that were used. We had two baskets of instruments out all the time filled with jingle bells, maracas, homemade shakers, rainsticks, wooden sticks, tambourines, horns, little guitars, recorders, djembe drum and harmonicas that would come out throughout. There is so much music in kids’ shows, either as a focus or in the background and such a range of styles.
So much science can be learned in a really unintentional way…
Hats off to Magic School Bus, Cat in the Hat, Peep’s Big Wide World, Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch, Curious George and our own Canadian Kratt Brothers 👍who brought us Kratt’s Creatures, Zoboomafoo ( our favourite ) and Wild Kratts. These shows absolutely fueled interest in science and nature.
So much *everything* can be learned in a really unintentional way…
Perspective and ingenuity from G’s much loved George Shrinks, where a boy who is extraordinarily smaller than everyone else finds incredible ways to navigate the world and live a normal life
Nature, gentleness and beauty from Little Bear
Friendship, family and conflict resolution from Franklin, Timothy Goes to School and always Berenstain Bears
Fantasy and travel to another reality on Harry’s Bucketful of Dinosaurs, Cat and the Hat and Magic School Bus
Shared experience and identity with family …
L had each of us linked to a Backyardigans character. (I think my character was Tasha, the bossy one😊).
We would all find humour in reciting some of the sections of the show. S could do a seriously good rendition of the Curious George theme song and had much of the Wizard of Oz movie down pat, accents and all.
A springboard for dramatic play, conversation or questions …
Racing to the kitchen after watching Land Before Time movies to get some Bran Flakes to spread around to be leaves or “tree stars” on the living room floor, G would enthusiastically get as many model herbivorous dinosaurs out to gather around to eat. Carnivorous dinosaurs would be positioned in the background, carefully stationed in different places, lying in wait.
L carefully set up tea party after tea party for her stuffed animals with her little dishes after watching the Backyardigans episode about Tasha’s tea party.
Art projects and instructions …
Mr. Maker and others would inspire on interest in trying the project of the episode or possibly inspire getting out the materials for something new.
Critical thinking …
Bursts of critical thinking would happen in the car on the way here and there, based on themes and characters in dinosaur shows and movies. When G was 3 or 4, he suddenly announced from the backseat that shows and stories just weren’t fair to dinosaurs that were carnivores. They shouldn’t always be seen as the bad guy. It wasn’t their fault that they were always hunting. They had to hunt for survival. What choice did they have? Maybe other than sharp teeth, they didn’t even really have those mean faces. Palaeontologists couldn’t really know they had mean faces just from their skeletons, could they?
The Fox and the Hound movie led to him speculating about whether foxes were unfairly portrayed in books and movies. Were they really sneaky bad guys or just shy and quick? Maybe they were often drawn larger in books and movies so that they would seem more frightening than they would drawn at their actual smaller size.
Appreciation of Characters and Plot…
The entire Land Before Time series was an absolute favourite of M’s. He loved the different characters, anticipating what would come next, waiting for the next movie to see where the plot would go. It has had great nostalgic value. A couple of years ago, there was a Land Before Time marathon advertised and he cleared his Sunday afternoon and evening.
The Way Things Work…
Thomas the Tank Engine, in addition to characters with interesting personalities, provides so much information about how trains and railway systems work. This show directly inspired an evolving collection of Thomas tracks, props, machinery and characters which provided HOURS for the kids of building and developing related storylines.
If anyone is not familiar with the Canadian show Mighty Machines, it’s worth checking out. It might be a bit hokey with all the real machines and their character voices, lol, but we (yes, we) learned so much. From the salt mines to the airport to the harbour to the train tracks, there was so much valuable information about the uses and mechanics of machines. We loved it so much here, we ended up getting the “Best of” DVD. Parent and grandparent reviews on Amazon show that we are not the only ones and the learning is mentioned in almost every review.
Geography, History and Culture …
Are We There Yet? and many others take kids to other places and customs as do many other fictional shows.
This Is Daniel Cook and This Is Emily Yeung, shows about kids who go on site to explore the different jobs and activities, are definitely worth checking out. They transport kids to multiple places, meeting people involved in all kinds of neat things.
Artistic appreciation…
The range of beautiful animation and the evolution of technique and production is incredible. The kids would often talk about how far things had come and the technical differences between original movies and sequels.
Relaxation and Joy…!
The emotional effect on kids from watching well-developed characters and plot and beautiful animation or listening to fun or beautiful music is worth a great deal. The lightbulb moments when they’re watching how something works and they connect to another piece of knowledge they already have or are inspired to try to make something are priceless.
The value for kids doesn’t end with early childhood shows. At a relatively young age, they enjoyed other things we found to watch as a family. Things such as Dirty Jobs With Mike Rowe or How It’s Made were appreciated at a young age. NASCAR races led to G setting up intricate, imaginary car races, with a realistic understanding of the dynamics of racing. It also directly led him to learning double digit numbers and understanding ordinal numbers (“ Oh, the 48 car is pulling into 3rd position! Wait, no! He’s dropped back to 4th!”)
So, yes, as with many things, I think that TV shows and movies have definite benefits in a wide range of ways and if they offer the parents a chance to either get a chair repaired, laundry done or some time to relax, then that’s even better yet!
Did you have a favourite show as a child? Do your kids or grandkids watch shows or movies that you find value in?
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Erin,
Just reading this now as the title sparked my interest. Screen time has been a worry of mine now for 8 years lol and I am feeling like I am getting closer to being comfortable with our family’s amount of screen time. I believe parents receive scary screen time messages often before they even have their firstborn. Our firstborn child was not exposed to any screen time until after he was two years old and now at 8 he spends a good amount on screens almost daily. As a homeschool family we use screens for multiple reasons throughout our days though it is the morning time tv shows my 8 and often 5 year old watch almost daily that I worry about the most. I could go on, but what I really wanted to comment on was the positive thoughts I have around screen time, especially children’s TV shows. Blaze and the Monster Machines was my oldest favourite when he was younger and he learned SO much from that show. Wild Kratts was another favourite of both my kiddos and that show is just simply awesome! I will forever have a soft spot in my heart for Paw Patorl after both my kiddos enjoying that when they were preschoolers and it being a pretty big part of their lives through the show, books and even going to a live show twice altogether! We have videos of my youngest singing the Paw Patrol song and reciting the characters names while playing with the toys. Interestingly enough my oldest never liked the shows that had real life actors for main characters so the Wiggles was never on here and unfortunately same with Sesame Street. While now at 8 my oldest and even my 5 year old have watched some shows I would prefer them to not, I know they still gained something from the shows and I pay closer attention so we can have discussions around what they watch. A lot of talk about story lines, characters and how TV shows are created happens in our house because of our family’s screen time and I have observed much learning from it.
Ashley, first of all, yes to Wild Kratts! It’s such a great show and my oldest even got in on the era of Zoboomafoo, which was one of Kratt brothers’ prior shows – same general idea. Your point about storylines, characters and how TV shows are created is so familiar. There were lots of good conversations about those things here too. I think people don’t necessarily think of shows and movies as stories, but really they are. They have all the elements of story, so it makes sense that they would generate conversation about those things. I also wonder if many of the scary articles and messages you mention are often assuming that technology is a point of disconnection between parents and kids, a way to escape one another, but I think when parents are aware and engaged, it’s a whole other experience. Even if kids want to just watch on their own or parents need a break, I don’t see that as such a big deal when families are connected and spending time together in other ways. Thanks for your comment!
I agree for the most part that there are some super creative shows out there and that kids can generally get quite a bit out of them but I also think there’s a difference between some of the shows of the past like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood or Mr. Dressup or the Friendly Giant. They tended to be slower-paced and quieter with one adult talking to the kids and using real puppets, books or toys. There was another one on back – Reading Rainbow which I think featured one person reading books. The theme songs were quiet and pleasant and they just had a gentler vibe. I do wonder about whether some of the things on today are overstimulating after a point. Not that we don’t enjoy television but I do notice a difference.
Hi CC. I don’t disagree at all. I think it’s a really good point. It’s interesting – I was speaking a few weeks with someone who was showing her younger kids some of the shows that she had liked when she was a child. I believe she was talking specifically about “Mr. Dressup’ and they had no interest at all after about a minute, even in the puppets, yet they enjoy current TV quite a bit and are quite engaged – singing, chanting along, dancing, etc. I don’t know but I think it’s the idea a few decades ago of sitting quietly to hear what someone has to say (in the case of shows like Mr. Rogers) versus waiting to be entertained with a lot of music and sound effects? I do think that even the intros of modern shows have a lot of sound and quick scene changes if you compare them to say the 1970s and 80s and that might be true for shows for all ages, actually. I think being thoughtful to seek out different shows and even being aware of time of day is also something to consider. For example, when my kids were little, shows like “Little Bear” and “Franklin” were quite gentle and much less “in your face” than some of the others. I appreciate the perspective – thanks very much.
Hi Erin, we loved Backyardigans for my oldest. I feel like we traveled to so many places and times. The characters were so unique and I laughed to think that L pegged you as Tasha! My youngest one is all about Paw Patrol now! Personally, I’m back in the day of Mr. Rogers and if I think about it, I did gain so much from that show. He was so much about manners and kindness to others and it had such a calming tone to it. Thanks for this.
Hi Liz! Yes, Backyardigans transported us all over too – I remember my youngest talking about Ancient Egypt,the Arizona desert and all sorts of places. And yes, Mr. Rogers really made his mark in childhood TV:). I think a lot of people have very fond memories of his show. Thanks for your comment.
Hi Erin. Yes, my kids enjoyed almost all of these! Thomas the Tank Engine is almost historic at this point. I had the same experience with that particular program. My son became immersed in it for a while and it led to so many things. We read Thomas books and had Thomas puzzles and he wanted to go to train stations to watch trains. He learned so much about how they work and I got a whole new education! We had a heritage train that we took a small day trip on and he wowed the passengers with all his information! So I agree that TV is not always the passive monster its made it to be. It sparked so many ideas for us.
You’re right, Thomas is almost historic at this point! It’s interesting too that so many kids seem become very immersed in Thomas. I think the fact that trains are a natural draw for young kids partnered with the fact that they have such distinct characters on the show might be part of it. And then there are all the railroad pieces and little engines you can buy (although not cheaply!). Thanks Lori:).