What kid's shows did you not want your child to watch?
By kieungoc
@kieungoc (232)
United States
April 24, 2008 11:28am CST
Even before I had kids, I already had it in my head they were not going to watch Barney. Now I have a 3 year old and he does NOT watch Barney. I don't have an explanation why I cannot stand the singing, purple dinosaur. He does watch other shows however, but we have managed to keep it at a minimum. This is just one example of expectations I had for my kids before I even had one. It wasn't limited to tv shows: I didn't want my kids to have candy, I didn't want them to be needy, I wanted them to be clean all the time, and so on and so on. Believe me, I did not know what I was getting into. My kids are wonderful and I love them with all my heart, but I need a little chocolate to help me out once in awhile. I have learned that I do have to bend the rules a little.
2 people like this
5 responses
@lhw7661 (51)
• United States
29 Apr 08
You 'need a little chocolate' to help you out once in awhile? For you or as a bribe to your kids? What is 'needy' in terms of your children? I agree, Barney is not interesting, but neither is the blue dog, whatever his name is. We all have expectations for our children and eventually find many of them to be unrealistic. Keep up the good work and be sure to be consistant and a good role model. 'Children live what they Learn'.
@mummyofthree (2715)
•
29 Apr 08
WOW!! Never heard such strong views on Barney before! I can't say I particularly like him.... but would never have associated him with children turning out bad and with peodophilia!!!
There's a lot of kids programmes that really grate on my nerves. But the kids like them and I can honestly say they are quite educational these days (with the exception of a few)!!!
I had huge expectations of how I was going to be as a parent. My first was born 13 years ago. He wasn't going to watch tv, no sweets and bad things! Oh how things changed very quickly! A little does no harm at all.
@sassysammy81 (369)
• United States
24 Apr 08
I too will not allow my children watch barney,there is just something about him that I dislike alot.Besides that I allow my 6 year old to watch her age tv shows.
@Pirate_Arg (472)
• South Africa
26 Apr 08
It seems that there is something underlying in Barney that makes people hate it. I'm guessing that it is the strong pedophile vibe given off by the adult purple dinosaur. And if you teach your children that it is ok to dance around with creepy dinosaurs, how do you know whether or not they will make the right choice if some strange adult human wants them to get in their car one day?
@liquorice (3887)
•
24 Apr 08
Ooh, I agree about Barney too. And I also don't know exactly what makes me hate it so much; perhaps it's a mixture of the annoying whiney voice, the over-enthusiasm that feels kind of false, and the fact that it just feels a bit evil for some reason!
Other than Barney we let our two-year old watch most shows for her age, but mainly the ones on Nick Jnr and CBeebies (the BBC babies' channel), as we're very familiar with them and they seem to be quite educational. When it first came on I was going to stop her from watching Yo Gabba Gabba as it seemed a bit strange and surreal, and slighly reminiscent of Barney as well. But it has grown on me and I find that it has good messages.
We too were full of good intentions about not letting her watch much TV, but I find it easier to do this when the weather's nicer and we can spend more time outside. When it's gloomy and rainy outside it's more difficult to keep her entertained all day, although I do try!
