Am I The Only One Who Hates Spongebob?

So do I. I agree with you and highly recommend this cartoon for kids with parental guidance.

I don't exactly agree with shows trying to teach them 2nd languages either, but I do honestly think Spongebob teaches kids that it's okay to be stupid and annoying. I just want to reach into the TV and slap the characters. I guess for older kids it's okay, but I don't think it's for children under the age of 8. There are other shows on TV that allow kids to be kids without being stupid!

I'll be nice. When my son was little he watched Little Bear, Rupert and Gullah Gullah Island. My granddaughter watched Maisy and Bob the Builder. Honestly, I'm glad to have more programming for children other than just what is on public television.

I remember some of those. My oldest son and my siblings used to watch those shows. Most of them were educational though, unlike Spongebob.

As the mom of a couple preschoolers, I'd take Barney over Spongebob anyday.

The Teletubbies weren't just freaky, they were relentless.. those stupid videos they showed that made me want to fall asleep, and when it was finally over "AGAIN!!" OMG! NOOOOOOOO

I still have nightmares of Po going... "UTTTTT OHHHHHH!" If they weren't British I would have sworn Stephen King was their creator!

I wasn't crazy about Dora either. I'm not bilingual, I don't believe in being bilingual unless you have strong ties to your heritage, which I do not. I want my children to be American first, and if they so choose they can learn other languages later in life. I thought it would be horribly confusing to teach my children Spanish before they completely learned English. So that's why I didn't agree with Dora. It should be the parent's choice to teach their child another language, not a cartoon character's choice.

There is nothing Un-American about exposing children to secondary languages when they are young REGUARDLESS of there heritage. In fact America is a melting pot of all different races, creeds, colors, and nationalities. All pediatric scientists and educators will tell you that the first few years of your childs life there brain is like a sponge... not litterally but figureatively. They soak up everything! From that point on they continue to level off fairly quickly at the ease of learning. That is to say the learning takes more effort... actual study... pratice... memorization etc. What you SHOULD be peaved about is that Spanish seems to be the only language they want to expose your child too at a young age... not the fact that the foundation of a secondary language is being laid. Your lack of choices should be the concern! Why is there no exposure to French? German? Russian? etc. I suppose in there defence... Spanish is supposed to be one of the easiest secondary languages to learn so maybe its easier for the child to learn it. I suppose if you want to you could rail on about the fact it's that we have too many immigrants (legal or not) from Spanish speaking countries like Cuba, Hati, and Mexico. That may be a valid argument... but it's not really all that relevant to your child's education. Don't think so? I can give you an example through my own personal experience. In high school I had to take Spanish, French, or Latin as a second language to get a college prepatory diploma. I failed my second semester of Spanish in my first year. You have to pass TWO years of one of those languages to pass. I studied pretty hard in that class but just could not grasp the language in the short amount of time in a semester. if I had a stronger foundation as a child in Spanish... or French... (I just can't see Latin as a viable language to try to teach a child).. then who knows I might have BREEZED through it. My point is this.. don't limit your child's education because of your on short sightedness... You can be American an expose and educate your child about other cultures and languages without taking any of the "American" out of them. If you are that strongly opposed to Spanish... then take it upon yourself and expose them to French... or maybe something that IS in your heritage. I can promise you this... they will be exposed to it in one way or another.... all be it in high school.... and probably even college. Just my thoughts....

Oh gosh, I forgot about all those Cartoon Network shows. See, I outlawed that channel in my house, unless me or hubby put it on that channel, which sometimes we did for Boomerang. They used to show Scooby Doo and a bunch of other cartoons we grew up watching. We'd sit and watch it with the kids. But the kids were never allowed to put it on that channel. They only knew 71 (Disney). I didn't even allow them to put it on Nick, that would be another one I'd choose.

I LOATHE SBSP... I'm like you I feel dumber even THINKING about watching his show. I can think of another one though... Cayou... I know this is a PBS show... but I hate it! To me it give kids the impression that if they are whiny and complain a lot they get what they want!!!! There's already TOO much of that already! If you've got tweenies... KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE DISNEY CHANNEL! The DC is HORRIBLE in my opinion. It over exposes and hyper-exposes them to commercialism and idolism. How many tweenie and early teen girls do you know that want to be like Hannah Montana... Lizzie MaGuire etc etc... How many of them want to dress like them? Talk like them? Shows should NOT influence children like that... I don't care how much friggin money they can make off of it!