Family Fridays – TV Shows for One Year Olds That Won’t Make You Insane (YMMV)
As mentioned earlier in the week, my son and I both had a pretty bad cold a few weeks ago, and so we did something we normally don’t do: we camped out in a comfy chair together, snuggled, went through mountains of tissues, and watched several tv shows back to back. Here are my top three picks for shows at his current age:
Sesame Street: I don’t remember watching Sesame Street growing up, so I’ve been blown away at how good it is. They’ve got great educational stuff, music, art, morals, etc. and they still manage to entertain the very young crowd. My son giggles out loud when he sees his favorites: Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, Grover, Elmo (man, I hate Elmo) and Oscar the Grouch. I was raving about what a great show it was to a friend and she mentioned something about the “political messages”. I haven’t seen any subversive political messages, though I only watch the show on Netflix, which has a very limited selection, so I might be missing something from later seasons.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: This is a spin off from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood (which I’ve also never seen), and the focus is on learning social skills – sharing, what to do when you get mad, etc. It is a very good show, though of the three listed here, I find I have the lowest tolerance for this one, mostly due to the repetition. Each thirty minute segment is split into two parts, each teaching the same lesson, but with different characters. Each segment has a song that gets sung quite often (“If you have to go potty, STOP! and go right away!”) and WILL get stuck in your head. The first season is on Netflix.
Postman Pat Special Delivery Service: This is the updated version of a show I remember from my childhood, Postman Pat. It is a charming little show set in a small, rural town in England (using stop motion animation – or at least a look alike) that features the adventures of the postman trying to deliver a parcel that somehow always goes wrong. It’s probably the least educational of the three here, but it’s very pleasant. This one isn’t on Netflix, but you can watch it free on Amazon Prime if you’re a member. My mother bought me the first season, and we’re enjoying working our way through it. It doesn’t hold my one year old’s attention as much as the other two (it’s a little old for him), but we can usually get through at least one 15 minute segment, and generally a 30 minute show.
I’ve tried other shows, but these are the three I keep coming back to. What shows do you watch with your kids?
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