Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion What do your kids watch on TV?

We don't let DS3 and DS6 watch a lot of TV. Typically when we do, it's either PBS or something educational. Favorites are:

* Between the Lions
* CyberChase (current most requested)
* Pengu (DS3 requests mostly)
* Kipper
* Thomas (DS3, although DS6 still enjoys it)
* Sci-Q (although there are only 3 episodes)
* any documentary on Space, Human Body, whales, physics, etc.

On weekends we'll sometimes watch a family movie together. But we really limit how much TV they can watch. (Most week days, they don't watch any.)

JB

When DS6 (then between 4.5 and 5) first watched the opening scene of Cars the movie, he got up and ran from the living into the laundry room (which is a long straight shot in our house). Really terrified him!

JB

Oh no, I am the most conservative parent now. The girls to get to watch 30-60 minutes of tv most days - and in the winter I'd say we watch a movie every weekend. But I finally let the 7 year old watch Hannah Montana only to decide - based on that episode - that I just don't like the boy-girl emphasis. I will say but for Discovery Kids channel - the oldest (7) probably wouldn't get to see much. The have a number of "cartoons" but that have some good nuggets. Time Wrap Trio is like an older version of Magic Tree House. Grossology is like a big kid version of magic school bus.

I know it is hard to keep things on track when you have various ages in the house... but I do wish things marketed as "tween" sensations wouldn't be the "hottest" thing in my kid's kindergarten class. No offense to the Amish but maybe that should be my new user name! :-)

DS6 is eclectic in his TV watching. Cartoons of course, Pokemon, Chaotica, Used to watch Bob the Builder, Caliou, and Thomas the Train all the time, over and over and over.... He now watches some Saturday cartoons, and Jepoardy and Wheel of fortune. We are not much into TV. He does get exposed to things he shouldn't because we have a 16DS in home.

DS loved Peep, Time Warp Trio, Grossology and Magic School Bus at 4. He'll be 6 next week and I was just getting ready to ask this same question! We screen what he's allowed to watch pretty carefully and he does not get to watch TV with commercials hardly ever (thanks to Tivo).

Right now he watches Toot and Puddle, Future is Wild and Phineas and Ferb pretty regularly. We have ordered the entire Super Mario Brothers on DVD from Netflix and he loves it. He also likes ChalkZone and sometimes Zula Patrol. We also watch Amazing Race together and some of Time Warp and Mythbusters depending on the topic.

He also has a deep love for the Food Network Challenge :-)Which I think is entirely my fault!

My kids love Top Chef! I don't allow them to really watch it, but they would if I let them! Food competitions really appeal to them.

And kickball, my rules are similar. They probably watch a bit more than your kids on weekday mornings (if their work is done), but they watch less on weekends. We never watch movies. I'm not quite Amish--not as Amish as I feel like I should be with them, frankly!--but not a lot less restrictive than you are either.

Thanks for the suggestions. We don't watch much TV, he watches maybe an hour a day. Somedays less when he goes to school. He has watched some of those shows others mentioned and likes them. Word girl, Zoola patrol, kipper, and he used to watch toot and puddle and peep as well a while ago. It seems like he is ready to get into some other stuff. Just wasn't sure where to go. I haven't heard of that time warp trio...and maybe the grossology as well. I would like to see if he would sit and watch a movie someday...mostly for a long car trip or for when he is sick.

Commercials bother me. We never had that issue before, but since he watches wheel of fortune now it is quite annoying. We DVR everything and he knows how to fast forward thankfully. But sometimes if he sees an interesting commercial he will watch it. The other day he said "so is cepacol really the strongest medication, because that's what they say" Then he thought they were lying and we had to explain that to him. Good times. : )

I'm a very bad parent. I generally let them choose what they want to watch (within reason). DS5 likes TV more than DD3 and always has.

DS5 has always liked watching "older" shows (was over Sesame Street by age 1. It bored him). He's fascinated by martial arts & things that go, so he watches recorded episodes of the Power Rangers (though there's one that he is too scared of) and Monster Jam... ah yes, monster trucks on tv, monster trucks on the wii and monster trucks on the floor (they hurt ya when you step on them).

Both DS5 & DD3 love Tom & Jerry, and I am very guilty of allowing them to watch such a violent cartoon. BUT, I do discuss it with them, etc...

DD3 used to be into Dora, but now she is fascinated by Hip Hop Harry. I loathe Hip Hop Harry!

The kids MAY watch 30 minutes to an hour each day on average, but they would both rather be doing something instead of watching something.

We have movie night once or twice a month(generally Friday nights), and I usually have to BEG for something other than Cinderella, Cars, or any of the High School Musical movies.

And DS5 likes "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?", so we sometimes catch that.

I do like to watch documentaries with them, but we don't necessarily seek them out.

We have been very bad this year. It was really cold this winter so we got addicted to The Discovery Channel, National Geographic and some science shows (DS6) and Little Bear and Franklin (DD2). I figure if it is educational and we can't get outside, why not.

Both of the kids usually watch together.

DS4 likes
- Word Girl (current favorite one)
- CyberChase
- Magic School Bus
- How It's Made (thanks to Kriston)
- Planet Earth was very popular last year.


DS6
- loves the series Once Upon Life. The boys watch it in their other language. I was unable to find it in English.
- the full documentary about US Presidents from History Channel. DS6 has been into presidents big time for last 5 months. Thanks to this we've spent enormous amount of time on social studies and covered quite a lot of US History.