OT - kid videos/tv shows

We're leaving to drop off our two children in Ann Arbor for their junior year.   Why do I mention this?   Well - Baby Einstein is the reason.   We had the series - and, though we never "just sat them in front of the tv for extended periods of time - we did have them watch.

Two other points - if I may.

First - use the second language option - just exposing a child to another language at this age is helpful - and - they'll learn to "just understand" another language, rather than translating it in their mind.

Second - bring your child / children along to everything you do.  My thought is - a parent can't introduce a child to enough things at this age.   When ours were younger - we would spend an after at the Art Institute of Chicago (usually in the winter).  The kids were in a stroller - and, we would position the stroller facing a work of art - we'd have the children look at it for a minute or two - and then, move to another painting / sculpture.   This would go on for a hour or two - and, we'd head out.

Also, if there's a "hands on" museum - like Science and Industry - when a child reaches five or six - that's another great experience.

Until our children were so advanced in sports that we needed to "divide and conquer" - taking each of them to their respective practices, games, etc. - we'd do everything together.  And, asking questions - getting the children to communicate and talk about what they see, touch, think - was a ton of fun for us - and, we hope the same for you.

Go Blue!

Absolutely. Bluey is great because it’s almost catered to the adult as much as it is to the kids. My wife and I love the show almost as much as our 2 year old. 

Bluey is the best...every adult has to watch 'The Grannies' episodes, too funny!

I've heard Bluey described as the show you actually want to watch with your kids. That is a lie. Bluey will turn into the show you want to watch; your kids may just join you.

However, Bluey does have a dark(ish) side. You are never going to live up to the standard set by Bandit and Chilli; don't let yourself get sucked into that mental trap.

It blew my mind when I realized Bluey was a girl...

Just want to be the 1000th person to chime in with Bluey - it's fantastic.

I watch Bluey with my 4 year old regularly. 

You've just listed every show our kids have watched growing up.

In the past 6ish months or so, we've transitioned into a phase where they now exclusively watch Dude Perfect, That's Amazing, and anything involving trick shots. I like the creativity that it has spawned, as they now spend hours on end trying to recreate trick shots, bottle flip challenges, and dice-stacking...but the constant thudding of the bottles being flipped starts to get on your nerves.

Totally agree on You Tube. My kids use You Tube Kids and that seems pretty decent. 

Yes, avoid YouTube at all costs.  Even YT Kids.  It's all algorithmically driven to take them down rabbit holes and feed their nascent addictions, whether to weird videos of adults playing with toys while using baby voices, or spoiled little Russian girls terrorizing their parents, or teenagers playing video games and begging for likes and subscribes.  If I could go back in time a few years, I would have never put YT on the iPad...

Unfortunately, it's too late now, and my 7-year old is probably going to turn into a needy, emotionally stunted man, with a fetish for vaguely Eastern European women, who's remarkably good at Minecraft.  Worse things, I guess. 

My son is already sick of Octonauts but it was my favorite show for him to watch. You will learn a lot about obscure animals too!

BT nailed it. Little baby bum is great, probably best up to age 2 or so (from the kiddo perspective). My oldest daughter (nearly 3 yo) now LOVES cocomelon. Bluey is awesome, but more advanced, probably for like 4, 5 or even 6 yo.

Word party is a good one, but again my oldest lost interest at about 2.

Logged in to say fuck Blippi

My kids loved it.

“Mom!!!! Phineas and Ferb are making a title sequence!”

In all seriousness, we let our kids watch The Simpsons at an early age and they both have good senses of humor and turned out to be fine adults. 

Oh also the kid gets a healthy dose of Michigan sports. Mostly football but also softball hockey baseball and basketball ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ probably like twice a week or so

All Dogs Go To Heaven (except the class traitors in the Paw Patrol)

Netflix is good for nickelodeon shows. My elementary aged kids have enjoyed Henry danger; Nicky, Ricky dicky and dawn; bella and the bulldogs.  I've watched those shows with them and rarely find anything objectionable and tend to be well written and produced.

Canned laughter sucks, but what can you do?

Ryan’s world is awful.  If going the You Tube “family programming” route both Ninja Kids and Kid City are pretty good.  At a minimum they are not creepy, that in itself is a win.

I literally searched google for that reason yesterday. “Unspeakable” made the list for a perma ban. The amount of idiots running around with a camera creating mindless content is truly astounding. It’s equally astounding how little minds are drawn to them. 

I banned that early because I couldn't stand the mom's voice. Just awful.