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Having three kids, 5 year old boy, 21 month old girl and 5 month old girl, I am intimately familiar with Nickelodeon.
The straight up, regular Nickelodeon that comes with basic cable is now geared directly towards older kids/tweens. If you have the "better" cable package you also get Nick 2, which is just regular Nickelodeon that is running the same schedule, just a few hours different.
You then get Nick Toon, which is just Nickelodeon cartoons, which are geared more towards older boys, anything from Spongebob to Fanboy and Chum Chum to Avatar.
Nick Jr. is the "pre-school" channel that has more kid firendly programming, but is designed for like 4-6 year olds, but doesn't have anything a younger kid couldn't watch.
Sprout is a cable spin off of PBS and the shows there are geared for younger kids and generally appropriate for any age, but older kids will absolutely hate it.
You have to watch Disney as well as they have a similar setup to Nick and most of the stations are geared to older kids.
It basically comes down to that if you want TV that is age appropriate for your kid, you better buy into a better cable package as the basic channels for all the networks are now geared to the tween crowd trying to keep them on board as long as possible until they jump to MTV. It is all about advertising. The best solution would be to pick up some cheap kid DVD's that they can watch. In my house we have a TV in the living room and one in the play room. Both have the full cable choices, but we tend to make the 5 year old go to the living room if he wants to watch cartoons and we let the 21 month old watch DVD's in the play room or put on a show like Sesame Street using "OnDemand".
I'm more concerned about the barrage of commercials directed at children on Nickelodeon/Nick Jr.
What you don't like the endless barrage of "I want x thing I just saw on TV" questions? Or, the endless requests for crap at the foodstore that you know they won't eat but are backed by a good marketing campaign?
What you don't like the endless barrage of "I want x thing I just saw on TV" questions? Or, the endless requests for crap at the foodstore that you know they won't eat but are backed by a good marketing campaign?
My 4 1/2yr old does not have school on Mondays. My dh was home this morning & let me sleep in. Great treat. Appreciate it. My dh & 2 boys sat around the tv 1/2 this SUNNY morning watching cartoon network. I came out during Stewart Little. Why this needed to be on at 9am I don't know, but hey, I got an extra 2 hours of sleep so I bit my tongue Sat down w/ them...every commercial "I want a Zhu Zhu pet". "I want an animal pillow" "I want Santa to bring me a Drifter scooter!" (a what???) "Can you buy us that cereal.".
Mommy:
"No."
"Nope."
"Not going to happen."
Stewart Little is a sweet little movie but w/in 20 mins the tv was off not only b/c they had way more than enough tv time, but the commercials were out of control.
I bet there is a survey somewhere that associates TV with poor development.
He has blocks and he can identify al of the numbers and letters on them and can say them. As a matter of fact....he might be the smartest and best 20 month old on Earth. ;-)
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Does your child ever see you and daddy kissing? All kids ought to see that, it's healthy. Beyond that I don't think there is a problem. Either 20 months is too young to understand and when they can understand, well, yup. People kiss
I just think channels like Nickelodeon tend to introduce romance at a very early age. I can see via some responses that some folks are on the same page with me.
I think I just had a misunderstanding of what Nickelodeon was and now realize Nick Jr or other channels are the way to go. (Usually do PBS)
Anyway my post was more a statement on the motives of Nickelodeon than it was a query of what to do with my 20 yr old in the mornings.
What you don't like the endless barrage of "I want x thing I just saw on TV" questions? Or, the endless requests for crap at the foodstore that you know they won't eat but are backed by a good marketing campaign?
That's one of the things I like about the Playhouse Disney stuff on the Disney chanel, no commercials for stuff to buy, just commercials for other age appropriate tv shows.
My daughter loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Oso, so we just have a bunch of episodes on our DVR ready for whenever we feel like letting her watch them. She's usually limited to one episode a day. She has actually learned quite a bit from Oso. For example, the first time we found her dressing herself she said she knew which way her pants went on (tag in the back) because Oso taught her.
We didn't have those channels when my son was that age - we couldn't afford cable so all we had was PBS.
Do you have DVR? Maybe record some of his favorite PBS shows so that when there are times other programming is on, he can still watch them and you don't even have to zap through commercials.
I was just going to say DVR something if you have it, like jkcoop recommended.
I don't see a problem with letting a 20 month old watch a little tv in the morning, if the shows are appropriate. My child has learned A LOT from Max and Ruby and Dora the Explorer. :-) Now, she doesn't watch tv every day and when she does it is usually between 30 minutes and an hour at most.
In any case, DVR and DVDs are the way to go to avoid commercials, whether they are inappropriate for the age group or would cause you're little want to request every toy and product they see on the tube.
I wouldn't worry about the Nickelodeon commercial for the tween/teen group since they already have seen and perhaps kissed before. Talking about their feelings in regards to that is a good thing. (I haven't heard the song though so if the lyrics are more Miley Cyrus'ish that's another story).
Yeah, sometimes you question the programming logic on tv.
I was watching something DEFINITELY for little kids or families and they had on 2 commercials for 'periods' and products. Not that I am prude but I find it uncomfortable they only target WOMENS' body functions.
*Let's see some stuff men have to 'suffer' with during 'family viewing time..'
I watch The Simpsons a lot on Fox and when my son was younger they would cut in with some WACKY and VIOLENT promos for other Fox shows....very disturbing.
I guess I am lucky my 12 year old has no interest in flipping to MTV and those channels where they have programs about 'some topics' I do not not want him seeing on his own (you know, shows about being "OUT" or "BI" or whatever). (Before I get 'slammed' I just feel that he needs to view these with me so he can ask questions...)
It's sad you can see so much VIOLENCE on tv as well just flipping around at 5 or 6 am...Very graphic violence...but they will censor **** and swear words...?!
Nick has changed from little kid dominated programs to more 'tweenie' type stuff...
I think when my son was young, we watched PBS mainly or Discovery (they would have little kids shows on very early).
Why not keep a videotape or DVD of shows you like around for these moments? At 20 months, well, PBS and Sesame Street shows are better than Nick. Or you can get Nick Jr. or Noggin which is just for little ones.
I watch The Simpsons a lot on Fox and when my son was younger they would cut in with some WACKY and VIOLENT promos for other Fox shows....very disturbing.
The Simpsons itself has plenty of wacky and violent content. You've seen Itchy and Scratchy, right?
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