TL;DR What are your recommendations for decent kids’ TV shows these days?
Had a funny (and slightly terrifying) chat with a workmate who’s about to become a dad for the first time. We were talking about how much his life’s about to change, sleepless nights, no peace, mysterious sticky substances on every surface, and somehow ended up reminiscing about the shows we grew up watching.
He’s already drawn a hard line against iPads, YouTube Kids and the usual offenders like Cocomelon and Ms Rachel. Apparently, he and his partner have agreed that if their kid's going to watch TV, it’ll be something actually made for kids, not just algorithm bait that turns toddlers into screen junkies. He called Cocomelon “baby crack”, and honestly, based on what I saw when I had a quick look, he's not wrong.
They’re leaning towards old-school Aussie stuff like Play School, which we both remembered from our own childhoods. At least that’s something with real human interaction and not a wall of CGI chaos designed to keep little brains overstimulated. He said he’s not trying to be a helicopter parent, but he also doesn’t want his child glued to an iPad or developing a five-second attention span from what he calls “brain-rotting” shows.
He reckons he and his wife have been “researching” and found very few shows that weren’t filled with American rubbish or locked behind a streaming paywall. Their current shortlist: Play School, Bluey, and Paw Patrol. Everything else he said was either repetitive, headache-inducing, or was just straight-up rubbish.
That sent us down memory lane, Inspector Gadget, the OG Thomas the Tank Engine, Bananas in Pyjamas, Round the Twist, Beetlejuice, back when TV was a treat, not a substitute parent. You’d catch a few episodes before dinner, and that was it. No autoplay, no ads trying to sell you toys, and no algorithm deciding what you should enjoy next. It made me realise how different things are now. Kids today have endless content at their fingertips, but half of it’s just noise. And honestly, as much as I love technology, I can see why parents get twitchy about what their kids are exposed to. The line between “educational entertainment” and “passive consumption” is pretty blurry.
So now I’m curious: for all the parents (and even cool aunts/uncles) on OzB, what kids’ shows actually pass these days? What’s something you’d actually sit through without wanting to lob the remote through the TV?
I’m not a parent myself (and not in any rush), but I was genuinely stumped when my mate asked if I knew of any good shows for kids. Judging by what’s out there, it feels like Bluey is carrying the entire industry on its back.
My kids don’t watch tv. They are 13 and 14 now.
We occasionally watch a family movie.
It’s peaceful not having the tv on all the time, even when they aren’t home I forget to turn it on most of the time.
Even sesame st has cgi now. Poor Bert and Ernie and play school through the window is animated.
I would suggest old programs. Old episodes of play school and Sesame Street, sooty, lamb chop, bindi the jungle girl showed lots of animals.