Saturday Morning Cartoons
When I was a kid waking up for Saturday morning cartoons was so exciting because it was the only time all week that the TV was reserved for the kids in the house. We had a choice of 2 or 3 stations and would flip between them according to what show we wanted to watch.
These days kids have so many choices. There are many TV channels out there devoted to kids programming only. There are channels that run cartoons 24 hours a day. I never would have imagined that there would be such a variety for my child to choose from.
What impresses me the most, is the quality of many (not all) of the shows that are on today and the educational value I find in many of them. Sure, we had Sesame Street but now there are shows like Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer, and many others that teach problem solving, sequencing, and even foreign language. I am more than happy to let my son watch shows like these. Even though I hate to admit it I may have even learned a thing or two myself.
December 10th, 2006 at 3:23 am
I miss Square One television. It made math fun. (Okay, and the Electric Company and 3 2 1 Contact)
December 10th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Elisa-
I watched those from time to time too, but what I really miss is Fraggle Rock.
December 11th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
I agree on the educational value of some shows. When I used to homeschool my children my mom break time was during Between the Lions, which was required watching for all the kids. It was actually a great supplement to their reading program!
December 11th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
I, too, miss Square One and 3 2 1 Contact. Although I must say that when I was home sick with my son, I started watching Dora the Explorer. He would get so excited whenever Dora started singing or he heard some music. Warmed me heart it did!
One critque of Dora, however. I don’t think it’s necessary to start indoctrinating children on computer cursors while they are still drinking from sippy cups. The phantom cursor that would come out of nowhere and “tell” Dora which road/path/car to take freaked me out. I wish Dora would have used her problem-solving skills to figure out which was the path of least computers.
December 11th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
I find the computer cursor to be a little bit annoying both on Dora and Diego, however my son was exposed to computers long before he got hooked on TV so I guess it wasn’t much of an issue for me. Dora is now a staple in our house although I think he enjoys the music more than anything.