When my older son was three, I made the mistake of introducing him to Paw Patrol. I thought it was a better option than Little Baby Bum, which he’d outgrown, Caillou, because I knew better, and Blippi, a show I could say some things about, but CB would probably make me take them out. Paw Patrol quickly overtook his entire life and I often found myself muttering things like, “Team Chickaletta!” or “How is Humdinger still allowed to be a mayor?” I thought I was on top of the game when my younger son expressed TV autonomy by just not putting on any of those shows. Unfortunately, he got into Cocomelon and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse because apparently, I still have a penance to pay for making my own parents sit through Barney and Lamb Chop 30 years ago.
Anyway, if you’re currently suffering through the blight of annoying children’s TV shows, you’re not alone! There are [more than] dozens of us! And according to experts, there’s even a real reason behind why kids love the shows that grate at us.
There’s a lot parents have to make peace with during the early parenting years — sleeplessness, diaper-changing, less personal time, tantrums — but for some, one of the most aggravating aspects is the steady stream of earworm-y nursery rhymes, nonsensical cartoons and infantilized voices that comprise much of children’s entertainment. A quick glance at Reddit reveals entire forums devoted to beloved (to kids) entertainers like Blippi and other G-rated fare, in which parents vent about the shows that have their kids in thrall. One particular target is Caillou, the Canadian animated children’s TV series airing on PBS Kids. In a recent poll by the sleepwear brand Little Sleepies, more than 13% of surveyed parents ranked it as their least favorite kids’ show, followed by Netflix’s Trash Truck and PBS’s Wild Kratts.
“I like Canada,” shares dad Ryan Gowland, “but I hate them for making Caillou.” Multiple parents cited the eponymous character’s famously whiny behavior on the show. “It sounds crazy, but this show really does annoy me so much it totally affects my mood,” says Dani Williams. “I can’t be in the same room if it’s on. His voice is like nails on a chalkboard.” Adds mom of two Melissa Bales-Mcculloh, “[Caillou’s] parents drop everything they’re doing to cater to his every whim and never scold him for anything. It makes me feel like an ogre in comparison.”
When his kids ask to watch the YouTube channel Genevieve’s Playhouse — which boasts 34 million subscribers — Rich Rozeboom admits he’s not above pretending that the TV isn’t working. And while mom Salina Ott appreciates how “super-excited” her son gets when he watches Blippi — “he did teach him to dance … and actually taught him the color blue” — the character’s ultra-enthusiastic personality and high-pitched voice grate. For Cocomelon mom Rebecca Berwitz, venting with other parents about what their children watch is “cathartic.” When she’s irked by something on screen, she tries to think about the other parents having the same experience. “It’s like a reminder that we’re all in this together.”
According to media psychologist Pamela Rutledge, there’s a deeper meaning behind these gripes.
“There are reasons characters designed for kids can be annoying to adults,” explains Rutledge. “Children’s characters tend to talk loudly with high voices. Research shows that mothers use louder and higher-pitched voices to get their children’s attention and to soothe. So just like people automatically talk to children in ‘baby voices,’ TV programs do the same because children are drawn to and comforted by it.”
Another thing she says children find reassuring and comforting? Repetition. “Children’s characters tend to be very repetitive with songs, sayings or phrases. Adults may find this annoying but kids find it reassuring and comforting,” Rutledge notes.
I hear what Dr. Rutledge is saying, but I felt the quote, “It sounds crazy, but this show really does annoy me so much it totally affects my mood” in my soul. My husband used to make up “alternate” lyrics to Daniel Tiger songs to cope. And the YouTube stuff is awful for ALL ages! We banned the Unspeakable channel and have a “No YouTube” rule. Once in a while, we’ll let them watch Mr. Beast because Mr. Rosie likes watching it with them.
On a positive note, I’ll go on record as saying that the two children’s programs I’ve always liked are Doc McStuffins (I still *perform* that theme song at random times) and Bluey (I will fight anyone who says something bad about Bluey!). To the parents who are still in the Blippi phase, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! When I told my kids that I was going to write about it, they both went, “Ugh, that show is so annoying!” Some days, it’s the small victories.
Note by CB: You may already know Rosie as our co-writer for the Amazon posts. Rosie is a mother of two boys who grew up on Long Island and now lives in NC. She has a BA in Journalism and a paralegal certificate. She loves going on adventures, hiking, reading mystery novels, and geocaching. Her claim to fame involves once meeting the late great RBG.
caillou was one evil ass mf pic.twitter.com/m1OevUXExz
— aj 🦋 (@ajirixo) January 6, 2021
I actually like cocomelon! We only show the youtube videos in the tub
My son loves Cocomelon. We play it for him all the time. He has all the toys. I don’t mind it at all. What else are little kids supposed to watch? Adults that get this annoyed by kids shows need to chill.
Our pediatrics explained that cocomelon is very problematic because there is a change of scenery, a new addion in the scene every 10 seconds at most. It starts being a stimulans and as a consequence, kid’s brain soon starts to expect some kind of stimulans every few moments, thus factoring in the ability to concentrate.
Tl, dr: it makes other, much more useful and natural actions (playing with puzzles, drawing, simple walks, exploring the outside) boring because the brain gets addicted to constant new stimuli.
That’s the explanation we got for it and similar types. They suggested peppa pig instead, if we really have to give him some screen time.
We have kid’s education programme on our national televison: it has a sesame street series, similar cartoons and kid series, a bunch of songs in croatian covering different aspects of life (firefighters, drinking water, less plastics, cutting your hair, washing teeth)-and they are amazing, even I like them. 🤣
The baby gets them when he’s changing his diaper, he’s 2.
The older one can watch half an hour/45 min of TV (right now, it’s one Poirot episode per day) and play on tablet for half an hour, with parent control. He’s 7 and he has the least tv/mobile time in his class.
This research is out of date and now considered incorrect.
The researcher referred to, Angeline Lillard, did further study on the topic and ended up completely changing her position.
They concluded it was NOT the fast cuts that were the problem , but rather the fantastical and physics-defying nature of it.
Unfortunately the initial research got a lot of press and the follow up not so much, so this has seeped into a lot of places. See here for a brief discussion of the initial research and change of view
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191206-why-children-find-weird-television-so-mesmerising
My son’s favourites are Octonauts, Bluey, and Dinosaur Train, and he loves Kids Learning Tube (which is songs about things like space and geography). And I’m so glad because those shows don’t annoy the hell out of me the way Caillou does.
My son is in his 20s now. For me it was The Wiggles. I. Hated. The. Wiggles. With the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns. So guess who loved The Wiggles?
I feel this is an intentional evolutionary step to prepare parents for teenagers.
Ha! Just like I think that part of the function of Santa is to let kids figure out that adults aren’t always truthful.
The fact that parents find these shows annoying is hardly news. I hear about Caillou the most, followed by Peppa Pig. Then the kids get bigger and start playing annoying music, lol!
My poor mom….I was a young teenager when groups like Nirvana broke out. By high school I was a ride or die Pantera fan (still am) while Mom will only listen to Neil Diamond, Meatloaf and the Bee Gees.
Driving my mom anywhere for an extended amount of time is still a bit….contentious lol
On family road trips my lil brother and I would take turns with cassettes in the boombox! We were in a camper on a pickup truck, so sonically isolated from Dad’s C&W in the cab. Which suited everybody. Probably illegal now, haha.
Does Mom like Queen?
I hated Paw Patrol! Why could only the dogs talk but the cats couldn’t and I hated Cap’n Turbot with an absolute passion with his annoying alliteration. I also banned Caillou from our house becayse he is the absolute worst. My kids are almost 12, almost 10 and 7 so we just only the youngest watched Blippi for a hot minute. My daughter loved Doc McStuffins and I still miss it. She also loved Peg + Cat on PBS and that is still one of my favorites. It was hysterical and all about math and they wrote amazing catchy songs for it. I’m sad they no longer watch it.
We’re a Bluey household. There’s some controversy about it setting high expectations about parents leading imaginative games, but I love it anyway. It’s idealistic about how families work, and I need that positive spin! Some of the episodes get me crying (Sleepytime, Baby Race), but in a cathartic way. The only other program we really like is Numberblocks.
I only know Cocomelon from iTunes, but I will never ever tell my kid that there’s a tv show behind the songs. They’re annoying enough as it is. We are dancing around Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig and hoping he never gets wind of them.
Peppa >>>>> Paw Patrol Peppa can be slightly annoying, but I was entertained by some of the subtle snark such calling The Queen “an old lady with a crown on her head” Paw Patrol is a catchphrase-meets-merchandising fever dream. Bluey is the best though. My older kids still watch it sometimes.
So I don’t need to be too afraid of Peppa, then!
We are also a Bluey household and I’m so grateful for the many episodes that got us through two weeks of the family stomach flu a couple of months ago. We can’t wait for the new season tomorrow. I also cry at the camping episode with Bluey and Jean Luc. We also love Wild Kratts and Molly of Denali because at least there is some good education. If you have really little ones and want to watch a good nursery rhyme show on Amazon there is one with Lisa Loab, Nursery Rhyme Parade, we loved it.
I had avoided coco melon until my 3 year old randomly picked it one day and my husband let her watch. I think I hate it because the cgi characters are so creepy in an uncanny valley way to me and also the songs just drive me nuts. Other shows that drive me nuts are Pinkalicious because like caillou she always whines and her parents let her do whatever. My oldest son watched Blippi on his iPad way back in kinder when he first came out and I’m pretty sure it was a different guy than the one now and I didn’t like it even then. Thankfully he never got obsessed with it and no one else has watched it since.
Jean Luc saying “Hello, Bluey,” gets me every time!
For me it was Trotro the donkey. He’s super annoying. I really liked Peppa Pig though.
I despised that little brat Caillou.
This Hour has 22 Minutes does a hilarious parody of Caillou getting fired.
It’s everything you ever wanted.
We never got into these shows, thankfully. My kids really liked Octonauts, Bluey, Wild Kratts, Doc McStuffins, and even Bubble Guppies. I like these because I feel like at least they’re actually learning something sometimes.
We’ve never watched Caillou and they didn’t love blippi. They did like the pink fong baby shark situation but I absolutely could not stand re-starting a show every 90 seconds. Drove me bananas. So I banned that one.
I don’t understand these ‘experts’ reasoning. Mothers use louder & higher voices to talk to their little ones, and these kid shows use louder & higher voices, therefore parents loathe these shows—? I don’t get it.
And I loved Baby Shark!
Caillou is the worst kids show. they created a bald annoying benjamin button child with horrible parents. he was an a**hole that abused his sister for fun, threw tantrums, and had parents that just sucked and did nothing to change his horrible behavior. nothing redeeming about that show.
I endorse every word of this!! HATE Caillou.
All this. Absolutely dreadful representation of toddlers, perpetuating every nasty stereotype.
DW from Arthur is another, it’s a terrible character that manipulates Arthur, gaslights her parents & whines constantly.
HE WHINES AND WHINES AND WHINES
Yes, I do realize that ALL CAPS is yelling, but my twins are 18 AND I’M STILL NOT OVER IT
Yeah, there’s a reason I won’t let my kid watch these shows.
HIGHLY recommend Little Bear — all episodes are on YT — for toddlers. The tone is incredibly calm, the characters engage imaginatively and thoughtfully together (even with conflict), and I don’t feel the need to bash my head in if it’s playing in the background.
Plus the original books are a good way to bring the show to story time as they learn to read.
Agree – Little Bear, Franklin and Arthur were big hits in our house!
These were the best, I’d always watch them with the boys and even watched them for a while after they grew out of them. Little Bear and Franklin are the sweetest. I think Arthur had the most realistic representation of how kids act/ behave.
Blippi Get Out! Annoying, so, so annoying.
And the show replaced the original actor with a sort of look alike who is still just as annoying.
If you want your jaw to dislocate this morning, look up blippi’s you tube ad revenue.
I am happy that it is going to an ex-service member. At least there’s that.
I would almost rather scratch my skin off than personally watch another one of his episodes.
However, I am grateful that my kid enjoyed his shows and they helped him through stay-at-home during the pandemic.
Also, let’s be Frank. If I had to choose between lunch with blippi or lunch with Prince William, it would be blippi in a heart beat.
The Blippi guy started that show because he saw an opportunity to make money from videos on YouTube. Before Blippi he made gross out humour videos. There’s zero love for early childhood development in that show, just vague mentioned of colours and letters jammed in there to make it seem educational. So depressing it’s become so big 😟
OMG. I just watched 30 seconds of a Blippi show, never having heard of it before. That’s all I could take! Seems to me to be a poor-man’s version of PeeWee Herman.
OMG Caillou – that little asshole has been around a long time because my daughter is 24 and used to watch it. Horrible show.
Baby Shark
LOL, when my son was very little it was Barney. Barney was so annoying! But at least he didn’t have a high-pitched voice and he had a positive general message. Caillou was around more toward the end of my daughter’s early years and man, that kid was awful. Whiney, bald little wanker.
I got pretty lucky with the shows my kids (particularly my son) liked in the early school years. Jimmy Neutron was funny, Cat-Dog and Courage The Cowardly Dog were kind of weird but actually amusing and clever, even a tad dark (but not too dark). My daughter liked Oswald the Octopus, which was a sweet, gentle show.
Oh, but I forgot Rug Rats. It had plusses and minuses.
My brother’s kids are a lot younger than mine, because he had them later in life. The youngest is 7 now. They were obsessed with Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol. I wasn’t subjected to it too much, but when I was, I…..didn’t like it.
No kids myself, but my sister’s kids are great. She had a policy of no shows where characters were sassy or back talked in her house. Seemed to work great.
They make speakers that are in the middle of a clear dome on the ceiling, which focus sound so that it’s an OK volume under the dome, but quieter elsewhere. It’s for hard of hearing people, but could work for kid’s shows too.
Calliou must have been the cheapest show to produce. And it is awful.
Be warned if you buy any of the compliation shows on DVD from PBS, 90% is Calliou back to back, sometimes 2 hours at a row from a 3 hour dvd.
Found this out the hard way. Donated all of them to the local library.
We still watch Kipper as a family.
It’s such a lovely little show, he’s delightful.
Kipper! 💕💕 We still watch him, have all the DVDs.
Wibbly Pig is similar.
Pocoyo is a nice quiet show with Stephen Frye as the original narrator.
The Wiggles, the original group with Greg Page still a big hit for us.
I bought The Wiggles, Top of the Tots, the Christmas DVDs, and another one I can’t remember to donate to our local memory care assisted living home because they are very well produced, song after song with lots of nice scenery in the background. At an hour per show, it they were a big hit for entertainment.
I loved Kipper and his little depressed sounding self. I also liked Maisie but that was a strange show. I always thought they were trying to do something a little subversive with that character because she always dressed like a boy ( non-binary in the early 00’s, good for them), there were never any parents around, she and Charlie took a lot of baths together and she interpreted everything Charlie said.
Sometimes I have to sit next to my friend’s kids and watch a show with them. I hate Caillou, Mia and Me and Peppa Pig. But I am totally fine when they decide to watch Trash Trunk.
I dont have any babies but have a nephew and have taken care of many baby/kiddo. I just had to tell myself that this wasn’t for me, but for the kids…it didn’t help 🤣 Props to you parents who deal with that ALLLLLL day.
And I can’t imagine having to be on the look out for the creepers like that Colleen Ballinger. All you want to do is keep your kids entertained and a pervert like her exists.
I HATED Caillou. And Peppa Pig. And Max and Ruby. Such obnoxious and whiney characters. I didn’t mind the Wiggles, or cocomelon. My middle son, now 12, his favourite show to watch as a baby was the price is right. All the lights and sounds and the spinning wheel.
We watched The Price is Right because I thought I’d lose my mind if I didn’t get a break from kids shows all day.
God Bless Mister Rogers and Zaboomafoo!
Lunch with Mister Rogers then nap/quiet time.
R.I.P. 💕
I personally love Cocomelon. I love seeing the diverse families grow over time. My son would always say look Cody looks like me. I love the Latino family now too. I love that Bella is super shy and has to find the strength to overcome things. I think people that dismiss cocomelon are talking about when it start 10 years ago and haven´t taken a look at it recently.
Calliou tho. He can go.
My kids are too old for us to have experienced these shows with the exception of Caillou. My husband and I banned that show because that kid was the most obnoxious little hellion. He threw temper tantrums all the time and everyone would bend over backwards to accommodate him instead of telling him to knock it off. If that was my kid he wouldn’t have left his room until he turned 30. I loved Arthur but DW was another obnoxious little hellion. One episode he lost his temper and hit her, everyone chastised him for doing it but I yelled at the screen “Hit her again!” LOL.
Calliou is AWFUL. Awful. I also loathe Max and Ruby – Ruby is so passive aggressive.
I could handle Wonder Pets.
Ruby was a straight up b!t<h. She was rude and mean and bossy, she treated Max like crap. And where tf were their parents? They were never around.
I thought I was the only person who knew what Little Baby Bum was. My toddler eventually tired of it. She just got into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse which I don’t mind because at least it’s not 50 different versions of Wheels on the Bus over and over again like Little Baby Bum.
I had been warned of Callilou and am thankful for those warnings. Cocomelon bores the bejesus out of me and I’m glad my toddler hasn’t gotten into it.
My kids are in their twenties now, but I remember this problem well (especially Calliou – so whiny!) My old school rec: If you can find Kipper the Dog, I recommend it highly as being beautifully animated and gently voiced — all the kids in my extended family adored it, as did the parents! The books they are based on are lovely, too.
Wow, Rosie and I have some things in common, two boys, the paralegal certificate, transplants to the south. Anyway, greetings Rosie! My kids are teens now, but I remember the horrid young childhood TV choices.
We stuck with PBS Sprout, and avoided Nickelodeon like the plague. Calliou was awful, and my older son loved Thomas the train, which made me want to throw things at the tv. Zoboomafoo was good, I liked the song. Are these shows even still on?
During those years I ordered dvds of the shows I grew up with….the 1st several seasons of Sesame Street, Schoolhouse Rock and the Electric Company. There truly is no better introduction to a TV show than Rita Moreno screaming HEY YOU GUYS!
As I type this, my kids just put Cocomelon on. Not a fan. We had dodged that bullet for a long time but some cousins introduced them to it. I really don’t mind Paw Patrol that much, but I cannot stand Peppa Pig at all, ugh horrible.
By far the best show that they watch is Bluey, my sister introduced it to us. Baby Race, Early Baby and Bin Night always get me. I swear they make a lot of the episodes just for adults! Sometimes I’ll even play the soundtrack for them as they are building /painting/playing.
what cracks me up the most is remembering hearing a child ask, “what’s wrong with Caillou? why does he whine so much?”
Sesame Street ❤️