Who wouldn't want to spend time with Little Bear? Maybe Mother Bear made a cake!
The latest I hear about the basic-cable TV channel Noggin (“It’s like preschool on TV!”) is that it’s now called Nick, Jr.
Can commercials be far behind?
My husband and I (well, my husband, actually) stumbled upon Noggin while flipping through the many upper (as in, above 100) channels we have in our cable system. He happened to land on Noggin when it was airing a show no longer on the air that was a condensed version of Sesame Street (how it crossed over from PBS to Noggin, owned by Nickelodeon, we don’t know, but it caught our then-toddler’s attention). Then we realized that the channel was on all day, from 6 am to 6pm; that all the shows were slightly less than 30 minutes long; and that in between programs, rather than commercials, there were little interludes of music, or of Noggin-created characters Moose and Zee doing little preschool-esque lessons.
And so began our love affair with Little Bear, Little Bill, Backyardigans, Miffy and Maisy; our love-hate relationship with Franklin and Lazy Town, Dora and Diego, and The Wonder Pets; and our WTF is this? reaction to Wow, Wow, Wubbzy and Yo, Gabba Gabba.
I’m going to make an admission here, and I should also start setting aside a little money every month for my sons’ therapy later in life because of it: My kids, almost 7 and almost 5, still watch Noggin. (I mean, Nick, Jr.) Sure, it’s less of a pull than it used to be, but let’s face it: it’s preschool on TV! And my older guy is in sophisticated second grade!
Yet here’s what happens when I venture aloud to Daniel, the big guy, “you know, Daniel, maybe you’re too old for Little Bear.”
He gets upset with me.
And why not? Little Bear — as my dad said when he was over our house when it was on, and everyone ended up leaving the den but him, and when I came back I found him still watching and told him he could have changed the channel: “It’s a nice show.”
It IS nice. Oh, my husband and I make jokes about how one day the Bear family is going to realize their true nature and devour Hen and Duck, and there is of course endless mirth to be made out of Uncle Rusty (he emerges every now and then to help build a cabin or something, but mostly he seems to live in the woods, where there’s possibly a gay bar for bears, and Granny, Emily’s grandmother, who is drawn — on purpose? uncanny coincidence? — to look exactly like Barbara Bush.
But it’s sweet, and calming, and — best of all — it’s good for kids without being all in-your-face educational, which always comes off smarmy (think Dora. Shudder). It just is what it is, 25 minutes spent in a little forest glade with animals that talk and are good friends with each other and a little girl who spends summers in the woods with her grandmother.
Like Seinfeld, there’s no annoying growth or learning. Instead, there are cupcakes, and fish stew, and lemonade. And flights of fancy where the gang pretend-travels to the North Pole. And a giant moose, and a strange, wise frog, and Father Bear, in his dapper suit while at home, and in his Gorton’s Fisherman yellow raincoat when out on his boat, battling the wind, catching fish, and visiting foreign ports (oh, and rescuing a whale! That Father Bear!).
Thing is, I’ve never been in a giant hurry to push my boys to the “next step” in children’s entertainment. Because the “next step” inevitably involves action figures, commercials for cereal, candy and toys, and, well, the next step after that. I know parents who automatically shepherd their younger and younger kids to movies that aren’t made for them (but are instead made for the same cohort all commercial movies are made for these days: teenage boys, and young men).
My question is, once your kid’s watched Kung Fu Panda (which I did take the boys to; they didn’t like it. “Why do they keep fighting?” asked James), he’s not coming home and watching Little Bear. He wants the next thing, and that’s…. what? An Adam Sandler movie?
My kids (and I swear, it’s not because I restrict their access; I may be mean, but I don’t have a problem with TV, confident as I am that they do plenty else aside from watching it, and hey, I turned out okay!) have no idea who Ben 10 is, or Avatar (and frankly neither do I). If they’re happy with our friend the Bear, or with Handy Manny, or WorldWorld, or Curious George, or even the strange and wonderful residents of the Island of Sodor, who am I to tell them that most of their peers are watching the Star Wars movies, or Transformers?
And like I said, their interest in Noggin (oops, Nick, Jr.) is definitely waning. I’m not upset to see the back of Wubbzy (which gives me the same kind of get-me-out-of-here desperate feeling as when I’m trapped in phone-tree hell, or have a computer virus) or D.J. Lance of Yo Gabba Gabba. But I am sorta sorry to see Little Bear fade from our house.
I know my boys won’t remain in this bubble of TV innocence much longer, but I’m grateful to that bear family in the woods (and even supremely annoying Moose and Zee) for fending it off a bit longer.
Now, who’s up for some lemonade and cupcakes?
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yes yes and YES!! My 3 boys at 4, 6 and 8 are still watching the canadian equivalent of Noggins! They get scared at “typical” shows and have no idea about star wars! I thought mine were the only ones!
You’ve made me nostalgic for the days of Little Bill, Caillou and Bear in the Big Blue House (I still love the song they sing at the end). My youngest is now 11 and keeps insisting he wants to see a horror movie (he seems to not care which). I used to get so much work done while Caillou and Little Bill were on. I would be happily typing away on my computer and hear their sweet tv voices from the next room. Like your dad said, they were just nice shows. Sigh. They grow up though. My oldest (17) is addicted to any of those “real housewives of X location” shows.
I just had this conversation with my husband! Our kindergartner (she’ll be in 6 in December) is still very much in Caillou-land. (I know a lot of people think he’s whiny, but we like him. He’s gentle and relatable.) She’s only ever watched the PBS preschool shows and still loves them. My husband and I thought we should steer her to some “older” shows, but then we thought, why steer her to *any* shows? She doesn’t watch much TV as it is, so I didn’t want to offer even more options. But your post made me realize that there’s more going on here that I should embrace and appreciate. Let’s keep that innocence as long as we can!
BTW, love the Seinfeld analogy.
Thanks, Chris. You know, about two years ago, when my older boy was five, my older sister said, “you know, he should really stop watching Noggin.” But when I said, “why? So he can do what?”, she conceded that there’s nothing really wrong with watching Noggin, but it does seem to make some parents uncomfortable (those same parents who rush their kids to the latest Disney/Pixar/Superhero movie, only to then rush to buy the backpacks and the t-shirts and the sneakers to go with it.) No, thanks!
I have to disagree on one thing: My third-grade son has seen WAY worse than Kung-Fu Panda, and regularly watches movies with his father that cause me to refuse to talk to my husband for several days (aside from saying “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” I mean)…and yet, among his VERY favorite shows? Wubbzy. Backyardigans. Even Blue’s Clues.
Guess he’s just eclectic.
There’s a whole world of fun, engaging shows on PBS for slightly older preschoolers/K-1: Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train, Super Why, then Arthur, Word Girl, etc. And, there are no commercials. I love some of the Noggin shows, but the quality on PBS is significantly higher.
Definitely, Hope, and I was including shows like that in my assessment (though Arthur frequently has mean-kid scenarios that I don’t like). All of the PBS shows are far and away more innocent and less marketing-driven than anything that supposedly appeals to the “next” age level.
Love noggin too – and some disney. I actually prefer these channels over PBS, not because of the programming, but because PBS really DOES have commercials for products “Arthur, brought to you by Juicy Juice!” “Chuck E. Cheese proudly supports PBS kids’ television, where a kid can be a kid.” and other such statements along with footage of the products. At least disney and noggin, (I believe), only promote their own shows and not products…
By the way, my older boy was pretty innocent- TV wise – until he was 7 or 8. He would happily watch shows that were appropriate for his younger brother until about then. Then he finally discovered the remote, and other channels – especially the ESPN channels – nothing has been the same since. He loves sports and you’d think it would be OK to let them watch – but the commercials are the least of the problem – the product commercials are certainly troubling (beer, weight loss products, etc) but the very hardest to deal with are the horribly violent promos for prime time TV.
In our house, the boys go backward all the time. The same big kid (10 and almost 12) who’ve got a few PG-13 movies under their belts will happily sit and watch the gentler shows on Nick Jr. And the little boys love Spongebob *and Little Bear and Calliou (I only wish they didn’t like Calliou…)
Their obsession at the moment, however, is Tom and Jerry. Guess it must be classically funny…
I do see your point, though. It’s a slippery slope, that programming, and the snarkier and rougher the shows get, the harder it can seem to imagine a day when quiet, plot-driven (rather than learning-driven) shows reigned.
Yes, yes, yes…to the post and everyone’s comments also. We had cable and the kids loved Blue’s Clues and the Backyardigan’s even Dora. I was always a little freaked out by the way Dora asks a question and then stares intently at the screen. Many times I screamed out the answer just to make her look away!
I have a husband that’s a huge movie buff. Sci-Fi and horror fan to be precise, so unfortunately my kids also love cheesy Godzilla movies, Star Wars even (I shudder) even some zombie flicks.
The recently made a little skit with their blocks, dinosaurs and stuffed animals. “Godzilla vs Zombies” Godzilla and zombies are fighting and brown bear swoops in and saves the day. There may be hope for them yet.
i was googling “little bear” and found this blog… googling little bear because my almost-3yo daughter is obsessed with the show. it’s her absolute fav, and the favorite of mine and my husband’s. what a peaceful, sweet show with a really nice, earthy undertone. usually when i ask other parents if they have seen little bear, they haven’t. most are suffering through dora, elmo, and sponge bob, but i’m sooo glad we’re not! (i so cannot handle elmo’s voice.) anyway, three cheers for little bear!
Jen,
absolutely — three cheers for Little Bear! I swear, sometimes I have days where I wish I could come home to some nice cupcakes and lemonade prepared by Mother Bear. We all need a Mother Bear sometimes, right?
keep reading,
Denise
Sweet post! My niece is 2 and she loves yo gabba gabba!
[...] Before this year, they progressed from (yes, I know) Baby Einstein videos and Sesame Street, to years of total devotion to Noggin, to a brief detour into Playhouse Disney (think Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, and Tigger [...]