to think that BBC children's programmes are just...nicer?

[SenseofEntitlement]

I might just be biased through only having had freeview till recently, but (apart from Thomas) don't you find the commercial channels a bit overwhelming? The kids on them seem more brash as well, and more badly behaved.

Or am I missing an amazing, calm, educational channel? We have tivo so we can skip adverts now.

Jux - couldn't agree more. Any Tracy Beaker games at school have been banned (girls were doing role playing and it all ended in six of them fighting and in tears!). Think your DH is right - my dd became extremely sarcastic and used phrases I have only ever heard on TB - really nasty stuff. Since banning it she is so much better and calmer .... stick to Cbeebies for as long as poss.

DD is only 18 months old so we don't watch much. Used to be babytv but now we watch CBeebies. We both love Charley Bear. For those of you old enough to remember Mr Ben!! It's almost the same thing but with a cute bear.

And I love Octonauts.

We watch cbeebies mostly, but have Dora dvds as dd loves Dora. I think she's a good female role model too (early Dora!). Also, we watch the toy story dvds a lot. Got rid of extra cable channels for mostly money reasons, but also because eldest dd was constantly watching the disney teen stuff which makes me want to throw myself off the forth rd bridge. We have a much more harmonious household now :)

Grandpa in my Pocket can fuck off.

Disney Jr has no adverts - isn't that an oxymoron?? The Disney brand is huge, the entire thing is one big advert!

Hate Charley Bear, Big Cook Little Cook, Mr Maker, Justin's House (ARGGH), the thing with the computer characters which come out of the screen, waybuloo...

Annabel's Kitchen is creepy and BLEUGH beyond belief. I saw an episode where one child refused to eat the food they'd just made so she said "Oh well, I never fail, but I've failed. Order your takeaway." and then put the food into a tin container and had one of her puppets deliver it up cue child declaring it the best takeaway he'd ever had and did she have the menu? Of course then big "reveal" with child doing the most ridiculous fake shocked face ever.

I hate the aggressive marketing on the other channels... Cbeebies is lovely and my daughter loves it! I tend to play select programmes on catch up rather than having it playing live as she is only 1 and is not interested in most of the programmes at the moment. She loves Something Special, Baby Jake, Waybuloo, Tinga Tinga Tales, Abney and Teal and In The Night Garden of course...

I make one exception though... Cartoonito Karaoke at 15:45 is great, and as a childminder I use it as an opportunity to get the children dancing for 20 minutes. Very educational in a brash loud crazy dancing kind of way with cheeky little comedy sketches... the little boy called Ben is hilarious!

I dread to think what parents with older children suffer with the constant bombardment of adverts making a load of trash look like an essential!

Baby tv is great (and no ads for all the anti ads brigade), a bit trippy watched late at night. My DS is nearly 5 and still sneakily puts it on!! Cbeebies and cbbc are faves as is Disney junior.
I find Cbeebies a bit too OTT PC but that probably suits the no ads folk who were obviously brought up on BBC or nothing. I'm unashamedly an ITV child and shock! horror!! watch you've been framed with my DS incl ads.

Baby TV seems pointless to me. A bit like the baby einstein DVDs. Babies will watch anything, put something interesting on!

Best programme on CBBC ?

Without a doubt Big Babies

I think it's on at 1:45pm Mon-Fri.

When my kids are older they will graduate to different tv I am sure. I know we don't live in ad free bubble but at 4 and 2 years old should they be bombarded? I personally don't think so. Although you sell it very well MrsHeffley - I really hope that when my two are older and watching TV with ads they will be as sensible as yours (although probably not - due to being kept in the bubble for too long!). I'l be honest and say I don't have a clue what I am doing! I wouldn't dream of letting them watch CBBC - far too old for my babies! Am I really narrow minded?

I love little human planet on CBeebies, though.

CumberdickBendybatch & BertieBotts - I totally agree, ALL of those shows are not for me or mine. Abney and teal! Delightfully mad - reminds me of bagpuss. I have one einstein DVD that wasn't watched until age 2 by my oldest and every now and then she will watch it now at 4.5. She knows all the classical music from it and the art. I think it actually has been educational! and I am amazed as I say that.

little human planet IS lovely

Mine love Disney junior, cbeebies and milkshake, I choose what to put on depends time of day!! Whether I want calming viewing or crazy kids. My four yr old adores abney and teal.....she loves teals dress over trousers look?!? And acts out the screen play while watching it!! The 18 monthold copies her, her best mickey mouse, mainly goofy, who knows why? Went to Disney store and out of curiosity asked which character cuddly she wanted to hold....sure enough goofy....he came home with us! Oops! He is lovingly cuddled at nap and bed time by my wild toddler and she now goes to sleep by herself, I was cuddling her in for 10 mins at bedtime! Go goofy. My eldest dd, never needed cuddling to sleep, never watched Disney junior ....she watches now....loves all the Disney princesses and we all dress up and act out a story at least once a day! I think tv whether it be Disney or the beeb can fuel imaginations and entertain, I find my girls tire of the Disney stuff quicker though...as if a bit of the loud and brightness of it is enough then they play away from tv and we switch it off, cbeebies is always bedtime telly though, much calmer, mainly night garden, older dd and I read together while toddler watches that.....with goofy.

Defo think cbeebies is educational & fun... My little ones love Mr Tumble and Mr Bloom!! Although some people think tv is bad for little ones, I think it has definitely influenced my little ones learning & imagination. However feel there is a mixed feeling about the presenter with a disability arm, personally it doesn't bother me & I will educate my children to appreciate all kinds of people in the world, sometimes people are too quick to judge!!x

Also my little ones love Love Love Fireman Sam!!!! And believe me the learnings that he has had from this cartoon is unbelievable, when he see's smoke coming from the kettle or steriliser he shouts"smoke call fire Sam", he knows to wear a seatbelt in the car, Knows to stop at the end of the road, knows wat a skate board is even if we pretend it's the bogey board on the pram... Yeah there is Norman Price who is naughty bt we always say " ohhh Norman that's bad ur naughty!" it's amazing wat kids can pick up from tv, even if it does give us the extra 30/20mins to do the housework n ave a cuppa!lol!xx

BabyTV and Disney Jnr in this house, Cartoonito used to show Hello Kitty claymation in middle of the

Grrr... of the night, bizarre, surreal and genius stuff.

cbeebies mainly here in the zoo house(4,6 and 8) and milkshake.cbbc we watch scooby doo and horrible histories
cant stand citv,it seems to be so fast paced it gives me a bloody headache with the lights and the noise(!)
that said we bit choosy as they are bit older-night garden etc ....er no!
current faves-tinga tilla,mike the knight and nina and the neurons.dd3(4) is gutted come outside is no longer on at lunchtime.bring back auntie mabel!!!!!

The only reason I've recently invoked a CBeebies ban is my irrational hatred of that bloody panda woman that I want to crank up my daughters' exposure to German, so it's DVDs only at the moment.

Other than that I think Cbeebies is ace. Never used any of the commercial channels, which means zero pestering for tat from adverts

My 2 love Disney junior but they do love horrid Henry too but tend to watch it on itv player.

I hate so many shows these days...DS was obsessed with one called 'Back in the Barnyard' (we don't have a TV, just Netflix InstantPlay on the laptop) and after a few uneasy episodes I was just 'um...no.'

I feel like a dinosaur, but I am not okay with all the shrieking characters being nasty to everyone!

I rather dislike CBeebies. Like most people here I restricted my kids to it because of the lack of adverts, but we now watch TV mostly via the laptop and find ourselves watching more Milkshake. I find CBeebies/CBBC is actually going backwards in terms of sexual stereotyping (I have a tomboy daughter desperate for wider confirmation that it's ok not to be 'girlie'). There's good and bad on all channels. That's what the remote/mouse is for. I do avoid the Japanese-style cartoons on CITV though as I notice that they definitely encourage play fighting afterwards.

We are a Cbeebies family here. OH and I mostly only watch or listen to the BBC as well. I can't really say why though. The licence fee is very good value for money in our house.

However there are certain programmes on the other channels that I V+ or buy the DVDs. Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, Thomas The Tank Engine for example.

My preschool DCs like Milkshake on C5. Cbeebies progs a bit dull. Hate the ads so we often record it. I think there is lots on the website too.
Peppa and Holly & Ben obvs, but my faves are Mr Men and Bert & Ernie and Little Princess