WIBU to not allow popular kids characters/music in the house?

[Elilanna]

No kids yet, but I'm hoping to have them in the near-ish future, work in the early childhood sector and have a young niece and nephew so I'm quite aware of what's popular with the little ones these days, but I'm personally not a fan and would rather not expose my own children to any of that media, at least not when they're very small - but I've heard a lot of criticism of this approach, that "only crunchy hippie mums do that!" and "it's part of our culture, you're depriving them of an important part of childhood!" Specifically I'd be avoiding Disney, Cocomelon, and the Wiggles, and even things I don't mind wouldn't be on baby's clothes & other belongings as I don't believe in turning your child into free advertising for a popular brand. I'm otherwise not very "hippie" or "crunchy", this is just the one thing where I'd like to limit their exposure.

So... tell me I'm not the only one who wants to do this?

Bluey is actually a parenting training show. So depriving yourself of Bluey would be depriving yourself of the closest thing I've ever found to a handbook!

And I don’t buy them toys affiliated with tv shows. It’s a perfectly valid choice

The American comments have made me realise my children never hear people who sound like them on TV - we're in NI, and identify as Irish. Maybe I should ban that terrible British cbeebies before they start speaking in RP.

Example of how it doesn’t make a difference in the long run:

My eldest (now 7) was never allowed a screen/device as a baby/toddler, other than occasional tv. I was rigid about it. Now, she loves Minecraft. Because she went to school and her pals like Minecraft, she played it at her friends house and that was that. She has a Switch that she got for her birthday after much begging and pleading. She is allowed 1.5 hours per day (which she usually breaks into 30 minute chunks) but would play the damn thing all day if she was allowed. However, she is also an avid reader, a great swimmer and doing very well in school. We spend a lot of time in parks or cycling, scooting etc. It’s fine with balance.

My youngest (now 5) was given access to an IPad at age 2 because it was lockdown, and we were working full time from home. I loathed having to do that but it was a way of keeping her in the one place and safe while I worked and kept an eye on her. Now, she has very little interest in screens at all. She’s much more active than my eldest.

This is nothing to do with screens/devices, it is just about their different personalities. Everything in moderation is absolutely fine.

Re: the Wiggles - got an adult brother with intellectual disability who's been fixated on them for most of his life. So it's been nothing but Wiggles for the past 20-odd years with him.

So if you had a child similar to your brother would you on principle not allow them something that brought them enjoyment just because you didn't like it? Of course you wouldn't because that would be pretty unfair of you.

You would instead adapt your life to the child you had which is what everyone with children is telling you they have also done. Your hypothetical child is just that hypothetical. A real child will be a proper person who has opinions of their own which may clash with your idealistic views.

If you go into parenthood with such rigid thinking then you're just making it harder for yourself.

PS Bluey makes me feel wholly inadequate as a parent 😂

There's a British dub of Paw Patrol, kids don't all sound like they're on helium either. Skye is Welsh and Zuma is a Brummie.

Even without letting kids watch TV and sending them to forest school they still know who all the characters are from playing with other children and other children’s toys so you can’t avoid it. Just don’t let them watch adverts and keep screen time to a minimum, that’s all you can do and that’s plenty. Fictional characters are part of our culture, whether that’s books or TV or any way children learn about them.

I was adamant that there would never be any trace of Peppa Pig in our house... We're going to Peppa Pig World in a couple of weeks

The thing is, it's not easy to limit what they see/enjoy at other people's houses, toddler groups etc. And when they find something they're into, it's nice to see them happy and that's all that matters really. If it's not doing any harm and it brings them joy, why not indulge them in their own little interests.

I too was the greatest parent before I actually had children

😂😂🤣

Still, no good for us Rene. I guess I need to ban all that wholesome cbeebies content. Couldn't possibly have them influenced by people from another country speaking the same language in a different accent. What a woeful parent I've been not to see it.

We didn't have Peppa pig because I can't stand it. I'd never watched a Disney film before children,I've seen loads now.

You sound a bit like my SIL who's a museum curator by trade (doesn't do exactly that now).

She'd probably prefer her DS (my nephew) (recently turned 4) to be very arty/into museums and have no 'cartoons' or the usual mainstream media but especially if you put them into childcare/nursery they won't be able to avoid it. He's heard about Paw Patrol from nursery friends and loves it, loves all the Marvel characters and watches them a lot on TV, but they're trying to limit screen time now so it's less and less of that. Lots of the Disney films are great though, the Mala Disney one, Raya and the Last Dragon (I got him the Sisu fire breathing dragon for a birthday or Christmas gift) and with good stories/morals.

So far I've got him Paw Patrol toys/pyjamas, Marvel toys and dress up stuff - I'm damned if I'm going to be dictated what to buy!

I also bought him a singing Baby Shark birthday card and a Baby Shark singing bath toy, SIL was then bemused as to where he'd learned Baby Shark from.

To be honest, now he's 4, I think she very much picks her battles wisely and doesn't mind at all about it. If e.g. a little boy has to wear a hat, scarf and gloves but prefers to wear a Spiderman set rather than a plain set then what's the harm there?

Unless you plan to home school your kids and keep them away from all the evils you won't be able to avoid all this!

Your opening line "no kids yet" 🤣🤣🤣 awww I guess you are also going to feed the little darlings on nothing but organic fruit and veg, nothing containing sugar will ever pass their lips and processed foods what monsters allow this, quick call ss.

All very lovely when you are chatting with your husband after a few wines over a meal about your imaginary children and how perfect and untarnished the little darlings will be but come on 🤣. Kids like cartoon characters, kids films, they love it when they have a t-shirt with it on, you know because they are kids. A couple of months back my husband was showing our children the cartoons we watched as children in the 80s, it's so nostalgic, we've been known to sit on YouTube with each other looking them up just the 2 of us saying "do you remember this?". Why would you want your imaginary children to miss out on this?

I'm sure when your imaginary children become a reality you will laugh at what you have written here.

We have ideas before children of how we'll parent our little angels, best to save plans for when they're actually here though. But yes it's easy to choose what a baby is into, but unless you're planning on homeschooling that'll all change when they turn 5. Having children, you need to manage your expectations. We are bringing little people into the world, we want them to develop their own thoughts and feelings. Will it work both ways as children gets older, disney is banned, can they ban things that are not to their taste too? Your decor, the music played.

Something similar happened to me - my mum was incredibly strict about what we were allowed to watch as kids. I remember being laughed at because I wasn't allowed to watch Neighbours (showing my age here). I struggled to connect with my peers because I didn't have those points of reference - it still comes up now.

That said, because there is so much more to watch, I think it's less of an issue. We don't have Disney plus, for example, but it doesn't seem to have made an impact. My oldest will come home mentioning things other kids have watched, but so many of them like different things, there's no one thing they all watch.

I've managed to avoid the Wiggles and Cocomelon, not deliberately, just one of those things. I've limited how much screentime my kids have (not excessively) and we have muddled through. They are both currently obsessed with Grizzly and the Lemmings, which is annoying, but not too bad in the grand scheme of things.

We don't have much in the way of branded clothing, but that's mainly because I'm cheap and won't spend that kind of money.

My ds was obsessed with Thomas the Tank engine.

He had TTTE clothes and everything because I use to buy them for him and liked to dress him in the outfits when we did anything train related - especially TTTE related.

He survived his childhood.

He's 17 now and still obsessed with trains (plus cars and planes!)

it's very popular to 'hate' Peppa pig, for example

Why is Peppa Pig hated?

I think it depends how long you're planning to do this for. DD is 20 months and the only time she's watched TV is when we've been somewhere out and about and it's been on. So, for instance, she's never seen an episode of Peppa Pig. I can see this being sustainable for some time - possibly until she's grown out of Peppa Pig - she might indeed never watch that.

However, I'm not naive enough to think she'll never watch any Disney!

Peppa Pig is a twat that’s why 😂

Most of my sons clothes are second hand as I don't see the point paying for brand new clothes just for them to end up in landfill. I try to avoid fast fashion where I can.

As a result I don't get much choice over his clothes, we have loads of character stuff, I like the colours he likes the character, who cares?

Here's someone who's just the tiniest bit insecure about their own parenting. There's no need to take that out on being nasty to OP.

Ahh the 'naïve I'm not going to do this with my children' post.

Don't have such high expectations...everything changes once they're here...

I will say my DM 50 years ago was probably like you.

She made me wooden toys as a baby including a dolls house and tried to avoid anything plastic.

But then I did have Baby Alive, Tiny Tears dolls and got bought Sindy dolls by relatives.

I distinctly recalling her trying to say I couldn't watch certain TV programmes like Grange Hill as they were bad. Disney, well, Superman was super popular back then. You really cannot change kids enjoying certain trends unless e.g. you live in a commune/house in the middle of nowhere and all other kids are like this - e.g. Amish.

The best parents have no children at all