What do you look for in kids TV? - £200 voucher to be won

[CeriMumsnet]

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Parenting can often feel like a juggling act so it’s a relief to find a TV channel or show that will keep your children occupied and entertained while you get on with your to-do list, and a bonus when it’s educational and rewarding too. With this in mind, Sky Kids would like to know what it is you look for when it comes to the TV that your kids watch.

• Post your thoughts and stories on kids TV in the thread below to the entered into the prize draw
• One lucky winner will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice.

Here’s what Sky Director of Kids Content Lucy Murphy has to say:

‘We’re so excited to announce the launch of our brand-new linear channel. Millions of our customers already love watching our huge range of Original shows on-demand but families with younger kids have told us that watching on linear channels is an important part of their day; so, we’ve listened and expanded our Sky Kids offering at no extra cost.’

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw.

MNHQ
Insight T&Cs apply

Educational. Realistic storylines. Diverse cast and no americanisms.

I prefer things that are based in some kind of reality rather than contrived situations that preach without teaching. For example I like Octonauts because it’s educational, if also fanciful, but I had to ban Rainbow Rangers because although it has an environmental conservation theme the storylines are very repetitive, teach nothing about the real natural world, and the voices are excruciating. Has to be something relatively calm and preferably without screechy squeaky voices or even cartoonish violence which my toddler just copies. The menu needs not to have age-inappropriate things pop up. No adverts!

• slower pace
• softer colours
• more natural looking things
• clearer, slower language
• no gender stereotypes
• no ads, obviously

it's a very sad state of affairs, because we can't find much on TV for our 3 year that we would be happy for her to watch. Except for Bluey, maybe....

No adverts
Female protagonists who are brave, strong etc lots of female characters
Simple stories so I don't get asked what's going on every couple of seconds!
Inclusion and diversity
Something my children actually like!

No adverts, clear speech, variety of cartoons and real action programmes.

No ads and age appropriate content. I think proper language use is important. I've switched off a children's programme before when it used silly baby speak and mispronounced words.

My daughter doesn't watch a lot of tv - she prefers other activities - so I don't mind too much, as long as she enjoys it and finds it entertaining.

I guess it's more what I wouldn't want to see -age inappropriate stuff, anything that reinforced gender stereotypes too strongly (I don't mind girly colours etc, but do have an issue with anything suggesting girls are "less" in some way, or that boys shouldn't show emotions)

Something parents don't mind watching when kids come through at 6am. Channel 5 had a great programme but that was 20 years ago. :-)

Something that's entertaining, educational and not repeated ad infinitum.

always something that is going to nurture and with the older ones get them to think and problem solve, question what is being shown and look at it at many different angles and points of perspective

Jokes that Adults who are watching along with our little ones understand. good core stories with important lessons also have value to me and my partner.

Educational value plus lifestyle learnign as well as entertainment

Not forcing 'diversity' down their throats. Just make it look natural, it should be perfectly normal for a gay/black man to be part of our society, there's no need to make a song and dance over it, that would be othering.

When they were younger, I wanted my kids to watch something educational & fun. I think showing kindness and inclusiveness is really important.

• entertaining (for adults too)
• more calm, soft, gentle telly for when they're small
• exciting, string, adventurous female leads
• documentaries
• good core values and messages (without being overly preachy)
• educational (but not in a forced boring way). Learning about animals, other countries, nature etc.
• good language (for language development). And well spoken English.
• strong diversity (that's not othering) as PP explained
• no ads or age appropriate ads.
• short episodes (that standalone)
• nothing frenetic (like awful cocomelon which might as well be infant heroin)
• good animation
• kindness
• not stuffed with crap messages (like Peppa Pig).
• good fathers
• mothers that work
• fun
• I don't mind music as long as it's good
• quality stuff that is well made
• things that are thought-provoking

My main thing is several shows in a row aimed at a similar age group. Most importantly, traditional tv over youtube so that I’m not being pestered to skip the add every 3 minutes.

No adverts
No bad language

Depends on the age of the kids for other content though - I'd be looking for very different things for a 2 year old compared to an 11 year old.

Over the past few years I have learnt that having adverts is a huge no no, they don’t understand advertisements. All they know if that the show they were watching has suddenly stopped, so they get angry by that. I do also appreciate something that mimics real life, e.g getting frustrated when you can’t do something, but with practice and repetition it all works out in the end. 🥰.

I want educational but not indoctrination. I don't want woke (recent Disney) but I do want an understanding that people can be different and that is ok.

I want something that engages them and sometimes just an exciting series, perhaps something we can all watch. It's good to have ideas to do or make

I mainly look for anything age suitable and ideally educational. If it involves colours, numbers or shapes then great but also happy if it’s more teaching manners, sharing or being kind too.

Oh and also ideally lots of episodes. It gets boring if there are only a few and they decide it’s their new favourite

no adverts and positive role models

some educational topic, something that makes them ask a question colourfull too

Informative, educational things, especially animal programmes is what I would look for

Positive interactions/story lines that teach children how to manage day to day situations such as sharing/kindness. A realistic portrayal of society- ethnicity, gender, family situations, disability etc it means so much when my son sees characters he's can relate to. New opportunities for learning- colours, numbers, letters, words.