Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Telly addicts

Cocomelon or In the Night Garden?

82 replies

NanaGary · 17/03/2025 20:25

I'm writing a book for parents about babies' and toddlers' TV-watching which is NOT anti-TV. I would love to hear from parents or grandparents about babies and/or toddlers who have watched Cocomelon and/or In the Night Garden and what their reactions were. I'd also like to hear YOUR opinions about which of these two series you think is better.

OP posts:
jimmyateworld · 17/03/2025 20:47

Well cocomelon does my fucking nut in, and the night garden is just mental. I hate them both.

kiterunning · 28/03/2025 20:25

In the Night Garden for the music alone

Idunno8 · 28/03/2025 20:28

They are both diabolical and I don’t let my two children watch either of them. Total nonsense.
Peppa Pig is perfectly fine, as is Peter Rabbit and Octonauts.

jimmyateworld · 28/03/2025 20:28

Peppa pig fat shaming her dad is fine 😆

afuckinggoat · 28/03/2025 20:30

Neither.

Tiktak is the best TV show for young toddlers. That's not my opinion. It is fact.

Imisscoffee2021 · 28/03/2025 20:49

Stylistically In the Night Garden makes NO sense. But the music (except for those discordant birds) is lovely, and the beginning with the child put to bed and the adults hand swirling a circle on their little palm is gentle and soothing. The creator is good at calm gentle tv, responsible for teletubbies and Moon and Me too, the latter of which is lovely.

Only saw a tiny amount of Cocomelon as knew about it in advance and its too bright, too saturated, too fast. So much of childrens TV is too fast paced now and doesn't promote an attention span in an age group already renowned for a short attention span. I like In the Night Garden more because you end up watching maca paca slowly emerge from his cave, slowly get out his scooter, slowly scoot away down a path, in real time, promoting good attention spans and learming cause and effect.

tonyhawks23 · 28/03/2025 20:53

cocomelon is junky like peppa pig/paw patrol etc but night garden as cebeebies plays it is pure genius for routine and perfect wind down for bed. Cebeebies is positive for children and very different to other kids tv.

ChocolateCroissantCafe · 28/03/2025 20:56

I was about to say similar about cause and effect. ITNG can be a bit odd in places, but its story structure is fairly good, where a situation develops, a pattern repeats and then something silly or unexpected happens. Toddlers can pick up on what should have happened, how the characters might feel and so on.

Scottishskifun · 28/03/2025 20:59

I actually found my toddler learnt something from cocomelon....he started trying to twisle pasta and noodles on a fork after watching the meatball and spaghetti episode. It also helped with potty training as their was a potty episode. Don't get me wrong it's annoying as hell but at least the annoying comes with lessons!

OneWaryCat · 28/03/2025 21:00

I read that Cocomelon changes the picture every few seconds as it knows that is the optimal time to keep kids watching, so it's designed to be addictive. (The same way Facebook is designed to constantly reload the feed so you can be endlessly 'scrolling).

I personally think it's dangerous and exploiting children's viewing time for ad money.

TickingAlongNicely · 28/03/2025 21:05

Probably not the best advert for it... but DH has vowed that when he leaves the army, he's going to Amsterdam for some Brownies, then watching ITNG to see if it makes sense

CatchHimDerry · 28/03/2025 21:08

We don’t watch either of these. My toddler likes random things like Shaun the Sheep. Bluey is good

mynameiscalypso · 28/03/2025 21:08

While ITNG clearly makes absolutely no sense at all, I think it’s quite clever in its way.

LeedsZebra90 · 28/03/2025 21:14

Not a fan of either, i know cocomelon is awful, too bright/fast/intense but my kids actually learnt a lot from it (the names of the planets being one off the top of my head), i think a lot of parents will prefer in the night garden as it's calmer and BBC but none of mine got anything out of it. The ceebeebies bedtime story, topsy and tim, peter rabbit, paddington are my favourites as a 36 year old adult woman! My kids definitely preferred cocomelon as they like to get involved and loved singing along.

kiterunning · 28/03/2025 21:28

Idunno8 · 28/03/2025 20:28

They are both diabolical and I don’t let my two children watch either of them. Total nonsense.
Peppa Pig is perfectly fine, as is Peter Rabbit and Octonauts.

Hahaha

PlanetOtter · 28/03/2025 21:34

Cocomelon is diabolical. It really irritates me that it’s on IPlayer - why on earth is the BBC paying for such crap when UK children’s TV is amazing?

TikTak, as PP said, is great. And we like Musical Storyland.

mrsmacmc · 28/03/2025 21:47

ITNG

Lifeislove · 28/03/2025 21:57

Gran Gran here.
Cocomelon also does my head in. I cannot stand it but the 5YO boy used to love it. I remember trying him with ITNG and he wasn't that interested in it (but I love it just for the gentle sound of the narrator ( Derek Jacobi?) and I love the songs).
2YO grandson isn't that interested in any telly but when I babysit I do put on ITNG for the last half hour before I take him to bed and read a story. He loves the songs /music and they calm him down instantly.
Their mother (my daughter) used to adore Teletubbies (she's 31 now) and she has shown them it but neither were interested.
Twirly Woos was a firm favourite of the eldest when he was a toddler and I put it on for the 2YO and he loves it too.

jimmyateworld · 29/03/2025 06:32

TickingAlongNicely · 28/03/2025 21:05

Probably not the best advert for it... but DH has vowed that when he leaves the army, he's going to Amsterdam for some Brownies, then watching ITNG to see if it makes sense

🤣🤣🤣

sorrynotathome · 29/03/2025 06:35

I'm a grandparent of 3. I really love ITNG (although the tune can get into my head) and my favourite bit is the Pontypines. Never seen Cocomelon and never wanted to. It's a small window though - the GC watched it when they were maybe 12-24 months & then moved on.

Eachpeachpearprune · 29/03/2025 06:46

afuckinggoat · 28/03/2025 20:30

Neither.

Tiktak is the best TV show for young toddlers. That's not my opinion. It is fact.

Mine love the dancing toilet!

wearyourpinkglove · 29/03/2025 06:48

The Cocomelon characters all like they're taking Prozac/being held secretly at gunpoint to sing these horrible dreary songs. I can't bear it and won't let my kids watch it despite them loving it.

In The Night Garden is totally bizarre but I don't mind it, I think the calming pan pipes and forest background make it more tolerable. The narrator has a calming voice too. Both my kids love In the Night Garden too, and we watch it regularly.

Annoyingly I now have Iggle Piggle's song as my ear worm again after thinking about it 😂

Babyenroute · 29/03/2025 06:48

I think in the night garden is nice, good music, fine length and cute characters. Cocomelon is awful and looks AI generated. Won’t have it on as it’s very overstimulating

stayathomer · 29/03/2025 06:48

Loved in the night garden, mindless and lovely, kids clapped along when macca pacca came on!!

Pinkl · 29/03/2025 06:53

In the night garden and CBeebies bedtime story were part of my kids end of day routine. It held their attention and I used it as a shift from playtime to winding down and they’d know bath time would be coming soon.

Swipe left for the next trending thread