TV for toddler - is ANYTHING suitable? I've veto'd Postman Pat, Peppa, Rosie ...

[FrozenNorthPole]

... it's just all so incredibly pink & predictable. Have made a list of things that have been ruled out.

Postman Pat - men go out to work, women stay at home. Apart from traditional female roles / unskilled clerical (Mrs Goggins), and the needlessly butch female doctor.

Peppa - just ugh. So pink, so inane, have avoided most TV episodes but people keep buying us books. All females in dresses. Shit plotlines. Men Daddy Pigs go out to work. Mummy Pigs don't.

Rosie - a female heroine at last. But wait ... everything is covered in flowers and is pink. Female 'heroine' (and simpering smaller female) endlessly conciliatory and bow to others' whims. Petulant & disruptive boy plays football on his own.

In the night garden - would be okay apart from upsydaisy who is in no way okay. Oh, and the Pontipines / Wottingers.

Something Special - hmm, struggle with this one. Does Aunt Polly count as female character? Is Lord Tumble part of the higher echelons of the patriarchy?

Me too - shit.

Balamory - women in traditional female roles, men in traditional male roles.

Timmy time - ooh. Perhaps this one okay?

I may have overthought this. Have always had these feelings about the tv programmes but having recently acquired some proper patriarchy goggles I'm putting my foot down and trying to make more positive choices on DD1's (2.5 years) behalf.

Any views?

Octonauts is good BUT the 3 main characters are barnacles, Kwazii and peso and they're all male, which is mildly irritating. I agree postman pat is quite stereotypical but it is well written so I tend to forgive it. Its got single parents too. Yo gabba gabba isn't very stereotyped I think.

My boys love octonauts thats a great program imo. Why is having the main 3 characters male irritating though? Boys watch tv too and are as entitled to watch programmes they enjoy as girls. Was going to type relate but can you really relate to octonauts lol!

it's irritating because there isn't another program which has girls having cool submarine adventures. Anyway, why make all 3 boys? There would still be cool male role model characters if 1 or even 2 were girls!

Can't stand peppa pig - all that grunting sounds horribly like dh's snoring. The edam's house equivalent of fingernails down a blackboard.

My boys love playing octonauts and taking it in turns to be the characters. They dont do that with ANY other tv programme.

Boys watch TV too so all the main characters have to be male? They couldn't cope with just one being female?

The Octonauts books are beautifully illustrated though if anyone is thinking of buying one!

Dora the explorer?

Dora is great, and is on Milkshake rather than CBeebies - it's CBeebies where the problem really lies at the moment (which makes me very cross given they're the publicly funded one....)

Octonauts pisses me off no end. Yes, it is excellent in many respects, BUT why do the two (minor) female characters always have to stay at home, while the male characters have all the adventures/save the day?

I feel a name change coming on...

PS OP you are not overthinking it! Cbeebies (the only thing we watch) is horrifically gender sterotyped. Almost every female character is either pink or simpering or both.

Come now captain barnacles!

Chin Up! and with me...

Explore! Rescue! Protect!!!!!!

(But you are right about the females staying behind in the octopod all the bloody time)

I put my telly in the cupboard last night.

(We'll prob watch some DVDs/iplayer another day, but I've got Radio 4 on at the minute, )

Maisy the Mouse of course

Charlie and Lola? - Lotta and Lola together are annoying but other than that it's pretty inoffensive isn't it?
RastaMouse
Waybuloo - 2 boys, 2 girls (even if Deeli is obsessed with pink and dancing)

Tinga Tinga is racist, it's really sad because it would be an awesome programme otherwise but you can't just cherry pick "black" accents from acros the world and pass them all off as African

Get a Maisy DVD, Maisy is an independent woman who organises her life, works and helps her friends. Both my DS and DD have loved her from an early age and will still watch from time to time aged 5 and 7, they liked the books too.

I haven't been much help on this thread! I don't really veto any telly for the kids as that would involve the telly going off, and that aint going to happen

What I can tell you is that DDs favourites are Peppa, Ben and Holly, and Dora, and I think all of them are just fine. Nanny Plum in ben and holly is fantastic

WKWTTG have we got the same children? Mine at 6 and 8 still watch Maisy on special occasions for comfort watching.
She is an independent, liberated woman mouse.

The Wonderpets! Try them. Fantastic.

That's exactly it Franca, comfort watching. MIL has an old Maisy video and the DCs dig it out and watch it before bed every time we stay there. Theme tune does my head in though!

Oh the Wonderpets are fab (I have to thank MN for discovering them)!

For me Maisy has a pavlovian effect, the moment I hear its name I am transported to the time my first child was a toddler fascinated by its stories. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Dora is the most popular. I work with children and have had groups of children argue about who plays 'Dora' when we roleplay. Boys want to do it as much as girls. Also we have dora toys and the boys play with them. They also like reading the stories and I dont think anyone has ever mentioned about her being a girl.

When are the Wonderpets on?

No idea Mercury, as we are not in the UK anymre. It used to be on Nick jr if I remember well.

so much better to overthink than to underthink IMHO

Am also struggling to introduce dd (11 months) to a world where she doesn't get crapped on from a great height every day.

Was watching In The Night Garden earlier with a growing feeling of unease about the sodding Pontypines though. That might be the definition of overthinking but I will refer you to my initial statement. Why does mummy Pontypine always come second? Don't get me started on Upsy Daisy...

Can someone actually tell me what In the Night Garden is about? I don't understand it at all (possibly because I have never sat down and watched a whole episode!). It just seems like random shapes appearing on the screen dancing around with no actual relation to anything else going on. Waybuloo is another one that is a bit beyond me.

[the question was rhetorical btw - by the sounds of it neither me or DS are missing much]