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Friday, August 02, 2013

Disney Junior! We love

Now I have always been a wary mom when it comes to Television. It was almost a complete No till the child was 2.5. From then on, I stated scourging for good programs to show her. DVDS let me be in control of the content but I think they lacked the anticipation and excitement of looking forward to what was going to be aired.

While we were in India, we had these channels Disney, Nickelodeon and Hungama. I am totally disappointed in the schedules they have.
Disney has a few hours of toddler content interspersed between hours and hours of Doreamon. Doremon is the reason why I wanted to burn the TV and never really show her one again. I absolutely dislike the show. Its ok if they would have showed it for like 30 minutes a day but its like a soap opera.

Same Doreamon came on Hungama channel. So that channel was always out of bounds for us.
Disney gave us 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse' that became our show to watch. It is only 15 minutes long and the duration suited us just fine. She would sing along most songs and was always on her feet jumping through the show. No couch potato there.

But when we came to Auckland, I saw the Disney Junior channel. I love each show that comes on this channel. There is 'Doc McStuffins' and 'Sophia the First' that stand out.

 The series 'Doc Mc Stuffins' is about a six-year-old girl who can "fix" toys, with a little help from her stuffed animal friends. This elevated pretend play in our house to levels I am proud of. Now the toddler knows how to use her medical kit really well. 

'Sophia the first' brings forth the imagination and fantasy. The toddler now wants to be a princess ( who can also do a checkup) just like Sophia. Sophia isn't a bad example to set. She became a princess overnight and the toddler believes that any morning she is going to turn a princess too. She is waiting!

Both these programs run to 20 minutes. So the toddler sees Sophia everyday once and Doc McStuffins in the weekends once. I think 20 minutes a day is not bad at all and very much required. She waits for 5.30 PM the entire afternoon. She has also learnt how to read time from the microwave timer just to see whether it is 5.30 PM yet. 

There is also a Nick Jr channel which I havent yet seen through. I like these 'junior' channels . For one, the content needn't be censored. The biggest plus is that there are NO advertisements! That is one thing the Indian counterpart can do without too..

I hope UTV Disney India gets rid of ads on the preschool section at-least

4 comments:

  1. Oh I loved the same thing about the cartoon channels in NZ. The same channels then why such a big difference??? The serials here in India suck big time. All of the ones you mentioned plus Chota bheem and more like that. They set all the wrong examples for our kids :( The cartoons for kids outside are much much better, they actually are fun and do teach a good thing or two. And there is no violence or bad language! In my opinion, up to 30 mins a day after they turn 2.5 is fine. Enjoy!

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  2. Television in India has a long way to go I agree, especially when it comes to kids! There was a kids channel called Cbeebies, from BBC, which had phenomenal content and no commercials, but that has now gone off air. The remaining channels, I'm afraid, air a lot of inappropriate junk in the name of entertainment!

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  3. I didn't know they played Doremon the whole day..really?? this sounds like those news channels where they keep showing the same news for the whole day... miss those 20 minute news in hindi and english ...

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  4. hahaha, i caught Sophia the princess first time this weekend on Disney Junior... wasn't watching for my LO though it is me who likes Disney...lol So i was tempted to check out what was on and what from it was appropriate for LO in time to come. So he was around but i figured out he was not into princess, yet. And there was another show... Pirate...that also i think still time before he gets into it. So for time being i have some jungle book, nursery rhymes and zoo DVDs for him.

    And yes, no tv adverts...the best thing !

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