by Nicole Lane

Created on: February 21, 2008

Television for TODDLERS? It is for everyone, if toddlers is being described as who watches pbs kids then you better consider my 6 year old a toddler! We love pbs around here, he has learned SO much from watching that channel. Until 5pm there is nothing but educational fun shows for children. No violence or suggested materials, no profanity, I don't have to worry about what episode it is or what it's about because I know it will be fine. My son loves this channel and the shows so much! Barney, Arthur, CyberChase, Mia&Miguel, Dragontails, Clifford, Between the Lions, Reading Rainbow, Bernstein Bears, Postcards from Buster, JayJay the Jet Plane, Thomas the Tank Engine, Ruff Ruffman, Sagwa the Chinese Siamese cat, Sesame Street, BooBahs, Jakers...the list of shows, as you see, can go on and on. While I can give much praise about this channel and broadcasting I do have a few complaints.

My son and I both just get into the swing of things when all of a sudden the schedule changes. It seems like you never know anymore what show is coming on and when. The schedule changes,it seems, from week to week. They have taken off many of his favorite shows only to replace them with repeats. I remember recently the programming started in the morning as usual, but then it repeated itself in the afternoon. It was good in a way because my son would want to see the rest of the Clifford he had to miss when the bus came, so he got to after school. But on the days he is home from school, he only gets half a day of programming. Now I'm sure some will say that he shouldn't be watching tv all day anyways so it shouldn't matter. But he does other things while the tv is on, and I truly don't mind him watching these shows all day if he wants to.

Another complaint is that, while I understand pbs is NOT just for kids, they really should have programming on the weekend that is geared for the kids. I mean that is when the school aged children are home to watch it. Now they do have PBS Sprout, but it is a channel that you subscribe to through digital cable. Sure it is a great idea, you have the shows at any given time of the day and ALL of them! They offer just about every show they have ever had on tv, on Sprout, but for a household like mine it is a problem. We don't have digital cable and the cost to have the Sprout Channel is a bit pricey, since you have to pick the package that has that channel. I wish I could pay to get JUST the channels I want, or that PBS would come out with a local children's

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>