Got Quads?

I was blown away when my daughters saw a commercial for The Care Bears cartoon and knew who the Care Bears are. Then Hubby informed me not only do they watch The Care Bears on Saturday mornings while I’m at work, they also watch Strawberry Shortcake. Am I in a time warp? I watched these shows growing up. Now they’re “cool” again? I’m just waiting for the networks to revamp Smurfs. Or how about Snorks? I will admit I had a chance to watch the new and improved Care Bears and found it to be a lot less cheesy than the bears I grew up with.

Don’t even get me started on Hollywood movies. Transformers? Race to Witch Mountain? The Chronicles of Narnia? I’m waiting for a He-Man or She-Ra movie. That can’t be too far down the road, right?

Hubby pointed out that the people coming up with these ideas to bring back old favorites are people our age. Basically our generation is now in charge of pitching ideas and they’re turning to the stand-bys of our childhood. I can’t decide if this all makes me feel old or nostalgic. Do you think this means years from now I’ll be sitting around with my grandchildren watching a “new and improved” Dora the Explorer? Sounds kind of scary!

I can’t believe I wrote a recent post about my top picks for children’s television and forgot to mention Clifford . The big red dog who is as big as a house is such a good show for children. First of all, Clifford started as a book. This past Christmas I pulled out some of my mom’s books from when she was a teacher and found Clifford books dating back to the ’70s. This is one old dog. As a parent I really like the fact that when my daughters want Clifford we don’t always have to turn on PBS or pop in a DVD. Instead, we can all sit on the couch and read a book. Sure, sometimes we watch the show (ok we watch it every morning after breakfast), but the books really instill a love of learning and reading in my daughters. To quote the show’s theme song “I love Clifford the big red dog!”

My daughters can’t get enough of Tinker Bell. They have a Tinker Bell nightlight, light switch cover and night gowns. So as a post-Christmas present (meaning we had a gift card to spend) I broke down and bought them TinkerBell on DVD.

Overall, it’s a fun movie. The movie looks at how Tinker Bell came to be, well, Tinker Bell. She’s a “tinker fairy” who is responsible for making and fixing things in Pixie Hollow, but she would rather be a different class of fairy and be able to go to the “mainland” to welcome in spring. The main message of the movie is being happy with yourself, not a bad thing to teach young girls. 

I was surprised by the celebrities who lent their voices to the movie. Mae Whitman voices Tinker Bell. The cast also includes Anjelic Huston , Lucy Liu and Kristin Chenoweth, to name a few. 

The movie doesn’t quite keep the attention of four 3-year-olds, but what feature-length movie does? All in all they enjoyed the movie and ask to watch it every day.

I enjoyed the bonus features. There are several references in the movie to Peter Pan , which I didn’t pick up on until I watched the bonus material. It’s nice to see the creators of Tinker Bell acknowledge her roots.

My only complaint is what happens when Tinker Bell changes into her “fairy costume.” She comes out of her hut in her super-short dress and the male fairies go ga-ga. It seemed slightly inappropriate for a kid’s movie, but at the same time I understand that’s the outfit she wore in Peter Pan, so the creators of this movie couldn’t exactly change things. Overall, though, this was a fun movie to watch.

My daughters’ rating: 4 thumbs up (out of 4)

My rating: 3 1/2 stars (out of 4)

I’m not ashamed to admit I let my daughters watch TV. If nothing else it gives me some time to get chores done. I try to limit the amount of time the TV is on and I try to keep it educational, but as someone who grew up glued to the TV on Saturday morning, who am I to judge? Here are my top 4 picks for toddler programs:

4. The Wiggles

I realize this isn’t a daily TV show, but their DVD’s rock. My daughters enjoy singing along to the nursery rhymes and doing the silly dances this Australian group puts together. Watch the Wiggles long enough and  you’ll start to think Sam (the yellow Wiggle) is kind of cute (trust me on this one). A friend told us he took his daughter to see the Wiggles in concert and I was kind of jealous!

3. Dragon Tales (PBS)

For a time my daughters couldn’t get enough of Max and Emmy… not to mention Ord, Zak, Wheezie and Cassie. Max and Emmy are siblings who find a dragon scale, make a wish and go to Dragon Land. Each episode involves some type of lesson, whether it’s about sharing or not arguing with your siblings. In between the episodes there’s a fun song, which typically teaches a lesson as well. Be warned, though, Wheezie can be a bit grating with her shrill catch-phrase “Loooove It!” but some of the episodes even point out how to overlook personal flaws.

2. Dora the Explorer (Nick, Jr.)

I think you have to be living under a rock to not know who Dora is… or at least not have any toddlers in your house. I thought because of her popularity I would find Dora pretty annoying, but I actually like this spunky gal. Sure, she finds herself in plenty of far-fetched situations, but all in all she’s one determined and resourceful child. My daughters have even picked up some Spanish phrases from the show. (Sidenote: I personally think the cousin Diego spin-off was just a way to capitalize on the boys who don’t want to watch a “girl” show, but that’s just my opinion.

1. Sesame Street (PBS)

How authentic would this list be if Sesame Street didn’t rank number 1?? This show is great. I tend to watch this with my daughters for the memories it brings back of my childhood, although seeing Gordon and Maria and knowing their characters have a teenage daughter makes me feel old! A lot of the skits and scenarios are timeless and it’s just a fun show to watch.  I even joined the Elmo bandwagon, but wonder why he had to ditch best friend Zoe for Abby Cadabby. Couldn’t he be good friends with both of them? This is probably the only show my daughters will watch from beginning to end without being distracted by other things. I wonder what will be happening on the Street when they have children????