Children’s Programming Can be Beneficial

The children’s programming as we know it today is different than it was fifty years ago. Back in the day, television shows for children were used to just be a babysitter while the parents were busy, but nowadays they are used to educate the children. Shows in the 1960s, like Sesame Street, were used like a babysitter; the children weren’t really involved in the programming. At times, the children would even look away and be distracted by their toys or even start to fight with their siblings. Also, they sometimes wouldn’t understand the concepts put into the show, like on Clifford the Big Red Dog, because it was focused on animals and the children couldn’t differentiate between that and real life. But in the present, those types of shows have been reinvented. Research has shown that when children’s shows involve some sort of interaction, the children start talking and wanting to participate with whatever is on the TV. Children’s programming has evolved to where it is now a learning tool and a good teacher for little ones. For example, Dora the Explorer and Blue’s Clues were made to involve children and to make them interact with the programming. These shows make kids work out puzzles and figure them out. Also, they have the kids sing and dance along with the characters while learning educational necessities. When it came to Sesame Street, their episodes would be so complex that it was almost like the show was just doing what it was doing for the adults and not necessarily for the children. In the present, most of the children’s shows are very interactive and make the kids participate. I know when I was a child, I watched Blue’s Clues and I was always singing along and answering the questions that were asked of me. But when it came to shows like Rugrats or Hey Arnold, I was never really involved and I could easily be distracted from it. Overall, I think children’s programming can be beneficial, especially if it’s involving and interactive, because I have witnessed it in my own life and kids always want to be involved with something, especially with their favorite characters on TV.