TV and zen-ing out?!
I KNOOOOW that TV is terrible for growing brains - I am one of the most uptight people I know when it comes to toddlers and TV-watching - The Boy didn't even see a TV until he was nearly 2 - and the fact that they watch any at all is one of those things I get guilty and anxious about.
But!
If you've never seen THE WONDER PETS you have to check them out. I think it's probably complete televisual insanity but I think it's FABULOUS. It's about three school pets - Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming Ming Duckling and Turtle Tuck who wear superhero capes and fly in an amazing boat and travel the World saving animals in distress. They don't have superpowers, oh no, they have something MUCH better: TEAM WORK! And it's this bizarre mix of animated photographs of real animals spliced up with children's voices, and LOTS of singing. Like I said, it's more than a little bizarre and ridiculous but at least the characters actually SPEAK English instead of teletubby / Night Garden nonsense. The Wonder Pets rock. Closely followed by Carrie and David's Popshop which gets both my boys shaking their respective thangs and singing their little hearts out. They LOVE that programme soooo much. From the way Zack rocks out I suspect he might be a little tone deaf but that doesn't stop that kidding MAKING SOME NOISE and SHAKING HIS CONSIDERABLE BOOTY. Oh, the cuteness!
And then tonight at bedtime we discovered a whole other channel of children's TV which mixes super-chilled classical music with scenes of nature like waterfalls and mountains. It was AMAZING to watch The Boy zen out exactly like he used to when he was tiny and I used to do baby massage. So while he was uncharacteristically still I grabbed the baby massage cream and set to work and he was practically comatose, fixing me with this eerie 'this is familiar' look until he said 'I remember this!' Quite amazing, no? I think we're going to make that part of our evening wind-down because it worked wonders and seemed to r-e-e-e-e-a-l-l-y relax my little crazy lump of boyish boyness.
