That’s what the electrified collar is for.
The Wiggles get on my nerves too, but I’d rather suffer through them than an American show of similar quality. No offence, my American friends, but I’ve noticed that a lot of Australian children mimic American accents when they start play-acting together. I find that even more disturbing than Captain Feathersword. You can pretend in your own accent, dear children!
Of course, I haven’t had my baby yet, so I’m still living on cloud “My child will not be indulged by the electronic babysitter!”. I wonder how fast I’ll abandon my principles once she arrives? 
But Captain Feathersword is a legitimate pirate! He just tickles them to death as he steals their booty!
Actually, they are legitimate musicians, and I find their music a hell of a lot less noxious than, say, Barney’s music. So I don’t mind the Wiggles.
I am eternally grateful that my kids are all too old for Wiggles. Unfortunately, we suffered through Barney–god how I hated him. I weaned the kids off him as soon as possible (but it wasn’t easy when he permeated their preschool).
I love Kipper. I ended up watching Kipper the other night when nothing else appealed. I am 45 years old. (and getting ready for the Home, apparently). I liked Doug, too and Arthur–love Arthur.
Teletubbies are also good if you’ve been up all night for several nights in a row. Again, again! Again, again! My favorite was the Nu-Nu. I often wished I had a Nu-Nu, especially with babies in the house.
I have not listened to anything Wiggles long enough to know if they’re any good–no, thanks, I don’t want to listen!
You have to pick your battles and if the kid isn’t actually doing anything wrong, why upset them?
Believe me, everything I thought I’d be and do as a parent went right out the window when reality arrived.
My 8 year old outgrew the Wiggles and the Teletubbies pretty quickly and her tastes turned more towards Spongebob (which is very watchable for adults). She’s recently gottn into something called “Drake and Josh” which appears to be some kind of sitcom about two teenage morons who play guitar or something. I don’t know. She laughs her head off at it.
My 2 year old is obsessed with Dora and Diego. If you think the Wiggles are repetive, try about 6 consecutive episodes of “I’m the map, I’m the map.”
I refuse to Wiggle, my kids haven’t seen that show. But I did let them watch Teletubbies early on, that was their first show. “Baby sun! Baby sun!”
Dora yells too much, but Diego’s pretty cool, I learned an animal fact that later helped me while playing Jeopardy (from home, merely imagining).
Nowadays Spongebob is by far my favorite (kids? what kids?). They also like old X-Men cartoons and classic Warner Brothers (which are expensive as hell, sheesh).
The best one I got them hooked on was Fantasia, starting with the Mickey Mouse Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequence when they were 2.5 and kept making big water messes in the bathroom. They became obsessed with dinosaurs shortly thereafter. I had a copy of the CD in the car, too, until I couldn’t take The Rites of Spring anymore. It used to be my favorite piece.
Anyone who has been forced to sit through endless repeats of Dora needs to watch this.
Annoying me and/or watching stupid tv is doing something wrong, imho. It’s not like I want to be a huge jerk about it. Just “No, we don’t watch that. Here, watch this instead.” Not “You can’t watch any TV now! DIAF!” or anything. Sort of like the standard dinner thing…you eat what everyone else is eating or you don’t eat.
When I’m out with my herd and people ask me “however do you manage to stay sane with three under five?” I tell 'em “Overuse of television” :eek:
I salve my conscience with the fact that in 4 1/2 years I’ve still managed to conceal from them the existance of channels other than the ABC. I’ll be happy if I can last another 6 months on that…
- toot toot chugga chugga Big Red Car…*
If you hate the Wiggles, for Og’s sake, stay far far away from the Doodlebops.
I saw the Wiggles when they were the pub rock band The Cockroaches, back in about 1986.
I think they are OK as the Wiggles (the cockroaches were pretty ordinary). Good on them for making a buck.
My daughter liked the Wiggles when she was younger. She has since moved on to other shows. I never minded the Wiggles. Their music isn’t bad, a lot of it reminds me of early 60’s pop. Adults who get all wrapped around the axle over a kid’s show puzzle me. Of course, you don’t find the show to your tastes. It’s designed for little kids. Put a toddler in front of a show designed for adults, Law and Order maybe, and see how much interest the child has. Read a book, do some sit-ups, sharpen a knife…there’s a million and one other things you could be doing while your child watches the Wiggles other than sitting there and watching it too.
They were a pretty fair pub band and had a couple of smallish hits. That was at the time I started having kids. I tricked my kids with music. There was an Aussie guy who was really big for a few years - Franciscus Henry, his music was tuneful and well performed and he had a couple of videos so I let the kids adopt him because I could tolerate listening to him in the car, when it was their “turn” to choose the music. If ever they heard any real music and liked it I would “buy” them their own copy. So even when he was under school age my son had his own CDs - Beatles, Cars, John Lennon, all sorts of things that he had heard me playing. So we would be driving along and he’d say, “My turn to pick the music,” and grab “his” copy of Tom Petty.
rofl - You really don’t have kids, do you?
Granted it depends on the child, and their specific developmental phase (2.5 is a BITCH) and on you - everyone has some inviolate rules, and some parents have a LOT more energy for battles.
But you forget - littles don’t have jobs, mortgages, in-laws, or a sense of impending world doom. They do not care who is President.
ALL THEY HAVE TO DO, the only agenda on their plate, IS STRUGGLE AGAINST YOU. That is their entire raison d’etre.
Items over which my children (twins here, so it is a little distorted) have, at one time or repeatedly, pitched end-of-life-as-we-know-it fits:
Wearing pajamas to nursery school.
Wearing pajamas to bed.
Wearing winter pajamas in the summer and summer pajamas in the winter.
Wearing any clothes at all while running around between our house and the neighbors’.
Wearing shoes.
Not wearing shoes.
Wearing those shoes instead.
The brushing of hair.
The brushing of teeth.
Bath time! (this one’s still a point of contention with ds)
Washing the face. (dd likes to play “can’t catch me” when covered in peanut butter - she makes a beeline for the couch, which now smells vaguely of Jif)
Getting into the car.
Being buckled into the carseat.
Staying buckled in the carseat.
Listening to the same song over and over and over and over and over and over
Getting out of the car.
This is why Mommy would like to punch a Wiggle right in the nose.
(oh, and I don’t want to hear “So let them wear what they want.” Because you DO, and they STILL don’t want it. “All right, here, wear that.” “WAAAAAAAAAAH”)
Actually I just recalled a guy at work telling me last year that his best friend has a pre-school kid who for no apparent reason is hooked on Bob Dylan. He said it’s really funny seeing the kid tugging at his Dad’s pants calling, “Bob.Bob,” while pointing at the stereo.
I dunno… that ‘‘Big Red Car’’ song is pretty catchy…
No it isn’t. Look, being a parent is kind of like going to war. If you haven’t been there, you don’t know what you’re talking about and you shouldn’t try.
This line made me laugh. It’s so true. Not much to say here, just reiterating.
I really limited my older kids’ time with TV. I was a SAHM then and it was easier to do so. Even then, there was something I called the witching hour–around 4pm, everyone (myself included) turns evil. The kids are tired and sick of you and vice versa. Perfect time for Arthur/Rugrats/Teletubbies etc-depending on their age (or the Wiggles now, I guess).
Now, #2 son was born long after the other 2 kids. #2 was sick constantly as a baby (yeah, yeah, he was breastfed–that’s another thread) and on nebulizer treatments almost every day. The ONLY way to get him to sit still long enough to get a treatment was to have the TV on. Subsequently, he watched a great deal TOO much TV–he was my slowest reader and the one who has struggled the hardest in school. I do blame TV.
My point is this: you never know what you’ll do until you’re faced with it. I swore I’d never buy my kids’ candy at the checkout counter and I never did. They stopped asking by age 2-3. (and then they’d go to the store with grandma, who would indulge them and I’d have to put up with the whining for a few days again). I chose my battles. That IS parenthood. And even when you choose the battle, it doesn’t mean you’ll win every time…