Last summer, I wrote a post called "10 Reasons Why I Love Nick Jr." Since then, Nick Jr. has made some awful changes and I just want to vent about them for a minute.
On my list, #10 was "There are songs and fun games instead of annoying toy and food commercials that leave my 2 year old saying "I want that!" Well, if you've seen Nick Jr. lately, there are toy commercials…and food commercials….and other kinds of commercials. Luckily, it's not as bad as Nickelodeon or Sprout or other kids' channels, but I feel like they're just easing them in. I get that TV networks need commercials to help pay the bills. But it just stings a little when we have always watched Nick Jr. and the lack of commercials was a big draw!
Number 5 on my list was "No adult innuendos!" which is still true for the actual show. I don't like other "kid's" cartoons because of the adult innuendos, so we don't watch them. Have you heard about Nick Mom though? Oy. That is a huge mess. They advertise for the "after the kids go to bed" shows during normal viewing hours. Nothing too bad, unless you count the picture of the woman's legs, or the alcohol drink shaker thingy (I don't know what it's called, but I certainly know what it's for!) Yes, let's just show this stuff in between the super awesome Nick Jr. shows. They're preschoolers, they'll never notice. Yeah, you haven't met my almost 4 year old if you're going to say that. He sees EVERYTHING.
And concerning this awful Nick Mom thing…..it comes on at 10 PM Eastern…..which is an okay time. But I know plenty of moms who don't send their kids to bed until after that. And also….that means 9 PM where we live….which my kid goes to bed at 9 or 9:30. But that ALSO means that it's at 8 MT time…..7 Pacific time, and so on. You get the idea. It's stuff that kids don't need to be watching. Hubby turned it on last night and honestly, it's stuff even we wouldn't watch. Bad words being bleeped out, risque, awful stuff. WHY, Nick Jr. WHYYYYYY?
The Captain has a sense of security that when he turns on Nick Jr., he'll find great programming for kids. Not trash. Not toy commericals. Not stuff we don't want him to watch. So….now what do we do? Rely on DVDs? Cancel our cable TV? I can't switch to any other channel because we don't like them and their commercials, either. What to do, what to do. We don't watch too much TV, but it's becoming where we can't watch any live TV and maybe that's ok, maybe that's where we should be headed. I felt good about showing Nick Jr. to my boys because the stuff the Captain has learned from their shows, like the word "dodecahedron," for instance….or the various music terms my kids have learned from "The Fresh Beat Band" and "Jack's Big Music Show." Sigh. I'm about to have to break our relationship with Nick Jr. and it's a very, very sad thing.
And by the way….what ever happened to Moose & Zee? Now THOSE were the good old days…..
Isra
Tuesday 9th of October 2012
After the fiasco of Nick Mom, it seems their whole focus has shifted somehow. It has nothing to do with kids, but to parents, consumers and everything else.
JanetGoingCrazy
Monday 8th of October 2012
All we watch anymore is DVR. We record what we like for our boy and then he can pick and choose. I do miss Moose and Zee, though... I think what Nick Jr did is horrible, actually. I remember being really excited when it came out that I didn't have to find the show and FF through commercials and so on..My boy could just turn it on and it was so fun and interactive and he learns a lot. Since I don't watch it enough, I don't know how much "heads up" the parents got for this Nick Mom coming on Nick Jr, but it sounds like they didn't get any - like POOF, here's the nastiness! When I heard about it all of a sudden, Hubby and I switched over to see if it was "really" bad or just "conservative" bad...it was nasty bad... :(
Miranda Sherman
Sunday 7th of October 2012
Our cable package has NickJr and Disney Junior (24/7) We only recently got Disney Jr. 24/7 added to our cable line up. When we didnt have it I will admit Nick Jr. came in handy, many many late nights with sick kids. It was so much easier to rock my little guys in the living room while they are feverish or wheezing from one illness or another and calm them with some cartoons. Now that they have tis Mom crap is annoying and frustrating. While yes, most kids are in bed during these times what about the ones that are not, now you have officially given them nothing to watch...or worst yet (for the network) sending them over to another cartoon channel! Now regarding this Nick Mom stuff, does anyone actually watch? I have to admit, not me! When the kids go to bed, I catch up on the shows that are either inappropriate for them that I have recorded or that are currently on. I have a big enough line up as it is. Now for other options. I LOVE Disney Jr 24/7 it is the same concept that NickJr once was and the programming is SO much better! They have both old shows and new shows for example some of our favorites are: Doc McStuffins, Special Agent Oso, Handy Manny, Johnny & the Sprites, Charlie & Lola, Imagination Movers, Chuggington, Little Einsteins and Octonauts plus SO much more AND movies!! I would recommend Disney Jr. if your cable company carries it, if it doesn't you can request it and they will probably add it. Best of luck and I hope you find something that your little one can watch :)
Shanna Bailes
Sunday 7th of October 2012
We rarely watch Nick Jr. anymore
Lindsey
Sunday 7th of October 2012
They're going to have to start a new channel called Jr Nick Jr. We don't have cable, but we watch some of these shows, like the Fresh Beat Band on netflix. You might think of trying that? I haven't heard of the nick for kids though. Also, generally if it is only 10 EST, they balance it out by making it also at 10 MST. It is like magic.