non-violent non-sexist/racist children's TV/movies? - Page 3

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by dimitroff03 

Oh, and I also wanted to mention that while I am a very peaceful, attachment-parenting type mama - I also cannot stand Caillou. He's just way too whiny for me. Definitely don't need my toddler learning how to do that! ;-)

I hate Caillou, for many reasons. I find him whiny. I also find the "life is perfect and we're always totally happy, no matter what" vibe really irritating.

[babymommy2]

my reasons for choosing Shaun the Sheep is that he isn't a mass marketed character

I think it is or is starting to be. Someone gave us Shaun the sheep board game. I didn't realize it was a TV show.

[grethel]

Originally Posted by Storm Bride 

I hate Caillou, for many reasons. I find him whiny. I also find the "life is perfect and we're always totally happy, no matter what" vibe really irritating.

Ditto.  The character of Caillou grates on me -- mostly his tone of voice. I actually haven't seen it since my teen was little, but I doubt I'll feel differently now.

[loveandgarbage]

Another Caillou hater over here.

[sk8boarder15]

Oh yes! We also love Kipper, Shaun the Sheep, and Pingu! 

We haven't been watching much TV lately as our Son is much more into the iPad and is learning to read playing with it. So his screen time has switched to the iPad for the most part except for some Blues Clues and the occasinal family movie. 

[Pr3ttyPrincess]

caillou and martha speaks, older care bears

my kids love these, i have hulu plus, but i think you can watch it on regular hulu. very little commercials and nothing inappropriate

[Pr3ttyPrincess]

dinosaur train

angelina ballerina

barney

arthur

rocky & bullwinkle

super why

word world

bob the builder

[alaskanmomma]

I'm not 100% sure if all these are on Netflix, but we have a lot of these shows on DVD and cost about $10, so fairly inexpensive if they aren't :)

Backyardigan's, Dora, Diego, Arthur, Sesame Street, Barney, Doc McStuffin's, Mickey Mouse Club House, Bearenstein Bears...

[cww]

Thanks again to everyone for all their suggestions - I keep coming back periodically and updating our list.  So far I quite like Little Bear because I find it so calm without being boring.  It would be nice if the gender roles of the parents weren't quite so traditional, but I love that it is not at all flashy and that the music is relatively peaceful and nice and not grating.  I hadn't really thought about it but two other issues that came up for me as I was looking at more children's programming is 1) so many of them are so loud, fast and flashy! and 2) there is far more mention of cake, cookies, etc on all of these shows than I would prefer (our daughter hasn't really learned about sweets yet and when she does have something, we try to make it not a big deal - but when the characters on TV go on about how great some kind of dessert is, I get a bit uncomfortable about that message...).  We haven't looked at very many of these shows yet, since we try not to watch too much TV in general, but so far we like Little Bear and the older Sesame St. episodes.  The new ones aren't bad - but I do find them a bit too loud and fast for my tastes, and as I think my DD is somewhat sensitive to noise and overstimulation, I always put on the old ones over the new ones.  

I'm trying not to be too uptight, but wow - there are so many things I never paid attention to before I had a kiddo around that I'm suddenly much more aware of... :)

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by cww 

2) there is far more mention of cake, cookies, etc on all of these shows than I would prefer (our daughter hasn't really learned about sweets yet and when she does have something, we try to make it not a big deal - but when the characters on TV go on about how great some kind of dessert is, I get a bit uncomfortable about that message...). 

Wonderpets is a weird, weird show...but the snack the characters get super excited about is celery. It actually sparked a bit of a celery binge around here, but it didn't last long.

[cww]

I have wonderpets in my netflix queue, but haven't had a chance to watch an episode yet...  I'll have to take a look at one soon. :)

[Ma Cactus]

We love My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki.  The main characters are strong females, and it has amazingly beautiful imagery, and also periods of very slow non-action, which I feel are very helpful in not overly stimulating a little kid.  I have seen Kiki's Delivery Service but did not like it as much myself (although it is also a strong female lead), and do not remember much about it, so I have not shown it to DS yet.  Neither of these are on Netflix but I bought Totoro for myself even before I had a child.  I would definately recommend Totoro unreservedly.  Many of Miyazaki's movies are definately too violent for small children: Princess Mononoke, and Nausica of the Valley of the Wind especially, and Spirited Away (scary, though DS has seen and loves this one - I was able to prepare him for the scary scenes and assure him tha noone would be ultimately hurt) and Howls Moving Castle (war scenes somewhat disturbing), to a lesser degreee, but all have strong female characters and are among my own favorite movies. 

Another favorite is not a kids movie per se, "Microcosmos", but is amazingly beatiful imagery from nature (mostly insects), with almost no speaking (the phenomena seen are not explained in any way, so they can just be enjoyed, although I often wind up looking up diferent events because we become curious about them).  It does show a spider capturing a grasshopper, and I think also ants fighting, and a waterbug chasing other bugs, but none of this has proved insurmountable.  This is actually my go-to when DS is clamoring to watch something, but I do not want him to be glued to a screen for hours.  He finds it amazing and interesting, but since it has no plot and no suspense that lasts more than a few minutes, it is not so engrossing as to completely subsume his other interests.  He will watch for 15 minutes and then run off and play.  It is available on Netflix. 

[Pr3ttyPrincess]

Franklin

[Pr3ttyPrincess]

Oswald, Wow wow Wubzy, max and ruby, The Backyardigans, Little Bill, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, Maggie and the ferocious Beast, Ni Hao Ki-Lan

[Pr3ttyPrincess]

The Jetsens, Powderpuff girls, Arthur, The Wild Thornberries, Pingu,

[southcarolina]

I hear you.. been there done this..

Here is a list that comes from the very same experience and needs, at this particular age this is

what we find very calming and non-violent.

• Dora the Explorer.
• Winnie the Pooh
• Baby Einstein she loved it up to some 3
• Curious George - 110 thumbs up!!! this is such a calming and non violent movie for kids that you can't really help but smile. Don't do the big movie though because it has some non-typical elements, canning and that that is TOTALLY absent from the serial Curious George.
• Baby Genius the same as above
• Caillou - canadian serial about a boy, a sister his family, super super calm and family value based, teaches a child a good behavior in a good non violent way

by example of family life with calm parents, grandparents and friends and preschool situations, playgorund etc..

• Charile and Lola is nice but too young for that in my opinion as there are some pretty snoty comments and behaviours and something that you don't want to give idea to your young child. I would not start it untill solid 4 years.
• not my vote - don't like it  - You Gaba Gaba was way to flashy to attention deficit disorderish..
• Blues Clues - a puppet and a real boy, boy followes clues and gives clues.. teaches shapes, letters etc.. educational and calm.
• Check the Leap Frog series.. just put on Netflix Leap FRog and there is tons educational cartoons for toddlers.. math, reading, spelling yep.. toddlers.
• Pingu, amazingly enough there is NO ONE word spoken in any real language but it is spoken in penguineese :) soooo hilarious you will never want to stop watching. Funny
• Keeper was nice too, don't remember particular plot but it was gentle movie
• WordsWorld - totally cool phonics movie with real characters anmials so funny and educational, perfect for her age and you will love it!

this should serve you for good three years :) without one single tv channel just Netflix. becuase most of those titels are shows that go on and on and on many seasons and episodes, Dora has some 200 episodes, Caillou some 200, Pingu some 50, Curous George maybe like 500?...

When your child is little naturally don't show any violence but when she will be little she might want to watch something that shows not so much violence

but some conflict solving problems.. for this is good Charlie and Lola, Angelina Ballerina, Diego .. as they show some two sides of conflict

and how the characters manage to solve the problem that is good too as long as it is not too violent for the age and a child can see through the

fiction and understand what is good and what is bad becuase otherwise it would pick the bad attitudes.

Then for older kids Tom and Jerry.. but this is only when a child is really in some 6 or so.. then it is hilarious and safe to watch because

the behaviorus are not going to be copied but only laughed at.

[grethel]

Originally Posted by Ma Cactus 

We love My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki.

Totoro is one of our family's favorite movies too. Our 3 yo loves it. She likes Ponyo too, although I don't think it's quite as perfect for preschoolers as is Totoro.

The rest of us - dh, our teenager, and me - are big fans of all of Miyazaki's movies. My older dd couldn't handle Spirited Away until she was quite a bit older - 8 or 9 at least - due to some of the imagery but they're all just wonderful films.

[Pr3ttyPrincess]

My little pony and hello kitty. They are 2 of my girl's favorite too.

[MsDolphin]

DS (27m) watches Sesame Street and Team Umizoomi.

I am looking for other shows that might be good, thank you for this thread.

[Honey693]

For everyone who suggested Dora, is your kid scared of Swiper?  My 2 year old alternates between "Swiper scary mommy" and "oh man, no swiping" and laughing hysterically.