What Kids’ TV Shows Do Your Kid Love That Really Annoy You?

March 2, 2013 at 11:24 pm , by Nick Shell

2 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

Since Mommy and I officially began allowing you to watch TV when you turned 2 a few months ago, you have had several temporary favorite TV shows.

It began with Sesame Street, then Thomas & Friends, and right now you’re pretty much stuck on repeat with the All About… series, featuring Hard Hard Harry, as he teaches you all about monster trucks, fire trucks, and bulldozers.

I’m cool with all that.

But as we scroll through the “Just For Kids” section on Netflix live streaming, you’re starting to request… Barney & Friends.

You have been occasionally watching Dinosaur Train, which is a non-annoying show. It has opened your mind to dinosaurs, but unfortunately, you happened to get curious about that big purple dinosaur too.

So I just need to come out and say it. I have a low tolerance level for Barney the purple dinosaur.

He sounds like a slightly more sober Krusty the Clown impersonating Pee Wee Herman.

I apologize in advance for any possible bravado which might reveal itself here, but to be completely honest from my fatherly perspective, Barney just isn’t the normal masculine type of character you typically choose to entertain yourself with.

Sesame Street has ugly monsters, some of which have slightly intimidating Eastern European accents. Thomas & Friends make expensive messes and crash all the time. Hard Hard Harry introduces you to big noisy machines…

Barney, on the other hand, well… I just can’t get past all the giddy jumping in place along with that voice, which I constantly find myself mocking.

On top of that, I just don’t find it to be realistic or educational enough for a kids’ show, compared to the stuff you usually want to watch. With that being said, I definitely won’t tell you no when you want to watch Barney.

I will say this, though. This afternoon you crawled up in my lap and wanted to watch three 30 minute episodes of Hard Hard Harry. That’s the longest you’ve ever wanted to watch TV in one setting; plus, it’s the longest amount of time I’ve ever let you watch TV.

(My butt fell asleep half-way through, and when I said that out loud, it really confused you.)

The way I see it, it takes a good 90 minutes of learning about boats, helicopters, fire trucks, and monster trucks from Hard Hat Harry to make up for the 8 annoying minutes of Barney you watched this morning.

Assuming that other parents are also annoyed by some their children’s favorite TV shows, I presented this question on The Dadabase’s Facebook wall today: