Going parental: It’s ok, Noggin is good for your kids

I grew up in a house where TV was a non-issue.  If we wanted to watch TV, we watched. If we wanted to go outside and try to light ants on fire with a magnifying glass, then we did that instead.

I find that the more parents I speak to, the more I realize how obsessed people are with how much television their kids are watching. Simmer down people. Whether you put the TV on or not is really, in my opinion, not going to be the deciding factor between becoming a Mensa ^[1] member or riding the short bus.

I went back to work when my daughter was 10 weeks old. I worked from home every Friday and as she grew older, it became increasingly difficult to actually get work done. She would be crawling up my leg and trying to pound on the keyboard. So what did I do? I popped on Noggin ^[2] and let those overpaid television executives do their job: entertain my kid so I can get my work done.

After all “It’s like preschool on TV.” I’m sold. The coolest part about Noggin is that before each show, a screen comes up with the name of the show that’s about to come on and a soothing voice-over telling you what the show your child is about to watch is going to teach them. Something along the lines of, “Yo Gabba Gabba ^[3] enhances preschoolers understanding of Inter- and Intra-personal dynamics.” Really? That’s fucking awesome. I definitely feel like way less of a douche bag for plopping my kid down in front of the TV now. Thanks Noggin.

The reality is if they didn’t come on and explain to me why exactly its a good idea for me to let my daughter sit and watch a skinny black dude in an orange unitard play with alien-like figurines that come out of a tricked out boom-box and spring to life, I’m not sure I’d go for it. I especially love it when Biz Markie ^[4] makes an appearance to teach the kids how to beat box. Nothing like having a guy with a lateral lisp on the show to teach the kids how to use their mouths to make music. It’s genius.

If nothing else Oobi ^[5], that weird talking hand with no parents and a lack of word conjunctions, got my daughter to eat as a baby. See for yourself ^[6].

Television is not always the answer, it definitely shouldn’t be over-used (whatever your definition of over-used is), but for God’s sake, don’t be a tight ass with your kids when it comes to letting them watch TV. In my experience, the kids that are very limited in how much TV they can watch are completely mesmerized by it when it’s on and will do nothing else but sit and watch. While my daughter, on the other hand, will watch for a few minutes, but in the end is begging the other kids to play with her. She couldn’t care less whether the TV is on or not. So there. Having the TV on in a non-monitored fashion has actually yielded positive results in my daughter. Eat it babycenter. ^[7]

Going Parental appears every Thursday. Yo Gabba Gabba appears far too often if you ask me.