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Strollerderby
Caillou may be calm, but he's pretty boring compared to these 15 educational cartoons you and your kids will love.
You’re probably aware by now that Pediatrics published a study yesterday pinning attention problems in children on everyone’s favorite cartoon character who lives in a pineapple under the sea, SpongeBob SquarePants. As my colleague Danielle Sullivan noted yesterday, “researchers are saying that the program causes an attention problem in many kids after just nine minutes of viewing.” (Yet for SpongeBob’s stoner fan base, that same nine minutes feels like forever, man.) Lead author of the study, University of Virginia psychology professor Angeline Lillard says SpongeBob shouldn’t be the only show chastised for its frenetic action and obnoxious noises. According to the Sun Times, “She found similar problems in kids who watched other fast-paced cartoon programming,” like these shows that Strollerderby blogger Madeline Holler thinks will wreck your child’s mind.
So what cartoons should your child be watching? I’ve chosen 15, below, that I think everyone in your household will be able to get behind. Not only are they calm and educational, they won’t make you fall asleep, either. (Sorry, Caillou.) Continue reading »
If Spongebob is messing with your kid's brain, what's this guy doing to it?
The world is stunned to learn that “SpongeBob SquarePants” is not — I repeat, not! — turning 4-year-olds into prodigies of self-control, moral rectitude or focused attention. Instead, it’s kind of messing with them.
A new study found that the popular Nick cartoon’s editing is too fast-paced — scenes change every 11 seconds and there’s “lots of frenetic movement in between …” Just nine minutes of SpongeBob set the kids in the study up for flunking marshmallow tests and getting disqualified from Simon Says.
The ones who watched “Caillou” were perfect angels.
If quick cuts and frenetic scenes are a problem, we’ll have more than “SpongeBob SquarePants” to blame for spoiling the next generation. If today’s news has you editing the DVR during naptime, be sure you cancel these 10 cartoons as well. A typical episode features quick cuts, packed scenes and/or less than soothing music and dance sequences. Seriously, no scrutinizing DJ Lance? And they call themselves “scientists”! Continue reading »
They say everyone's favorite sponge causes attention problems.
Unless you’ve been stuck under a rock, you’ve seen a SpongeBob SquarePants episode or two, or 10… possibly more. SpongeBob quickly became a favorite in our household back in 1999. My oldest daughter was 7 at the time and most children in her class were tuning in. My younger daughter was 2, and she would watch along, not always knowing what was going on, but they enjoyed it. When my son was born, he also eventually became engulfed in what was going on in Bikini Bottom.
Now researchers are saying that the program causes an attention problem in many kids after just nine minutes of viewing, according to the study published online Monday in the journal, Pediatrics. Continue reading »
SpongeBob Legends Of Bikini Bottom premiered on Facebook first, not Nickelodeon..
In an interesting partnership, Nickelodeon has teamed up with Facebook and aired tonight’s brand new episode of everyone’s favorite, SpongeBob Squarepants, one day early on Facebook. Although premiered on television for the first time tonight on Nickelodeon, the first episode of a five part series called Legends of Bikini Bottom premiered on the social networking site last night. Guest stars include Amy Sedaris (Ma Angler), who plays the leader of the clan of trenchbillies, and Ginnifer Goodwin (as Mermaid). The clan holds SpongeBob and his buddy Patrick captive while they are out jellyfishing one day.
This was big news in our household. At 8pm, the kids sat awaiting the new episode. In case they missed it, they set it to record on DVR earlier today. A new SpongeBob episode is big news in our home and apparently in a lot of other places. While the show is funny, really funny, I didn’t realize how much it appealed to the older kids, but it must if Facebook got the first glimpse. Surely, they don’t think that 5 or 6 year-olds have Facebook accounts?
All those hours your kids spend watching Spongebob Squarepants might not be a waste after all.
An 8-year-old New Jersey boy saved his 5-year-old friend from drowning when the younger boy accidentally slipped into deeper water.
According to Common Sense Media, Nickelodeon’s Glenn Martin, D.D.S. is “iffy at best” for kids under 16 due to sexual content and some gruesome violence.
Nickelodeon agrees, saying they never intended for the show to be watched by children in the first place. “There’s certainly no ploy for publicity,” Nickelodeon spokesman David Bittler told the St. Petersburg Times. “This is a funny show for the Nick at Nite audience … which is 18 to 49.”
So why are parents writing angry letters and filling up Internet forums with their complaints? Because Glenn Martin, D.D.S. comes on at 8 p.m., immediately following Spongebob Squarepants.
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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