Five TV Shows Your Child Should Be Watching

If your child has to watch a TV show, she might as well watch something worthwhile. As the father of a 4-year-old girl, I've seen a zillion kids TV shows, and here are five that my wife and I encourage our girl to watch.

BETWEEN THE LIONS
Our daughter loves Sesame Street, but at this point she has learned all of her letters and numbers. So, we're trying to make sure she catches Between the Lions, since it goes to the next level of teaching her to read.

The main characters are Lionel and Leona, a pair of lion siblings who love to read books in the library. Their parents, Cleo and Theo, nurture their kids' love
of reading. Now right there, you have a winning formula for a show, because it teaches kids that the library is a great place to visit.

The show often features real books with the words highlighted as they are read. Sometimes Lionel and Leona act out the stories in their favorite books.

Between the Lions also features some fun recurring characters. Cliff Hanger is a mountain climber who starts and ends each of his segments by hanging
precariously from a cliff. Chicken Jane is a spoof on "Dick and Jane." She uses her writing skills to warn her friends Scot and Dot about impending dangers, only to get squashed herself.

Check this site to find out when Between the Lions airs on your local PBS station.

PEEP and the BIG WIDE WORLD

It's never too early to nurture a child's interest in science, and Peep entertains as it helps kids learn how the world works.

Peep is a small chick who hatches at the beginning of each show during the theme song (a bouncy tune by Taj Mahal). He meets a bird named Chirp and a duck named Quack.

On the show, learn about their world, often by meeting other animals. They hang out with bunnies, beavers, fish, raccoons and porcupines.

Some of the stories include Chirp discovering a red balloon; Peep trying to sail a boat; Quack trying to get everyone in the universe to be quiet; and the whole gang building a bridge to reach some pine cones.

Actress Joan Cusack lends her vocal talents to Peep as the show's narrator. She has the perfect "kindergarten teacher" voice for the job.

Peep airs on TLC every morning at 8:30 Eastern on The Learning Channel (TLC) and at 9 and noon on Discovery Kids Channel.

THE BACKYARDIGANS

The Backyardigans is not only my daughter's favorite show, but it's one of mine as well. It features five singing, dancing animals who share a common backyard. They are Tyrone the moose, Pablo the penguin, Tasha the hippo, Austin the kangaroo and Uniqua the ...pink spotted alien or something.

The Backyardigans rarely identify themselves as animals, because they are too busy pretending. They use their imaginations to transform the backyard into the plains of Texas ("Riding the Range"), outer space ("Mission to Mars"), the Yukon ("The Snow Fort") or a haunted house ("It's Great to be a Ghost").

What sets The Backyardigans apart is that every episode features a different musical style. So on a single DVD, you can introduce your child to classical, tango, Klezmer and Irish music (for example). With the poor quality of music on many kids' shows, I love that my daughter is listening to kids singing such diverse songs - and singing them on key.

Even the dancing on this show is top-notch. Each character is represented by a real-life dancer with the character's dancing style and body type. The producers of the show film the dancers and then send the footage to the animators.

I haven't seen a bad episode of The Backyardigans. My favorites are "Polka Palace Party" (polka music in a Western setting) and "The Legend of the Volcano Sisters" (Italian music in a Hawaiian setting).

You can check out The Backyardigans at various times on Nick Jr. and Noggin.

VEGGIE TALES

Veggie Tales, the long-running Christian series, made its network TV debut last fall, finding a whole new audience. Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber and the other veggies teach kids a different moral lesson every week in a fun, musical way.

Some of the lessons are very useful for parents and kids. I didn't really have a clue of what my child should do (someday) about bullies until I saw the episode where Junior Asparagus faces up to Gordon the bully on the playground. Junior's dad teaches him that he should stand up to Gordon without fighting him, even if it means getting hurt.

Although NBC has forced the producers of the show to delete the overt Biblical references in the show, Jesus' message of "turn the other cheek" comes through loud and clear. In fact, it's fun to watch the Veggie creators try to sneak one in, like when Junior is imagining that he is the quarterback of a football team: "One ... John ... Eight ... Thirteen .. Hike!"

Other good lessons from Veggie Tales include "A Snoodle's Tale" (self-esteem), "Larry-Boy and the Bad Apple" (resisting temptation) and my favorite, "Sumo of
the Opera" (perseverance).

Check the listings of your local NBC station for the Saturday morning airings of Veggie Tales and its companion program, 3-2-1 Penguins and Larry-Boy Stories.

THE ELECTRIC COMPANY

The Electric Company helped me learn to read when I was a kid growing up in the 70s. Now, Shout Factory has released four DVDs of the program's best
episodes. Morgan Freeman was a big part of the show, as was another award-winner, Rita Moreno.

The Elecric Company taught kids how to put together the letters they learned on Sesame Street, using phrases like "greedy Greg grabbed the green grapes." The Electric Company had a host of fun recurring segments, such as Jennifer of the Jungle, Love of Chair, The Adventures of Letter-Man (narrated by Joan Rivers) and Fargo North, Decoder. Even Spider-Man and the Road Runner appeared on the show.

If you can find these DVDs in the library or the video store, by all means get them for your toddler. They will help her learn to read, and your own childhood memories will come flooding back.