If PBS Kids Sprout Is Crack, Then Chica Is Their Dealer

Since regaining regular work hours again, we splurge on digital cable. I love it. There’s about a skrillion movie channels and the On Demand feature which lets me watch stuff that I’ve missed whenever I want. It’s great when there’s nothing else on. My favorite digital cable shows are (in no particular order with the network that it appears on in parentheses):

• Dr. G: Medical Examiner (Discovery Health)
• Degrassi: The Next Generation (The N)
• Air Emergency (National Geographic)
• Seconds From Disaster (National Geographic)
• The Best Years (The N)
• Snapped (Oxygen)
• Black Men Revealed (TV One)
• The Sunny Side Up Show (PBS Kids Sprout)

Now this last show, The Sunny Side Up Show, is a favorite of the ENTIRE house. It comes on in the mornings and while the co-hosts rotate on a weekly basis, its star is an orange-ish chicken named Chica. Chica does not talk. Instead, she sounds like she swallowed a kazoo and responds like that to her co-hosts named Kelly, Sean, and Kevin. I like Sean the best, and so does Big Phony Toddler (more about why his name changed in another post).

Everyday they sing The Sprout Birthday Song and Chica and the co-host sing and dance and read the birthday cards that parents (called Grown-Up Sprouts) send in for their preschool-aged kids (called Sproutlets). They also have a weekly theme. The theme for the entire month is Chica’s Healthy Checklist. Chica goes to the doctor, to the market, and does the Chicasize (an exercise routine that Big Phony Toddler loves) all in an effort to promote healthy habits among the Sproutlets.

Even though Sprout is primarily for preschool kids (think ages 2-4), I’ve come to realize that a lot of babies and toddlers watch this network. And watch with amazing concentration. If you are not careful, you too will become hooked on this cable crack.

It all started when The Big Phony Baby was sick and I needed something, anything to distract him from whining endlessly. Toys, books, and singing were not working, so I decided to try the TV.  I know that there will be some of you reading this who think I should be burned at the stake for allowing my baby to watch TV but you try being at home alone with a sick baby and see what you will do to get a little peace.

I turned to Sprout (SpongeBob was not on Nickelodeon or its sister network Nicktoons Channel) and there was Chica, singing the Birthday song and Big Phony was smiling and laughing and having a good time. When Chica and the cohost went to introduce the next show, Chica went away and I thought that Big Phony would start up again, but he just sat there, transfixed watching whatever it was that was on. He was like that until he fell asleep and I was able to fall asleep too. Once awake, he was looking for Chica, but TSSUS was done for the day and they were onto The Sharing Show and PICME but Big Phony was happy and watching.  And Quiet. Don’t forget QUIET.

You see, TSSUS is a gateway drug. Chica gets you and your child hooked with her cuteness and her kazoo-speak then introduces you to her friends Barney, Mama Mirabelle, that whole Sesame Street gang, Fireman Sam, and don’t even get me started with The Good Night Show. It’s amazing how you will watch Sprout beyond The Sunny Side Up Show and then look up and realize that the whole day is gone and it’s time for The Good Night Show.

The Good Night Show features a lady named Nina, this puppet named Star (who is star-shaped but to me looks like a big pillow; Hubby says Star looks like that pound of fat they show you in health classes) a goldfish named Hush, and a firefly named Lucy. TGNS is less addictive than TSSUS.  Should you have Chica withdrawals during TGNS, she shows up at 6:20 and 7:55pm with The Birthday Show and then you are OK. TGNS has its function because it gets Big Phony to eat his dinner, take a bath, and then eases him into bedtime because Nina and Star always look like they are going to bed really soon.

For weeks I thought I was the only one who watches this network but then I talked to a fellow parent at daycare and she too admitted her addiction to Sprout. Hubby mentioned to one of his guy friends with a child the same age as Big Phony about Sprout and he sheepishly mentioned that he liked Chica. This is soooo funny to me how we really can’t stop watching this network and how we use it to get the kids quiet.

I know what the experts say about TV and kids The Big Phony Toddler’s age but I don’t really care. We read to him, talk to him. It’s not like we plop him down in front of the Idiot Box for hours on end and let him look at endless rapes, murders, and explosions. I watched a lot of TV as a child but I read a lot more books too. I will admit that I really wasn’t all that social but that was more on the part of my parents and the church that we grew up in which didn’t allow us to mix with the heathens of Greenville that weren’t members of the cult-I mean-church. Yeah, church. Right.

I love PBS. Even at 33, I still watch Mystery!, Great Performances, Frontline, Sesame Street, and Between The Lions. PBS introduced me to opera, classical music, and great literature. I got to see and learn things that the piss-poor Greenville Public School District would have never allowed me to see. PBS showed me that there was a world outside of Greenville and that there other ways of seeing things, other ways of thinking. I was probably the only 10 year old who relished The McNeil-Leher Report.  I actually support my local PBS station. I listen to NPR. The only thing I will not watch is that revamped version of The Electric Company. Yuck. The original is still the best. SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT!!!!! I know that the economy totally sucks right now, but if you remember your first time seeing Big Bird, Mister Rogers (RIP Fred), or learning to read via Easy Reader (go ask your parents, or Big Mama, or whoever raised you if you’re under the age of 25) and The Electric Company, then take a few dollars and give to your local PBS station or The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. And if you can’t afford to do that, at least write them a letter of thanks for giving you some wonderful childhood memories. Thank you.

That being said, if I’m allowing my child to watch TV, I will allow him to watch shows that foster learning and fun and friendship. Sprout does all of that and more. 

I gotta go. Chica comes back on at 6:20!

Toodles!

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