While growing most children spend a lot of time in front of the TV, and have seen lots of different shows. Whether these shows come from Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, or even PBS kids, they all have content that helps children to learn and grow. Shows such as “Team Umizoomi”, “Powerpuff Girls”, and “Super Why!” were popular in the early 2000s and 2010s and taught children lessons like generosity, the value of caring for others, and problem solving. Many parents more recently have changed in where they are getting the shows that their children love, some streaming services include Netflix, Youtube, and Disney +. A very popular kids show that can be found on Youtube with a 124 million subscribers and 115 billion views is the American show “Cocomelon”. With creator Jay Jeon the beloved kids show follows the life of JJ and his siblings who all go on adventures that can be relatable, this includes playtime, exploring, going to the beach and more. While many have allowed their children to watch said show many have not looked into the show to ensure it is safe for their children to watch.

Having taken a look at “Cocomelon”, and other similar shows, researchers have found that there are many different behavioral, developmental, and other health risks caused by children watching the show. Issues such as poor self-regulation skills, attention and behavioral disorders are prevalent and it is theorized that more will appear in the future. For children to have healthy development, each scene in a show should be at least four seconds long; many scenes in Cocomelon barely reach half that.

Jerrica Sannes, a child development specialist with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Curriculum and Instruction, a bachelor’s degree in Family and Child Development and over 15 years of working with young children has done extensive research on the show. She has found that the show is so hyperstimulating that it acts as a drug to young children. (Link to Sannes’ instagram post on the matter) “Cocomelon is so hyperstimulating that it actually acts as a drug, as a stimulant. The brain gets a hit of dopamine from screen-time and it seems that the stronger the ‘drug’ aka the level of stimulation a show delivers, the stronger the ‘hit.’ This leads to 1) the children experiencing symptoms of addiction and withdrawal, obviously leaving them completely dysregulated, and 2) a general discomfort in the speed of everyday life. The more they watch the show, the more the brain begins to expect this kind of stimulation. This makes it impossible for them to play creatively and without entertainment.”

Sannes also brought up how there are many different signs that kids could be addicted to their screens such as loss of interests, withdrawals,  decreased tolerance, deception, escape, and more. While it can easily be seen that the television  show “Cocomelon” is harmful, there are many good and helpful alternatives for children to watch.  One of my personal favorite kids’ show is the Australian cartoon, “Bluey”.

The national sensation with three seasons that was created in 2018 named “Bluey” is a perfect alternative to “Cocomelon”. Bluey is about a six year old blue heeler puppy named Bluey and goes on adventures, play time, and more with her younger sister Bingo, their mom and dad ( Chili and Bandit) and their friends. The show developed a healthy relationship between the parents and the children and is a perfect role model for both children and adults. The parents of Bluey and Bingo show the kids a healthy relationship of playtime and separate time and teach needed skills like sharing, persistence, and how to deal with lose. Not only do I believe this to be an amazing show for children I would even say this is perfect for anyone and all ages, it is a extremely comforting show and is easy to fall asleep too, work on school work, just enjoy and more. Joe Brumm wrote the show based off of his experience raising his two daughters and breaks threw society’s ideals such as mothers staying home and taking care of the house and the kids while the fathers go out to work. Throughout the show we see Bandit at home with the kids while also being an archaeologist while Chili would go out and go to work as a part time airport security guard. There are many other facts about the show that many don’t know about that makes the show even more interesting to watch and fall in love with.

Many aspects of the show is based off the creator’s real life such as Bandit being the second oldest of three boys and some of his family members voice characters in the show such as Brumm’s mom who voices Bandit’s mom and his younger brother who voices Bandit’s younger brother. When ever Chili and Bandit are seen humming in the show they are always humming the shows theme song and although the voice actors of Bluey and Bingo are not revealed for privacy reasons we do know that they are sisters in real life. Lastly a fun fact that was surprising to me was that the voice actors for Bandit and Chili have never met in real life due to covid not allowing the voice actors to come into the same studios to record and forces them to record in different states and sometimes different countries. Although this is all great we can’t forget the real reason we are here, “Bluey” is a much safer and healthier alternative to “Cocomelon”. Although this of course won’t stop people from allowing their children the watch “Cocomelon” I hope this article at least has people consider what they are showing to their kids, nephews, nieces, cousins and kids in general.