Kids TV

In this time and age, it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep children away from the television. You can try all you want, but that screen beckons and is undoubtedly one of the greatest babysitters around.

So, the next best thing you can do is to choose what shows they watch. No doubt there are violent, nonsensical and meaningless cartoons abound. But there are also some good ones that promote obedient behaviour, education and positive attitudes - think Sesame Street when we were young, sort of.

For example, the kids like watching Backyardigans (which has nice harmonious singing, ideas on caring and sharing), High Five (which encourages dancing around and education - kinda like a lively Australian Sesame Street), Barney (which everyone knows - and has good educational ideas, songs and a big purple dinosaur). Of course there's also Shannon's (and arguably Nigel and Gabriel's too) favourite, Dora.

Dora is a 7 year old Latina girl which speaks English and Spanish. The show features her, her best friend Boots the monkey and the fox, Swiper, who is the villain.

That said, it's still not a good idea to let children watch too much TV everyday. It makes them lazy, encourages instant gratification and is also bad for the eyes. A little bit of everything - moderation.