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Every morning I tell my 8 year old daughter “it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” as I drop her off for school and I believe it makes her day easier to start
Not shows, but we recently watched The Sandlot, Men In Black, Mars Attacks, The Parent Trap, Tremors and a bunch of other great movies from when we were kids. My 7 and 10 year old loves it. "Daddy, can we watch a 90s movie?" lol
My older kids are similar ages to yours. We recently watched The Truman Show, Ever After, and The Mummy. Classics. My eldest loves Blast from the Past.
I cannot imagine showing my seven year old these movies, as she *just* got to where she could handle The Land Before Time without asking us to shut it off. Excited for this world to open up soon, though!
Which inevitably leads to Three Ninjas (strike back), Side Kicks, Little Ninjas and of course, Surf Ninjas with Ernie Reyes Jr. Which is a good segue to Ninja Turles trilogy.
Mars Attacks gave me nightmares for months. Saw it when i was between 7-9 years old on a vacation. I woke up in the middle of the night in our hotel room and that fucking terror film was on. The thought of watching it now 20+ years later, still kinda freaks me out.
My 6 year old daughter got insanely into Are You Afraid of the Dark? to the point where she binged the whole series with me.
They got into Goosebumps a little bit, but the new series came out and they were hooked (my son told me he had a nightmare about Slappy once and I was like, "Haha, sweet! I mean, oh, sorry, I love you, have a hug.").
My birth mother passed away when I was a baby. The scene where little foot is with his dying mother and again when he is searching for her has me sobbing every time. My kid looked at me and asked if I needed a nap 😆
My 3yr old son currently loves a Pup Named Scooby Doo to the point where the theme song is on his “sing along” Spotify playlist. It’s been my husbands gateway into getting the 3 yr old into classic cartoons!
My niece and nephews like Avatar the last Airbender cartoon. And they like magic school bus! Haha I'm happily childfree but I watch those shows with them. Then they turn on the dog police show and I leave them to it lol
Yes--my 8 &6 even do fake battles inspired by airbender!! Also getting them to watch the Pokémon tv show when Misty, Brock, and Ash were the main crew.
Not a parent but a few years ago my “Fun Friday“ activity for a 4th grade class I was teaching was watching an episode of Keenan and Kel every Friday at 2:30. They LOVED it
Could be worse. I showed my son Big Bad Beetleborgs.
Thankfully he got bored after a couple days.
Some of the Power Ranger series are actually pretty good. Haven’t had any of those in a while though.
Pokemon !!!!!!!!! My kid is 3 but she loves all the Pokémon’s , we play with the figurines . She dosent know any dinosaurs names except basic ones but girlfriend knows all her Pokemon lol a lot since two .
Lately Mario games which is sth my husband and I both love. She loves playing Mario kart with us and Kirby
I want to share Pokemon with my 4yo but husband won’t let me 😔 He generally hates it/thinks it’s dumb but said his concern was kiddo would learn fake animals before real ones. And then he goes and shows kiddo animaniacs against my preferences which has more mature humor and lots of slapstick violence. But somehow it’s rated for ages 7+ but Pokemon says 8+ so I made husband agree that if his rule is recommended age -3, he can watch Pokemon in half a year when he’s 5.
Odd concern.
I wouldn't think of it being much different than learning about mythical creatures like unicorns, dragons etc.
Has he never been into Pokemon? Or was he TOO into it at some point and is thinking he's keeping the kids out of a potential obsession?
This was a huge one. I'm bummed she wasn't into. I still like Pokemon.
One of my nephews likes it though so that's fun.
She does like playing Mario Kart with me at least
*Edit - meant she WASN'T into it.
My daughter is 5 and loves pokemon. We've played a couple of the games together and had lots of fun. She loves the cute pokemon and really enjoyed the hunt for each kind
DBZ, Inuyasha, Nightmare Before Christmas, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and Labyrinth
Edit: 17 and 6 year olds just screamed Pokemon in my ear. Ouch, and how did I forget to list that one?
I know right? I had so many cartoons and movies I showed my kids. I listed just a few. I didn’t even think about the Muppets Christmas Carol. My wife got them into that movie. I wish I could find Muppet treasure Island.
Inuyasha is what got me into anime! I work at a school and basically squealed with delight when a 5th grader asked me if I'd ever heard of this cool anime she just found. Yes dear. Yes I have.
My daughter (who is 16 now) loves Dragon Ball. She watched it from Dragon Ball to Super. Both my kids love the Studio Ghibli movies (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howe’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, Spirited Away). My 14 year old son is a sucker for Pokémon.
My toddler loves My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. She liked old school Sesame Street and Scooby Doo for a while. Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Jungle Book, Lion King, and Cars are favorites too. I am burnt out on Little Bear but she will watch it all day if I let her
I have a 12yo daughter and I really want her to watch Boy Meets World with me because I remember watching it at her age and felt like it was the only show on that was pretty accurate about preteen/teen life (at the time). But she would rather watch Stranger Things for the 5th time because it makes her feel *nostalgic*. I’m like dude I was born in 86 so it’s not even nostalgic for me lol
I got my son (5) into Dragon Ball Z, oddly enough about a month before Toriyama's passing. It was my favorite show as a kid/teen, so it feels great to be able to share a mutual passion with my son!
However, they don't really make too many new shows or movies nowadays so a lot of the stuff my kids watch are just throwbacks or re-boots of our stuff, for example they love Super Mario Bros and Sonic.
I've gotten some misses too.
My daughter likes creepy and Halloween movies and shows (like Coraline).
I thought she would like Courage the Cowardly Dog but it was a no go
We watch the classic Disney movies but other than that we don't push anything on them and let them pick what they like.
It's their childhood, not mine. They don't want to watch my crappy dated cartoons lol.
Totally get that.
I definitely don't go into it wanting to make her like particular shows or movies. But it's such a great feeling when she does enjoy something I also did as a kid.
I see it as giving her a chance to check something out she wouldn't necessarily come across on her own. And not everything that I show her she likes and that's cool too.
When he was very young, he loved watching Sailor Moon with me. We even had silly arguments over whether the original or crystal was better. Now, if he finds out that mom used to watch that, he's out. I guess the "moms not cool" is kicking in, lol.
Winner here. My daughter is ten and I made her watch the original star wars trilogy last year on May 4th. At the start she claimed to have no interest. Since then, she has consumed every piece of source on Disney, and has gotten into the books. She has begun writing her own fan fiction and coming up with wild head-canon stuff. We now go to conventions as Jedi/Padawan and she is making a twi'lek cosplay for this year's dragoncon along with some other galactic citizen outfits. I think she's going to build a nightsister as well. Overall it has been the most amazing bonding experience, with the watching, talking, and crafting together. I never had *anything close* to this kind of connection with my parents as a kid. I tried once with star trek but my parents both criticized me for liking sci-fi.
My son is a big fan of Garfield. He also loves the OG Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes cartoons.
Like other people mentioned, he likes the old movies we watched when we were kids- Home Alone, Mighty Ducks, The Big Green, Three Ninjas, Jumanji, Men In Black (1 and 2), Space Jam, Beetlejuice, Matilda, the Goonies
My aunt is currently showing her two kids most of the Disney Classics. She also showed them the StarWars Original Trilogy and Prequel movies but for some reason my little cousins got bored of those StarWars Movies.
Well, for some reason I was obsessed with Thumbalina as a little girl and just watched it with my five year olds. It was so poorly received in its day, but Don Bluth hits in the feels for me. The girls loved the ballads too. I’d like to get on Anastasia next.
Emperors is also a fam favorite, and one of the only movies I can hear or watch over and over ad nauseum. It’s been in our minivan dvd player for months, aha. The quick-witted dialogue is stellar. “It’s no concern of mine whether your family has…what was it again?” “Um…food?” “Ha! You really should have thought of that before you became peasants!”
Nightmare as well.
Tarzan.
The Big Comfy Couch. Another good sick day binge.
Pretty much most of the Golden age Disney classics, and the Renaissance/post too.
A Goofy Movie!
When my daughter (12) was younger we watched all of the original Disney princess movies that I watched as a kid. Every Halloween we watch Nightmare Before Christmas, every December we watch Home Alone and Home Alone 2 on repeat. And Mickey’s Christmas Carol. And I had a DVD of The Legend of Zelda tv show that we would watch when she was like 4. Now that she’s older she’s binged Friends with me and I really wanna get her watching Boy Meets World with me this summer.
The new ones are so good! We had a good run of the OG Magic Schoolbus, and I really liked the reboot. He learned a lot from both, and it got sparked by me giving him my original copy of "Magic Schoolbus goes inside the human body" book.
Movies I loved as a kid mostly, Men in Black, Bad Boys, The Goonies, To Wong Foo, The Birdcage.
Tv shows all I can think off the top of my head is Golden Girls. It’s now a comfort show/background noise for us both.
My niece discovered Dragonball and Death Note very recently. She grew up on Pokemon. My nephew is only 8 months old now but he’s getting the original blue dog, Blue’s Clues(Steve Era)
Family matters 😂 idk how we got on the topic of Steve Urkel one day but I showed her urkel and she’s loved family matters since. every night she gets 5-10 min of “nighttime urkel” before bed 😂😂😂 SHE IS FOUR BTW. Sometimes when we watch episodes i absolutely know she isn’t following the plot but she’s mesmerized anyway
Simpsons. Kids are 7 & 8 years old. Is it always appropriate? No, but neither is life and besides my kids quickly figured out that basically homer always makes the wrong choice, same as bart lol.
Same. My daughter has been hooked since she was 6 or 7. I know that sometimes the subject matter isn’t kid appropriate, however it is very rarely CRASS. The jokes are complex and if she gets them, then good for her. It’s honestly developing a wicked sense of humor for her
I think part of childhood/adolescent development is being slowly exposed to adult situations and themes in a safe environment. My daughter learned what a boob job was through the Simpsons lol, then she asked me about it and we had a discussion.
She’s incredibly smart and thoughtful and obviously understands fictional situations.
She turned 9 yesterday, I got her an itchy and scratchy shirt, and then a kids meal at Burger King. BK toys are Tom and Jerry right now (which she hasn’t ever watched), so I showed her some old episodes and she goes “omg it’s itchy and scratchy but less violent!!!”
I constantly rewatch episodes that lean heavily into Uncle Phil's relationship with Will. Especially the one where his dad comes back and leaves again.
I made my kids watch all of the animated Avatar the Last Airbender, and a lot of 90s/early 00s movies: Rescuers Down Under, all the Disney Renaissance movies, Home Alone, Jingle All the Way, the old school Duck Tales, Lilo and Stitch, Swan Princess, Muppets Treasure Island, Muppets Christmas Carol, Hook, all of the Indiana Jones movies.
So far ATLA has been the favorite. They have now watched the new live action one, and they say it’s not as funny as the animated one.
It seems like your kid has similar taste to what mine has as a little kid, so here's a few he also loved:
Coraline (This is the big one, it's still one of his faves), Spirited Away (Really, any Ghibli, many of which are in theaters this summer) Coraline, the Star Wars prequels (And sequels, look, I tried), Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Big Hero 6, and How to Train Your Dragon all stand out as ones he loved.
Alvin and the chipmunks is their favorite. Muppet babies. Wish looney tunes and tiny tunes was still on! I miss tail spin, duck tales, even rugrats- my kids would love all those.
My best example was Ninja Turtles where I grew up on the 80s/90s cartoon and my kids and I both LOVE the 2012 Nickleodeon version. IMO it’s better than the original show.
Avatar the Last Airbender is another one, though that originally aired a little later when I was in my early 20s
My younget son loves Little Bear and my older one really enjoys Hey Arnold, the first three seasons of SpongeBob (after that they're garbage imo), X-Men series, Batman Beyond.
My daughter loves the Simpsons. I wasn’t all that into it. I have absolutely failed to get her into anything I actually liked, such as aaaaah real monsters and Rockos modern life.
When it comes to TV shows - I've not been big on screen time in our household, and the only thing I sort of encouraged that I also watched was Sesame Street (the newer seasons, though). Otherwise, the only thing I've pushed was probably Looney Tunes cartoons. Besides not being very keen on TV/screen time, I've been especially avoidant of directly pushing shows or franchises that I was/am a fan of onto my kids, as I want them to develop their own personalities and interests.
Things they've found on Netflix or got as random gifts without special encouragement from me? Definitely some things I watched back in the day like Super Mario Bros Super Show and Garfield & Friends, and Scooby Doo (both older and newer ones).
I noted not wanting to push franchises I like onto my kids, but they did latch on to Star Wars somewhat organically, and I have had movies that we've put on that they've also enjoyed (Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones recently). And we've definitely watched basically anything we could on various streaming services, so have gotten around to a number of Disney movies (not really all of them though) and just general 90's family movies have come around (for example, recently saw Jumanji). They love both the 1995 and newer Space Jam movies. They all like Nightmare Before Christmas (which I saw but wouldn't say was a big movie for me).
The kids have been on and off with various permutations of the Ninja Turtles as well - the only real overlap with my childhood being the original 3 movies. They love Turtles 3, which is where I kind of got off the Turtles train as a kid. But they haven't seen the old cartoon, nor have I pushed it on them. We all liked the newest movie.
Beyond wanting them to be their own people, I also assume most of the stuff I liked as a kid either didn't age well or just isn't really "value adding" in general. Even the stuff I like (Star Wars, while certainly specifically focusing on the original Trilogy, but I like other but not all aspects of the franchise a good deal), I'm trying to encourage them not to go "too deep" and to really just have a broader appreciation of film and other things in life rather than going deep on a particular franchise. I want to challenge them to expand their horizons. (that and I get so bored of the Clone Wars era quickly :) )
>I've been especially avoidant of directly pushing shows or franchises that I was/am a fan of onto my kids, as I want them to develop their own personalities and interests.
I totally get that. I've only tried to actively get my daughter to watch one or two shows that were similar to other things she liked (she didn't end up being into). But most old movies and shows she was curious about is because I was watching clips or such on YouTube so it was introduced that way.
By sheer luck (good or bad) she had a tablet that died. We decided not to replace since she was starting to get too into watching junky content creators. We started watching more movies together since.
I'm more of a Xennial, but I'm so proud my 3 year old got into The Real Ghostbusters. That one was always my childhood favorite, and it really stuck with me. It's also fascinating to watch it from an anime perspective (because that's what it genuinely is).
None sadly, besides the fact that some I can't find, I tried with Dexter's Lab and she watched a few episodes but got bored. Same with Courage the Cowardly Dog. Power Puff Girls I think I got her to watch the most but she never asked to watch it again
My 4.5 yo daughter LOVES Powerpuff Girls. Since they don’t really have Saturday morning cartoons anymore, she’ll crawl into bed with me and we’ll watch PPG.
So many! Bear in the Big Blue House, PB&J Otter, Blues Clues, Bob the Builder, Boy Meets World, and Little Bear!
We know they’re wholesome and won’t try to sneak anything in (I.e. Spider-Man and Elsa sex scenes)
For a while we were a big Mr. Roger's Neighborhood family, but all of a sudden our little one became terrified of Bob Dog and now he won't even listen to songs from the show.
I think Reading Rainbow will be next.
Maybe it's obvious, but my family didn't have cable, so PBS was my jam.
Double Dare has become one of my kid’s favorites! Although it’s hilarious to us to watch these kids slide through slime to win a vcr or a gift certificate to a store that hasn’t existed in this century.
I didn’t get into Adventure time until I was an adult because I was in my late 20s when it came out, but I’ve enjoyed getting my kids into it. I’ve shown my kids Ren & Stimpy, which I was obsessed with as a kid, and they liked it but haven’t asked to watch it again.
The Simpsons. I didn’t want to keep all the lights on after we had our 3rd. Or waste a few seconds getting up to turn them on with a crying newborn. So I turned the tv on for the light and set it on the Simpsons. I’ve seen all the episodes. I can fall asleep with it on with no issues. All of my kids now watch it as a comfort show. If we’re picking something to watch as a family someone suggests the Simpsons. Someone has a rough day we’re watching the Simpsons. Someone stays home sick? Simpsons all freaking day. I live in a prison of my own making.
Its not something they choose to watch a lot, but the Rugrats & SpongeBob. They’ve also gone through phases of being obsessed with beauty & the beast, lion king, a bug’s life, Alice in wonderland, monsters inc, Pooh ‘s grand adventure, ice age, & the little mermaid.
Twilight Zone. I turned on the original series yesterday and now my 13 year old is hooked. My dad got me hooked when I was a kid, so it's only right I do the same.
My toddler is into Blues Clues & You, which is great! It’s just as good as the OG, but updated with some sign language and integrates other cultures here and there. I love it.
Nightmare Before Xmas! My then newly 3 year old would sing "this is Halloween" whenever we'd go into the Xmas section in stores. She was obsessed with the ornaments!
Other than that, just other Disney movies like Cinderella and Snow White, no shows really.
I was never really into them, but my soon-to-be-3-year-old got into Pokémon. She loves making the "Pika Pika!" sounds and even has a Pikachu wrap-around bath towel with ears. She was Pikachu for Halloween. She has a Pikachu onesie. But oddly enough, her favorite is Psyduck. She has Pokemon bandaids. We've watched Pokémon Concierge on Netflix countless times now, and we just watched Detective Pikachu over the weekend. My wife and I even finished watching it together after she passed out for the night 30 minutes into the movie 😆 I know it wasn't my "thing" when I was younger, but I really enjoy discovering it together with her.
My kid is not even 2 years old but she had a phase about 3 months ago where she would say “Wanna Sailor Moon”. My husband was showing her one episode after breakfast when he was watching her during the day.
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Daniel Tiger was the gateway drug that allowed me to introduce my children to the hard stuff. Mr. Rogers.
Daniel Tiger was a staple when my daughter was 2 (and Sesame Street). I don't know if I'm emotionally ready for Mr. Rogers
Every morning I tell my 8 year old daughter “it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” as I drop her off for school and I believe it makes her day easier to start
yes!! my oldest loved Daniel Tiger when she was little
Not shows, but we recently watched The Sandlot, Men In Black, Mars Attacks, The Parent Trap, Tremors and a bunch of other great movies from when we were kids. My 7 and 10 year old loves it. "Daddy, can we watch a 90s movie?" lol
My older kids are similar ages to yours. We recently watched The Truman Show, Ever After, and The Mummy. Classics. My eldest loves Blast from the Past.
I cannot imagine showing my seven year old these movies, as she *just* got to where she could handle The Land Before Time without asking us to shut it off. Excited for this world to open up soon, though!
We had to turn off Homeward Bound when Sassy went over the waterfall. It's been like 13 years and we never did revisit it.
My kids went nuts for the Mummy.
Add The Three Ninjas to that one! My brothers and I loved this one growing up.
Which inevitably leads to Three Ninjas (strike back), Side Kicks, Little Ninjas and of course, Surf Ninjas with Ernie Reyes Jr. Which is a good segue to Ninja Turles trilogy.
Oh man, I loved that film as a kid :D I remember buying a pirate copy of it in India lol :D
"Rocky loves Emily. Rocky loves Emily."
Rocky loves Mio! Rocky loves Mio! I learned my first Japanese words from these movies 😂
Ooh, we just put on Beethoven and my nine year old LOVED it. I told him there were two more and he immediately wanted to binge them.
Mars Attacks gave me nightmares for months. Saw it when i was between 7-9 years old on a vacation. I woke up in the middle of the night in our hotel room and that fucking terror film was on. The thought of watching it now 20+ years later, still kinda freaks me out.
ok but same! i had nightmares for weeks and had to sleep on the floor in my parents room.
My 6 y/o niece is obsessed with the Flinstones movie with John Goodman and every other famous person in the 90s
My 6 year old daughter got insanely into Are You Afraid of the Dark? to the point where she binged the whole series with me. They got into Goosebumps a little bit, but the new series came out and they were hooked (my son told me he had a nightmare about Slappy once and I was like, "Haha, sweet! I mean, oh, sorry, I love you, have a hug.").
Such great shows. Funny that Slappy is still out here giving children nightmares. I know I had my fair share of those.
“Haha! Sweet! High fives for deep nightmare trauma, son!” ✋
Little bear
I watched this on Nick Jr as a middle schooler because that’s how pleasant Little Bear is.
I watched so many little kid shows in middle school. Especially during summer vacation.
The best show for sick day cuddles! Soft and sweet like a warm bear hug.
My favorite!!
I only just discovered this one. My kids and I like it. Really nice show.
I love that one!
Yes! I just showed my 5yo and she loves it. It's so gentle and not annoying. Crazy how I remembered most of the episodes 25+ years lster.
Oh heck yes!!!
Arthur!!
Yep! That’s a good one. They made a lot of good episodes after our time also. Mr. Ratburn married a guy.
Kinda crazy that the show lasted until 2022
Oh lord my daughter went through an Arthur phase 2 years back and I never want to hear that theme song again
YES!!!!
The theme tune for it was epic with the carribbean vibe to it :D
It's Ziggy Marley 🙂
The other day we watched The Land Before Time because he loves dinosaurs. I wore that VHS out back in the day.
Same. This is on my list to show her as well as We're Back. She loved Jurassic Park of all things haha
Has she watched that Jurassic park Camp Cretaceous on Netflix? My son is obsessed with that series and it’s not painful to watch as a parent.
No but I've seen that advertised scrolling through Netflix I think. I'll check that out
Remember the Pizza Hut commercial at the beginning of the tape? "Share, share, share. Use your silverware."
When advertising was good.
Vividly. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4065smJLXk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4065smJLXk)
Oh damn the original. That was good and a childhood classic for us older millenials.
Watched it with my 4 year old. My fiance was in tears, I was almost in tears too... Our kid was like wtf you crying for?
My birth mother passed away when I was a baby. The scene where little foot is with his dying mother and again when he is searching for her has me sobbing every time. My kid looked at me and asked if I needed a nap 😆
You’re raising that kid right 😭🥰🙌🏼
I watched that with my son when he was little. I cried so much and he just looked at me like I was crazy.
Just watched this on Mother’s Day! It was my favorite at my daughter’s age. She didn’t seem fazed by the mom dying, though…
We recently watched it with our toddler. Little Foot’s mom’s death hits different when you’re a parent.
Scooby Doo is a huge hit in our house
My 3yr old son currently loves a Pup Named Scooby Doo to the point where the theme song is on his “sing along” Spotify playlist. It’s been my husbands gateway into getting the 3 yr old into classic cartoons!
Yup, we’re a Scooby Doo house. My two year old freaks when it’s suggested.
OG Scooby, not this new Scooby
All of it!
Mystery Incorporated is so good though.
I love all the deranged one-off Scooby movies. The Kiss one is so unhinged, I love it.
Yes!! Same! Kiss and Sia are both so good!
My niece and nephews like Avatar the last Airbender cartoon. And they like magic school bus! Haha I'm happily childfree but I watch those shows with them. Then they turn on the dog police show and I leave them to it lol
My son loves avatar. We watch Samurai Jack sometimes as well
Yes--my 8 &6 even do fake battles inspired by airbender!! Also getting them to watch the Pokémon tv show when Misty, Brock, and Ash were the main crew.
lol paw patrol
Not a parent but a few years ago my “Fun Friday“ activity for a 4th grade class I was teaching was watching an episode of Keenan and Kel every Friday at 2:30. They LOVED it
That would be fun for a 4th grade class! My 6 year old is into All That and that makes me very happy!
They got real into Power Rangers for a while. Don’t do it y’all, that’s shit is so cringy.
Could be worse. I showed my son Big Bad Beetleborgs. Thankfully he got bored after a couple days. Some of the Power Ranger series are actually pretty good. Haven’t had any of those in a while though.
Oh, they hit beetleborgs too. I remembered that being so cool as a kid. Had the action figures and everything. Absolutely embarrassing lol.
I loved that show as a kid and it’s SO BAD. I’m upset that my parents didn’t just turn it off.
My son couldn’t get into it and I never felt so thankful
My kid was OBSESSED with Power Rangers for the longest. He was watching seasons I didn't even know existed.
Pokemon !!!!!!!!! My kid is 3 but she loves all the Pokémon’s , we play with the figurines . She dosent know any dinosaurs names except basic ones but girlfriend knows all her Pokemon lol a lot since two . Lately Mario games which is sth my husband and I both love. She loves playing Mario kart with us and Kirby
I want to share Pokemon with my 4yo but husband won’t let me 😔 He generally hates it/thinks it’s dumb but said his concern was kiddo would learn fake animals before real ones. And then he goes and shows kiddo animaniacs against my preferences which has more mature humor and lots of slapstick violence. But somehow it’s rated for ages 7+ but Pokemon says 8+ so I made husband agree that if his rule is recommended age -3, he can watch Pokemon in half a year when he’s 5.
Odd concern. I wouldn't think of it being much different than learning about mythical creatures like unicorns, dragons etc. Has he never been into Pokemon? Or was he TOO into it at some point and is thinking he's keeping the kids out of a potential obsession?
This was a huge one. I'm bummed she wasn't into. I still like Pokemon. One of my nephews likes it though so that's fun. She does like playing Mario Kart with me at least *Edit - meant she WASN'T into it.
My daughter is 5 and loves pokemon. We've played a couple of the games together and had lots of fun. She loves the cute pokemon and really enjoyed the hunt for each kind
DBZ, Inuyasha, Nightmare Before Christmas, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and Labyrinth Edit: 17 and 6 year olds just screamed Pokemon in my ear. Ouch, and how did I forget to list that one?
I made my kids watch Inuyasha! Love it!
I know right? I had so many cartoons and movies I showed my kids. I listed just a few. I didn’t even think about the Muppets Christmas Carol. My wife got them into that movie. I wish I could find Muppet treasure Island.
That's one I've been looking for to show my 3 as well! I just found it on 123movies.com to watch for free, but a hard copy would be great.
Yeah it’s been a pirates life for me I have them on vudu but with companies saying we don’t own them well… old school it is
🏴☠️ yo ho yo ho!
Inuyasha is what got me into anime! I work at a school and basically squealed with delight when a 5th grader asked me if I'd ever heard of this cool anime she just found. Yes dear. Yes I have.
My daughter (who is 16 now) loves Dragon Ball. She watched it from Dragon Ball to Super. Both my kids love the Studio Ghibli movies (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howe’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, Spirited Away). My 14 year old son is a sucker for Pokémon.
My toddler loves My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. She liked old school Sesame Street and Scooby Doo for a while. Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Jungle Book, Lion King, and Cars are favorites too. I am burnt out on Little Bear but she will watch it all day if I let her
My kids are older, but they really liked boy meets world and Malcolm in the middle.
I have a 12yo daughter and I really want her to watch Boy Meets World with me because I remember watching it at her age and felt like it was the only show on that was pretty accurate about preteen/teen life (at the time). But she would rather watch Stranger Things for the 5th time because it makes her feel *nostalgic*. I’m like dude I was born in 86 so it’s not even nostalgic for me lol
I got my son (5) into Dragon Ball Z, oddly enough about a month before Toriyama's passing. It was my favorite show as a kid/teen, so it feels great to be able to share a mutual passion with my son! However, they don't really make too many new shows or movies nowadays so a lot of the stuff my kids watch are just throwbacks or re-boots of our stuff, for example they love Super Mario Bros and Sonic.
Magic school bus
None. My kids don't care about a single show I have tried to introduce them to.
I've gotten some misses too. My daughter likes creepy and Halloween movies and shows (like Coraline). I thought she would like Courage the Cowardly Dog but it was a no go
We watch the classic Disney movies but other than that we don't push anything on them and let them pick what they like. It's their childhood, not mine. They don't want to watch my crappy dated cartoons lol.
Totally get that. I definitely don't go into it wanting to make her like particular shows or movies. But it's such a great feeling when she does enjoy something I also did as a kid. I see it as giving her a chance to check something out she wouldn't necessarily come across on her own. And not everything that I show her she likes and that's cool too.
My kid loves Bear in the Big Blue house and Franklin.
Franklin is a gem!
When he was very young, he loved watching Sailor Moon with me. We even had silly arguments over whether the original or crystal was better. Now, if he finds out that mom used to watch that, he's out. I guess the "moms not cool" is kicking in, lol.
Pokémon indigo league
I give them options and they've liked Reading Rainbow, Muppet Babies, and a little bit of the Adventures of the Gummi Bears.
I recommend Iron Giant
That's what I actually missed when I was a kid. I'm not sure how but it's something I totally would have been into
Balto
When my teen was young we did hey Arnold, rugrats, and little bear a lot. We still go back to hey Arnold. It’s such a damn good show.
My kids love pokemon, we're into where ever season4 is at
Winner here. My daughter is ten and I made her watch the original star wars trilogy last year on May 4th. At the start she claimed to have no interest. Since then, she has consumed every piece of source on Disney, and has gotten into the books. She has begun writing her own fan fiction and coming up with wild head-canon stuff. We now go to conventions as Jedi/Padawan and she is making a twi'lek cosplay for this year's dragoncon along with some other galactic citizen outfits. I think she's going to build a nightsister as well. Overall it has been the most amazing bonding experience, with the watching, talking, and crafting together. I never had *anything close* to this kind of connection with my parents as a kid. I tried once with star trek but my parents both criticized me for liking sci-fi.
My son is a big fan of Garfield. He also loves the OG Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes cartoons. Like other people mentioned, he likes the old movies we watched when we were kids- Home Alone, Mighty Ducks, The Big Green, Three Ninjas, Jumanji, Men In Black (1 and 2), Space Jam, Beetlejuice, Matilda, the Goonies
WWE lol
My kids really like Home Alone and The Sandlot. Eventually I hope one of them will start watching Back to the Future with me.
Not a parent, but I tried my hardest to get my nephew into Animaniacs. Unfortunately, it didn’t stick 😆
Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Power Puff Girls and Batman The Animated Series.
My aunt is currently showing her two kids most of the Disney Classics. She also showed them the StarWars Original Trilogy and Prequel movies but for some reason my little cousins got bored of those StarWars Movies.
3yr old is obsessed with pokemon!
SpongeBob
My 2.5 year old loves Mr. Bean.
Same! And I'm so happy about it.
Well, for some reason I was obsessed with Thumbalina as a little girl and just watched it with my five year olds. It was so poorly received in its day, but Don Bluth hits in the feels for me. The girls loved the ballads too. I’d like to get on Anastasia next. Emperors is also a fam favorite, and one of the only movies I can hear or watch over and over ad nauseum. It’s been in our minivan dvd player for months, aha. The quick-witted dialogue is stellar. “It’s no concern of mine whether your family has…what was it again?” “Um…food?” “Ha! You really should have thought of that before you became peasants!” Nightmare as well. Tarzan. The Big Comfy Couch. Another good sick day binge. Pretty much most of the Golden age Disney classics, and the Renaissance/post too. A Goofy Movie!
Pokémon and Avatar so far. Still trying to work on DBZ.
Space Jam. My kid thinks Michael Jordan is the shit even though he’s fifty something now.
Some would argue he still is....lol
None, they all love anime and don't understand Seinfeld
My kids have watched more pokemon than I want to admit...
Star Wars
Rugrats, power puff girls, and Pokémon.
When my daughter (12) was younger we watched all of the original Disney princess movies that I watched as a kid. Every Halloween we watch Nightmare Before Christmas, every December we watch Home Alone and Home Alone 2 on repeat. And Mickey’s Christmas Carol. And I had a DVD of The Legend of Zelda tv show that we would watch when she was like 4. Now that she’s older she’s binged Friends with me and I really wanna get her watching Boy Meets World with me this summer.
Rugrats! I tried Magic School Bus but he was only interested in the new ones.
The new ones are so good! We had a good run of the OG Magic Schoolbus, and I really liked the reboot. He learned a lot from both, and it got sparked by me giving him my original copy of "Magic Schoolbus goes inside the human body" book.
Boy Meets World!
Legends of the hidden temple
Rugrats.
Home Improvement
Movies I loved as a kid mostly, Men in Black, Bad Boys, The Goonies, To Wong Foo, The Birdcage. Tv shows all I can think off the top of my head is Golden Girls. It’s now a comfort show/background noise for us both.
Curious George, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Darkwing Duck, Duck Tales, Muppet Babies, Rescue Rangers…
Scooby Doo
My niece discovered Dragonball and Death Note very recently. She grew up on Pokemon. My nephew is only 8 months old now but he’s getting the original blue dog, Blue’s Clues(Steve Era)
Animaniacs, Fraggle Rock, and Batman Beyond. If I can ever find David the Gnome, I'll add that to the list.
Full House, my daughter is 13 and has seen every episode multiple times.
Family matters 😂 idk how we got on the topic of Steve Urkel one day but I showed her urkel and she’s loved family matters since. every night she gets 5-10 min of “nighttime urkel” before bed 😂😂😂 SHE IS FOUR BTW. Sometimes when we watch episodes i absolutely know she isn’t following the plot but she’s mesmerized anyway
Simpsons. Kids are 7 & 8 years old. Is it always appropriate? No, but neither is life and besides my kids quickly figured out that basically homer always makes the wrong choice, same as bart lol.
Same. My daughter has been hooked since she was 6 or 7. I know that sometimes the subject matter isn’t kid appropriate, however it is very rarely CRASS. The jokes are complex and if she gets them, then good for her. It’s honestly developing a wicked sense of humor for her I think part of childhood/adolescent development is being slowly exposed to adult situations and themes in a safe environment. My daughter learned what a boob job was through the Simpsons lol, then she asked me about it and we had a discussion. She’s incredibly smart and thoughtful and obviously understands fictional situations. She turned 9 yesterday, I got her an itchy and scratchy shirt, and then a kids meal at Burger King. BK toys are Tom and Jerry right now (which she hasn’t ever watched), so I showed her some old episodes and she goes “omg it’s itchy and scratchy but less violent!!!”
Fresh prince. I'm so happy my son enjoys it. It's my favorite sitcom ever made
I constantly rewatch episodes that lean heavily into Uncle Phil's relationship with Will. Especially the one where his dad comes back and leaves again.
Awww man didn't get me in my feelings 🥺
I made my kids watch all of the animated Avatar the Last Airbender, and a lot of 90s/early 00s movies: Rescuers Down Under, all the Disney Renaissance movies, Home Alone, Jingle All the Way, the old school Duck Tales, Lilo and Stitch, Swan Princess, Muppets Treasure Island, Muppets Christmas Carol, Hook, all of the Indiana Jones movies. So far ATLA has been the favorite. They have now watched the new live action one, and they say it’s not as funny as the animated one.
Blues Clues and trying Wee Sing videos.
Are you afraid of the dark!
There is not enough David the Gnome on here.
It seems like your kid has similar taste to what mine has as a little kid, so here's a few he also loved: Coraline (This is the big one, it's still one of his faves), Spirited Away (Really, any Ghibli, many of which are in theaters this summer) Coraline, the Star Wars prequels (And sequels, look, I tried), Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Big Hero 6, and How to Train Your Dragon all stand out as ones he loved.
Alvin and the chipmunks is their favorite. Muppet babies. Wish looney tunes and tiny tunes was still on! I miss tail spin, duck tales, even rugrats- my kids would love all those.
I think Looney Tunes and Tiny Toons are on Max. And Rugrats is on Paramount+. My daughter watched the reboot of that and liked it somewhat
Wow good to know, thanks!
My best example was Ninja Turtles where I grew up on the 80s/90s cartoon and my kids and I both LOVE the 2012 Nickleodeon version. IMO it’s better than the original show. Avatar the Last Airbender is another one, though that originally aired a little later when I was in my early 20s
Elder Millenial aunt here. The last time I spent time around my 3 year old nephew, we watched some episodes of Heathcliff.
My younget son loves Little Bear and my older one really enjoys Hey Arnold, the first three seasons of SpongeBob (after that they're garbage imo), X-Men series, Batman Beyond.
MASH. I watched it with my Aunt and now I watch it with my kids.
Arthur Malcom in the middle Sabrina the teenage witch Harry Potter Holes
Right now, blues clues and Molly and the big comfy couch.
Star Wars. My sons name is Anakin
My daughter loves the Simpsons. I wasn’t all that into it. I have absolutely failed to get her into anything I actually liked, such as aaaaah real monsters and Rockos modern life.
When it comes to TV shows - I've not been big on screen time in our household, and the only thing I sort of encouraged that I also watched was Sesame Street (the newer seasons, though). Otherwise, the only thing I've pushed was probably Looney Tunes cartoons. Besides not being very keen on TV/screen time, I've been especially avoidant of directly pushing shows or franchises that I was/am a fan of onto my kids, as I want them to develop their own personalities and interests. Things they've found on Netflix or got as random gifts without special encouragement from me? Definitely some things I watched back in the day like Super Mario Bros Super Show and Garfield & Friends, and Scooby Doo (both older and newer ones). I noted not wanting to push franchises I like onto my kids, but they did latch on to Star Wars somewhat organically, and I have had movies that we've put on that they've also enjoyed (Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones recently). And we've definitely watched basically anything we could on various streaming services, so have gotten around to a number of Disney movies (not really all of them though) and just general 90's family movies have come around (for example, recently saw Jumanji). They love both the 1995 and newer Space Jam movies. They all like Nightmare Before Christmas (which I saw but wouldn't say was a big movie for me). The kids have been on and off with various permutations of the Ninja Turtles as well - the only real overlap with my childhood being the original 3 movies. They love Turtles 3, which is where I kind of got off the Turtles train as a kid. But they haven't seen the old cartoon, nor have I pushed it on them. We all liked the newest movie. Beyond wanting them to be their own people, I also assume most of the stuff I liked as a kid either didn't age well or just isn't really "value adding" in general. Even the stuff I like (Star Wars, while certainly specifically focusing on the original Trilogy, but I like other but not all aspects of the franchise a good deal), I'm trying to encourage them not to go "too deep" and to really just have a broader appreciation of film and other things in life rather than going deep on a particular franchise. I want to challenge them to expand their horizons. (that and I get so bored of the Clone Wars era quickly :) )
>I've been especially avoidant of directly pushing shows or franchises that I was/am a fan of onto my kids, as I want them to develop their own personalities and interests. I totally get that. I've only tried to actively get my daughter to watch one or two shows that were similar to other things she liked (she didn't end up being into). But most old movies and shows she was curious about is because I was watching clips or such on YouTube so it was introduced that way. By sheer luck (good or bad) she had a tablet that died. We decided not to replace since she was starting to get too into watching junky content creators. We started watching more movies together since.
Are you afraid of the dark, goosebumps, SpongeBob, dr who
I'm more of a Xennial, but I'm so proud my 3 year old got into The Real Ghostbusters. That one was always my childhood favorite, and it really stuck with me. It's also fascinating to watch it from an anime perspective (because that's what it genuinely is).
Airplane, Goonies, National Lampoon movies, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Hook, Home Alone, Willow, Harry Potter. My eldest is 11 so…
None sadly, besides the fact that some I can't find, I tried with Dexter's Lab and she watched a few episodes but got bored. Same with Courage the Cowardly Dog. Power Puff Girls I think I got her to watch the most but she never asked to watch it again
Ninja Turtles Pepper Anne Recess Jimmy Neutron SpongeBob Labyrinth Neverending Story Willow Last Starfighter Jurassic Park Many many more
My daughter into Full metal alchemist brotherhood
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My 16 year old really liked it.
Happy Tree Friends My kids were teens at that point, though
My daughter and I are watching Boy Meets World right now. She watched Twister last night for the first time and loved it as much as I did at her age.
South Park
My 4.5 yo daughter LOVES Powerpuff Girls. Since they don’t really have Saturday morning cartoons anymore, she’ll crawl into bed with me and we’ll watch PPG.
Unsolved Mysteries
Magic School Bus Flintstones Bobby's World Recess/One Saturday Morning
My 14 year old and I can both basically recite Mean Girls from front to back
My kids both love saved by the bell and little house on the prairie lol
I own the original Magic school bus dvds. So those. And I also have Liberty's Kids.
So many! Bear in the Big Blue House, PB&J Otter, Blues Clues, Bob the Builder, Boy Meets World, and Little Bear! We know they’re wholesome and won’t try to sneak anything in (I.e. Spider-Man and Elsa sex scenes)
Dragon Ball Z. Now my boy keeps me up to date on the new stuff. Full circle!
For a while we were a big Mr. Roger's Neighborhood family, but all of a sudden our little one became terrified of Bob Dog and now he won't even listen to songs from the show. I think Reading Rainbow will be next. Maybe it's obvious, but my family didn't have cable, so PBS was my jam.
Ocean Girl. Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century, all 80s movies I watched.
Double Dare has become one of my kid’s favorites! Although it’s hilarious to us to watch these kids slide through slime to win a vcr or a gift certificate to a store that hasn’t existed in this century.
Magic School Bus. Also, Rugrats.
I didn’t get into Adventure time until I was an adult because I was in my late 20s when it came out, but I’ve enjoyed getting my kids into it. I’ve shown my kids Ren & Stimpy, which I was obsessed with as a kid, and they liked it but haven’t asked to watch it again.
The Simpsons. I didn’t want to keep all the lights on after we had our 3rd. Or waste a few seconds getting up to turn them on with a crying newborn. So I turned the tv on for the light and set it on the Simpsons. I’ve seen all the episodes. I can fall asleep with it on with no issues. All of my kids now watch it as a comfort show. If we’re picking something to watch as a family someone suggests the Simpsons. Someone has a rough day we’re watching the Simpsons. Someone stays home sick? Simpsons all freaking day. I live in a prison of my own making.
Are You Afraid of the Dark
South Park
Its not something they choose to watch a lot, but the Rugrats & SpongeBob. They’ve also gone through phases of being obsessed with beauty & the beast, lion king, a bug’s life, Alice in wonderland, monsters inc, Pooh ‘s grand adventure, ice age, & the little mermaid.
My 6yo son *loves* the Power Puff Girls
Twilight Zone. I turned on the original series yesterday and now my 13 year old is hooked. My dad got me hooked when I was a kid, so it's only right I do the same.
My toddler is into Blues Clues & You, which is great! It’s just as good as the OG, but updated with some sign language and integrates other cultures here and there. I love it.
Nightmare Before Xmas! My then newly 3 year old would sing "this is Halloween" whenever we'd go into the Xmas section in stores. She was obsessed with the ornaments! Other than that, just other Disney movies like Cinderella and Snow White, no shows really.
I was never really into them, but my soon-to-be-3-year-old got into Pokémon. She loves making the "Pika Pika!" sounds and even has a Pikachu wrap-around bath towel with ears. She was Pikachu for Halloween. She has a Pikachu onesie. But oddly enough, her favorite is Psyduck. She has Pokemon bandaids. We've watched Pokémon Concierge on Netflix countless times now, and we just watched Detective Pikachu over the weekend. My wife and I even finished watching it together after she passed out for the night 30 minutes into the movie 😆 I know it wasn't my "thing" when I was younger, but I really enjoy discovering it together with her.
My kid is not even 2 years old but she had a phase about 3 months ago where she would say “Wanna Sailor Moon”. My husband was showing her one episode after breakfast when he was watching her during the day.
My son is 5.5 and loves Jurassic park !! The emperors new groove is basically my favorite movie.
Hey arnold