Children’s television. Not a day goes past when I don’t wonder whether I have ruined my beloved child for life by plonking him in front of In The Night Garden at ten weeks old in a futile attempt to persuade him that going to beddy-bye-byes before 11pm was a really good idea. Let’s just say…
Tag: CBeebies
Kids TV: Then and Now
A while back I happened to notice that the closing credits to CBeebies at 7pm as the time comes to say goodnight have changed. Suddenly, Topsy and Tim, Sarah and Duck and Chuggington have popped up, and are going to bed (or in Chuggington’s case, the train equivalent) alongside Rastamouse, the Clangers and those talking vegetables…
The Lonely Life of a Blogger
Alone she sits, in her immaculate office, the bright sunlight reflecting off the glossy white surfaces. She is a professional writer, tapping out little snippets of wisdom to share with a waiting world. Her home is her office, and she has become used to switching off all distractions and retreating into her own world, the…
The Twenty Stages of Getting a Toddler to Sleep
When you are 20 months old and a tiny tyrant, there comes a point in every day, sometime after the closing bars of the CBeebies Goodnight song, when the time has quite literally come to say goodnight, to say sleep tight until the morning light. That time rarely comes until at least an hour and…
Romeo and Juliet in the Night Garden
It was a beautiful day in the Night Garden. It’s always a beautiful day. The sun shines brightly, the temperature remains at a perfectly balmy, but not swelteringly hot, twenty-five degrees. Makka Pakka’s stones are warm to the touch, but his cavern under the bridge remains refreshingly cool, as the mighty Ha-hoos keep watch over…
Postman Pat in Still On TV Shocker
Postman Pat, Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his black and white cat. Early in the morning, just as day is dawning, he picks up all the postbags in his van…… Who among the thirtysomethings of today doesn’t look back with a warm glow of nostalgia when hearing that tune? A tune so catchy I’ve probably…
CBeebies Takes Over My Brain
I write this in a state of frenzied insomnia brought about by the theme tune to My Pet and Me whirling around incessantly in my head. It’s quite a catchy tune, that. So is The Time Has Come to Say Goodnight. And Goodbye Sun, Hello Moon. And come to think of it Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures…
The Public Badge of Good Motherhood
Argh. I have inadvertently trained Piglet to gaze blankly at the television as if in a hypnotic trance. Unfortunately, this does not only happen during In the Night Garden. This was not supposed to happen. I was supposed to be an earth mother, all joss sticks and babywearing, giving birth blissfully in a bathtub surrounded…