I grew up in the 80s and we didn’t get a television until I was 5, and then my parents never bought cable until I was gone for college.

So, I was raised on US and regional broadcast channels, mainly PBS. When I was young elementary aged, I mainly remember watching Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting.

As I rose through grade school, some of my favorites were Little House on the Prairie and a few game shows for kids, like Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, and a somewhat obscure kids variety show called Zoom. Which reminds me of another show I watched called Zoboomafoo (by the Kratt brothers). I watched anything animal related!

I never watched anything from Nickelodeon or MTV like my friends did. I was strictly forbidden from watching The Smurfs and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I still don’t understand why. I never played video games, either.

I caught flack from my parents from enjoying shows like Power Rangers and The Simpsons. When I was in high school, my parents didn’t like me watching Friends because of the “immoral” lifestyles it glorified. (cue eyeroll, then and now)

What a different relationship with television/media my now 6 year old kid has compared to mine. He watches a much wider (but developmentally appropriate for him) variety of entertainment than I did, under our supervision. I know there are supposed drawbacks to kids watching too much TV, so don’t come for me– but I see my kid’s sense of humor is way more refined than mine was at his age (maybe even more refined than mine is now?). He’s got legit skills he’s picked up from watching other kids do them on TV. His storytelling ability is 100.

He’s still not getting a smart phone until he’s 18…

Anyway, was I sheltered? Yes. Yet somehow, the shows my parents did let me watch shaped me to be an empathetic, independent thinker, which eventually caused our opinions to diverge on religion and politics. Their opinions veered even more to the right, and mine veered to the left.

I value curiosity and growth because of those shows. I value creativity and compassion. I value learning about our world and the people and creatures and ecosystems in it, and doing what we can to take care of it and each other.

And I believe this partly stems from my favorite shows as a kid! I hope that at least some of the shows my kid enjoys now helps ground those values in his soul as well.