Categories: Parenting

Why I Won’t Let Caillou in Our House

Why I Won’t Let Caillou in Our House or on Our TV

In a nutshell, Caillou is a whiny, spoiled and annoying boy.

Don’t worry, he’s also an animated character. Caillou has his very own TV show on PBS. A fellow parent had told me that she does not let her children watch Caillou for exact same reason Caillouwill not find his way onto our TV.

Why I Won’t Let Caillou in Our House or on Our TV

Caillou always seems to get his way. This is not a good thing for parents. Children who get their way when they are three and four will expect it when they are five and six, and beyond. This is not news to anyone.

Caillou runs the house. Okay, in some ways all kids run the house, because of the attention and time and care that they need and deserve. However, the parents on the TV show Caillou don’t always take the parenting role. They let Caillou decide. They let Caillou tell them when it’s bed time.

In one episode that I watched on TV, Caillou would not go to bed because he could find is his dinosaur. His parents let him get up out of bed to look for the dinosaur. Caillou’s parents fell for the oldest trick in the book. Kids know to ask for something so they can get out of bed. Then they milk it for all the time that it’s worth. This is not about the dinosaur. This is about who is in charge. It’s about who decides when it’s bed time.

Establishing a solid and predictable bedtime is essential for toddlers and small children. Will they sometimes cry at bedtime? Yes, but they will quickly get over it. Parents need to establish that they are in control of these events, like bedtime.

Shows like Caillou undermine a parent’s authority. If a child learns from shows like Caillou that he or she can play with his parents to prolong bedtime, when else will they not follow a parent’s rules.

One of Caillou’s favorite phrases seems to be “But I don’t want to….” Except he does not just say it. He elongates it and whines the words. Sometimes this works forCaillou. This is not a less on that children need to learn. Whine and get your way.

The children’s TV show Caillou does also contain some social lessons, ideas about friendship, but the whining and spoiled behavior are too much for some parents to get past.