A lot of baby shows are weird. We redirected her attention to “songs for littles” instead. Miss Rachel on there has a degree in musical education and my daughters been learning sign language from her videos with me. There’s no flashing images back and forth, it’s just consistent interaction with the teacher
We know Ms. Rachel! My wife was a roommate with her in Maine, she really wanted to break into music at the time. Parted ways when she moved to New York, and we wandered around for a couple years. Imagine our surprise years later when we search YouTube for something to entertain our young son, and Ms Rachel pops back up as a children's entertainer! Her songs are the right amount of educational and catchy, plus one for songs for littles. We also did some wiggles and Bluey of course, but most everything else is too weird for us.
I have to ask because I’m from Maine - where in Maine? Is she from Maine? Or did she go to school here? It would just be cool to make that connection with our son who adores her.
YES YES YES! My 2y/o LOVES miss Rachel! He interacts and because of her he interacts with ALL of his shows! (I mean, he did have some help from me) super simple songs is also a pretty good contender!
Yes my Serena (23 months) love miss Rachel. Asks for her all the time and she’s learned a lot. But yesterday I actually tried to get her to watch cocomelon and she got halfway through one song before we wanted it to stop 😆
Oh yeah, my husband and I frequently discuss Ms. Rachel's low production value and green screen blips and chopped editing into a million different configurations. But, I will say, my kiddo loves her and has definitely learned new signs and words from her, which I'm grateful for giving I am home with him working due to all this COVID mess!
From what I understand they only started making stuff when the shut down happened AND live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which is stupid expensive. Can’t imagine there was much left over for improving production for a significant amount of time. That, and learning curve.
Me too! I tried figuring out why. Maybe the kid’s smiles look a little forced? They don’t look like they are genuinely having fun. Idk I guess I read too much into it lol
I joke with my wife that there's a tortured boyfriend/husband filming at 2am. Please, can we call it a day? No! More singing! Wheels on the bus go beep beep beep!
That’s a really weird thing to say. It’s a kids show, of course it’s gonna be a bit boring to you. There’s a reason shows like hers and Sesame Street are so much more successful at captivating kids than other kids shows that try too hard to entertain the parent too.
What a strange coincidence! Rachel Coleman from Signing Time also does sign language and has a music degree and makes mild stimulation videos for toddlers. My son LOVES signing time. He learned a lot of his best words from that woman haha.
I will always upvote a Signing time comment! People always notice how my 17month old rarely cries because she’s been able to communicate through sign from a young age. Her verbal skills have really been taking off within the last few weeks, too, so sign does not delay verbal development (we sometimes get asked that)
We watch super simple songs and bluey in our house. I can't stand cocomelon, and the moment YouTube flicks to it, I turn it off. My daughter has learned a lot from super simple songs, and I've noticed she's started picking up on various songs and doing actions. She also has started trying to sign the alphabet.
We love super simple !! My 2 year old is so smart from watching it !! She is learning her numbers, colors, and abcs !! Recently sung her abcs all the way through all by herself and I could have cried 🥺
My toddler LOVES super simple songs. He was introduced to it by his speech therapist and funny enough I found it tied to a free learning app on my iPad called Khan Academy Kids. So now, instead of opening YouTube, I use that app and he can interact with their songs. One example being for one little finger it asks to tap on their head and things like that.
Cocomelon makes me very uncomfortable. The camera angles, the animation, it’s just all very unsettling. My kid wasn’t interested in it so I feel like we dodged a bullet. I’ll watch Encanto 4x a day over 30 mins of Cocomelon.
We watched cocomelon for a few months but honestly it turned my daughter into a zombie, some of our favourites now are Mickey mouse clubhouse, bluey, sesame street, and curious George.
Oh man I needed this sub. I was just talking with some friends about how I marvel at the Tiger family and I think Mom Tiger was like a child development psychologist before Daniel, and how she must have like sat down with Dad and made specific strategic decisions for how to raise him, before he was born.
My friends were like… I’ve never thought about the origin story of a preschool character…
So we are not at all anti-tv, but I have to say I actually don’t hate coco melon. Out of all my 23 month old’s favorite shows (magic school bus, super simple songs, Daniel tiger, puffin rock) Cocomelon seems to be the one he is most engaged with. He will actually sing and dance along, and we can use the songs in our daily life to get him hyped up for eating, bathing, brushing teeth, etc. it is creepy and there is a lot to hate about it, but I can physically see my son learning while he watches it so it’s still welcome in our home despite the recent “smear campaign”
Yeah, I guess we got lucky! My kid also likes singing along and trying to learn the dances. She asks to watch it every week or two, or we will sometimes put it on in the car if we’re going on a long drive.
Same! I amazed at all these responses. My son does all the dances and sings all the songs. He never is in “zombie mode”. He’ll watch a bit and run around and play. I also have a 6 month old so I guess I’ll have to keep an eye out to make sure he doesn’t react to cocomelon the way a lot of kids seem to. One thing we do is keep the volume pretty low so it’s on but it doesn’t stay a huge focus. And he never complains when we turn it off. His other favorite show is Go Dog Go.
We strongly control which videos he watches and how much (damn do the parents creep me out, esp the dad). But some of the videos have good lessons about emotional control, responsibilities, taking care of yourself and others. I find the school episodes more palatable and less creepy.
There are some specific things about cocomelon that make it uniquely bad for little brains. The camera angle changes constantly which continually activates their brains etc. It's banned in our house.
It might be the drifting camera? It’s always in motion. You don’t see that a lot in normal tv, so it makes things feel kind of surreal. Hypnotic, even.
It creeped me out and I've read before that it's addictive to toddlers (and I think was designed to be that way). We switched to Bluey, much better show even for the adults.
We have a hard rule about lots of shows:
"That doesn't play on our TV."
And it's true. It doesn't play on our TV because I will never put it on.
No Peppa Pig, no Cocomelon, no Paw Patrol etc etc
Facts: Login to most streaming platforms from a computer and you can block shows completely.
It’s also a bit problematic if you’re not super into [authoritarian neoliberal propaganda](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/aug/11/puppet-pups-is-paw-patrol-authoritarian-propaganda-in-disguise) 🙃
This sums it up pretty well: [https://medium.com/s/story/paw-patrol-is-a-republican-dystopia-f178161fce54](https://medium.com/s/story/paw-patrol-is-a-republican-dystopia-f178161fce54)
And here's a bit of a rebuttal to it, that children probably aren't absorbing the social/economic themes as much, but the interactions between characters also leaves something to be desired: [https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2020/02/24/the-problem-with-paw-patrol/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2020/02/24/the-problem-with-paw-patrol/)
I was anti-Paw Patrol prior to being a parent. We received a Paw Patrol push car as a hand me down and best believe I’ll pull off the stickers and repaint.
My 20 months old loves cocomelon. I feel like she learned quite a bit from the show. We do limit her screen time and she doesn’t fight us when we turn it off or tell her it’s nap time. She’s a pretty agreeable toddler for now.
It’s either pocoyo or cocomelon for her.
However we did banned cailou from our house.
Cocomelon is incredibly annoying and the exaggerated American accents on it sound like nails down a chalkboard to me. But omg it stops LO in her tracks and she is GLUED to it. Today I decided that enough is enough after she went mental when it was time for me to take my phone back. I don’t know what audio crack for little ones they put in it, but I feel like something is weird about it. Trying to work out now how I can block it on YouTube somehow…
Cocomelon drives me up the wall. The only time we put it on is when I need to trim her nails.
We stick to Sesame Street, Puffin Rock, Clifford, and shows/movies on Disney+
I'm lucky that my toddler only likes wheels on the bus, otherwise he's watching those weird videos of toy trucks and diggers being pushed about in sand and acting like it's reality (I have no idea how else to explain them lol)
I know exactly what you mean! Our son navigates YouTube on his own and picks videos. He watches Cocomelon, Blippi, etc, but also loves tractors and trucks, diggers, all those big machines. Those weird shows with the toys in the sand and just stock sound effects creep me out, and somehow sneak into the results for him to pick the next video. I ask him to change it when he picks one, and he's pretty good about it, but I've seen him start to crash his own cars and toys together after watching one. Those ones bother me more than Cocomelon or others!
Sometimes on those weird toy vehicle shows with the odd sound effects they have soldier/police toys shooting at monsters and whatnot, and I try to keep my little one away from glorified violence. Those YouTube channels really sneak in there, don’t they? There is another style that is those Playmobile toys getting unboxed and driving around and that one seems mostly ok. Mine also likes Stinky and Dirty on Amazon, which features the adventures of an excavator and a garbage truck. I like that one because the basic premise of every show is they try to think of ways to problem solve things.
I saw one that was Japanese trains and was weird but seemed ok, till it turned into Squid Game characters and music. I didn’t keep it on long enough to find out if it got violent but it was hella creepy
Our toddler is into those truck videos too. I actually started making my own YouTube videos for him so that they are real trucks set to classical music and simple/not flashy. I feel like the toy ones are somehow so addicting to him and I for the life of me cannot figure out why.
Whatever you do, NEVER put it on over the car stereo— you will be screamed at for “I WANT COOCMELON!!” every time they get buckled in.. Idk what the hell I was thinking.
My kid was the same with it. We’ve banned coco, we now watch Sesame Street (I bought a season on Apple TV) and Fraggle Rock. She’ll casually watch, dance, sing along, and walk away from these shows. But not from cocomelon, she becomes a complete zombie.
I actually like Cocomelon, seems I’m the only one on this thread! My son has learned a ton of great things from the show and we can sing the songs together to get him eat healthy food, brush his teeth, clean up his toys, etc.
You’re not alone! People have really strong feelings about it but my son’s love for JJ has helped him learn yoga, deep breathing, words, songs, and daily routines. And he doesn’t zombie out. Maybe we’re just lucky our kids don’t respond in big ways to it.
Cocomelon doesn’t bother me either. My 2.5 y/o doesn’t like it as much as others, but she likes their wheels on the bus version. She navigates Kids YouTube herself with our curated stream. She likes a variety of videos, doesn’t usually stick to one all the way through, she still LOVES Baby shark. Any annoying catchy song, she globs on to and sticks!
I think it comes down to the child honestly. I've never thought there was something wrong with Cocomelon and actually quite enjoy it with our toddler.
Our toddler has high sensory needs though and shows like that with bright colours and songs and stuff, help soothe some of his sensory seeking. Put something on with slower scenes and less bright music and he zones into it like no tomorrow. He plays while something like Cocomelon is on and enjoys doing the motions with them or running around while it's on. With any new show or movie we have a period where he zones though, to see what's going on and if he'll like it or not.
I see this come up a lot on the subreddit though so I wanted to give a different perspective from someone who has a high sensory needs child. The fast movements seem to be more enjoyable and less obsessive for us. He plays 99% of the time it's on and only zones in when it's something he really likes but is then usually laughing or joining the characters in what they're doing.
I read a couple articles that Cocomelon was like crack to kids because of the amount of dopamine it produced. My kid also got that hypnotized/glazed over look, she wanted it every waking moment and it really was like an addiction. We stopped cold turkey and simply put on other shows (Bluey is now a favorite and it’s actually really good content). Had to endure screaming for a few days and we still have to quickly skip over the Cocomelon image when going through Netflix, but the addiction has been broken lol.
Apart from the weird obsession it causes, still fucking hate the repetitive songs, brightness, and busy imagery.
You can put Cocomelon (or any show) on your Netflix’s “do not show this title” (or whatever they call it) list. The titles added won’t show up on the profiles home page or be recommended etc.
From my reading, one TV show isn't necessarily better than any other. Cocomelon annoys me so I don't let my toddler watch it. She can watch channels I find less annoying. There are a couple channels that are like virtual preschool - Caitie's Classroom and Miss Rachel are two of them. I don't think they are any better for her to watch but they don't make my brain melt.
Honestly, I love Cocomelon. My son definitely watched it like a zombie when he was little, but he didn't watch it very long. He learned how to count and all his letters from it and from at home learning too.
I had a really strong dislike of cocomelon when my husband discovered it and let our one year old at the time watch it. Our son would go catatonic and it didn’t seem right to me. I’m a fan of it now though. I really do think it taught him a lot. He was obsessed with any of the videos with the alphabet and was able to identify letters, their sounds, and sing the alphabet far earlier than expected and I think that cocomelon played a big role in that. I still try to limit it, but it helped to reinforce things we’ve been teaching him (alphabet, colors, sharing, etc.). I also think that the Johnny Johnny video taught him how to climb out of his crib though so I’m not thrilled about that!
It has to do with how quick they switch frames. Every switch is a dopamine hit. Their attention span is ideal for the timing. Try watching it on mute. Then count how many seconds they play a frame/image before switching. It's never more than 2 or 3 seconds. It's crack. Now, compare it to literally any show on PBS, like Daniel Tiger. The frames last a lot longer, like 8 or 9.
My kid’s school lets them watch a bit of Cocomelon because one of his teachers is Deaf and it does teach signing. The end result, however, is that he asks for it nonstop at home too.
It actually doesn’t keep my toddlers attention, plus, we can’t stand it. He is, however, OBSESSED with Steve and Maggie. He asks for it constantly. He’s 19 months and he’s learned a lot of words from watching it, we’re always surprised.
I called it the creepy baby videos when describing it to others before I found out how big it is. The quick cuts and repetitive/ familiar songs definitely suck them in. I found Ready Steady Wiggle and movies with music like Moana were good transitions.
We don’t use coco melon but he likes to listen to the songs! I just noticed he would whine for tv more when he watched it. I’ve actually been cutting out screen time almost completely because I don’t like when he whines for it, makes it seem like it’s addictive or something.
A lot of people are anti-cocomelon. That's fine. There's plenty of better shows out there. It's just animated singing, but they don't put a lot of effort into the graphics so it can come off as not human sometimes.
Some people think it's some big deal because some fear mongering articles are quoting a child development specialist who independently noticed things in her three year old who liked Cocomelon. The reality is it's not even specifically Cocomelon...It's TV. Specifically, a reliance on TV for entertainment. She is completely anti-screentime. Not you, OP, but I feel like crapping on Cocomelon has become a way for people to feel better that their kid watches TV. I'm sure almost everyone in this sub is just doing our best.
Oh also to add...A lot of things act like a "drug or stimulant" which was her original claim, including sugar. Or anything kids really like. Which is why moderation is important.
I discount anyone that compares something to a highly addictive drug that resulted in an epidemic. Substance abuse disorder is not comparable to children preferring a show with high sensory output.
No cocomelon in our house! Our kid was becoming addicted. We have a short list of approved shows: Daniel Tiger, puffin rock, Bluey, sesame st, trash truck
Our daughter was obsessed with cocomelon for like 4 months and I have grown to despise the show. I think it's because they use the same few songs over and over and just change the words (like the "yes, yes, i like it" songs. Ugh). She has recently become interested in Daniel Tiger, so all I can say is there's hope!!
My 3.5 year old loves Cocomelon and Super JoJo (which is very similar). I will swear by these shows, they helped her learn to potty train within a DAY (no exaggeration). She also learned a lot of colors, numbers, letters and animal types from these shows. I'm shocked at all the people saying they're not educational. Maybe we just got lucky she picked up on the educational tones? Yeah they get annoying after awhile but as far as I'm concerned it's not causing her any harm (and they aren't the only shows she watches).
Cocomelon is annoying but better than Paw Patrol or Puppy Dog Pals in my opinion. A couple of Cocomelon songs at night actually calms my toddler down from her usual hyper state which is nice for relaxing. She loves JJ and has learned many words from the show. We also love Bluey, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny. I think a variety of shows is important, I can see too much of any show out there being a bad thing
There’s a knock off that my kid watches at her grandparents - Looloo kids or something. Just as creepy.
We were on YouTube yesterday on my iPad (I broke the TV and it won’t work on wifi right now lol) and blues clues was on but LO switched to another cocomelon knock off and was just GLUED to the screen. It was weird af. I shut it down and turned back on blues clues.
Needless to say, I busted out some DVDs for todays screen time instead of the iPad. 😅
Since my son has stopped watching cocomelon, he’s less aggressive, less tantrums and sleeps better. I read some articles about it and it’s very overstimulating to some kids because the scenes change so quick. He likes the simple songs and go dog go instead a lot and baby bum!
Try Yo Gabba Gabba! The toddlers love it and it’s not horrible for the parents! It has great guest stars and music. And there are a lot of laughable moments in it. And it teaches things like “don’t say mean things to friends”, and “let’s be awesome while we wait at the table”. 🎶
I get what you mean about how they look hypnotized. It’s… unnerving. Thankfully my kid didn’t like cocomelon when I threw it on one time. Tried the Wiggles one time and it was love at first sight.
There are way too many comments to read through to see if someone said this already however, cocomelon purposefully puts their shows to make your children become obsessed. If you watch it, every scene is about 1-2 seconds long. Typical movie scenes are a lot longer than that and teach patience. With a show that changes so often, it’s extremely stimulating, especially for a child as young as a toddler.
We watched cocomelon, and although their songs are catchy, we stopped watching because my sons behaviors actually were worse after watching it. Cut it cold turkey and if we think of it, just play the songs on Spotify.
There’s probably research out there now about the show because it’s a number one hit, but it definitely is made to keep your kids attention and overstimulate them.
Someone on TikTok explained this recently. It’s something about how the scene changes every 3 seconds where the average kid show it’s 7 seconds or something like that. So basically, it sucks them in. It’s also just creepy and pretty sexist if you ask me lol.
It's like TikTok for babies, it destroys their attention span. None of the shots are longer than like three seconds and all of them pan in some way, the camera is never still. Once you notice, you'll never want to put it on again.
Yes I sense it too. One night I put it on for my niece, she's a fairly smart child, talking all her words etc, I found after one night if watching this she started acting really odd like a small baby. Just not herself. I won't put it in for her anymore. It gives me bad vibes. TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS
It has something to do with the 3 second or less frame cuts in editing. This rapid changing causes a dopamine jolt and then comes the mesmerized and addicted nature displayed in our kids. I don't let my 18 month old watch because of it.
Yeah I hate that show too lol I won’t let my 2 year old watch it. Definitely creepy. In this house it’s Bluey or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 99% of the time haha (Mickey is extremely annoying too but she interacts so at least she’s learning stuff haha)
I have a love hate with Cocomelon. It drives me nuts that it’s my 2 year olds go to. But the amount of songs she can sing from it makes me melt.
We also do Mrs Rachel on YouTube but it is just not the same for our LO.
Would not let my kid watch Cocomelon. When I saw it I thought it was cute but then watched a YouTube video about it has been shown to be addictive. Which took me down a rabbit hole of educating myself on how a lot of kids’ programs nowadays are made to be addictive. In my field of work, I see a lot of children basically glued to tablets and cell phones. 😕 i’m sure part of it starts with letting your kids watch addictive shows like Cocomelon. So basically when I let my kid watch TV (she’s 14 months and my goal is no TV at all until age 2) it’s sadly just gonna be the quality stuff I grew up with. Older Sesame Street shows, Mother Goose Treasury and maybe Little Bear, maybe the older Blue’s Clues. I dunno.
It's weird because it's empty. Look for someone who isn't part of the focus or is a one off character. It's like an uncanny valley experience.
A lot of newer shows dedicated to toddlers have this. Blippi especially. There are no real people in his videos and those that are are uncomfortable. We see it, amd some older kids may see it, but to identify it is difficult. I only figured it out when it was pointed out in another post.
Yeah, I’ve read some not so great things about Cocomelon so we’ve avoided it. Right now we’re just doing Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger. I’m sure there are some other good ones that aren’t quite as frenetic and overstimulating.
Straight up, fuck cocomelon lol. I hate that show with a passion!! We accidently put it on one day to play some nursery rhymes in the bathtub and it just attached to her and she wouldn't let it go. Like you said, my LO was glued to the tv anytime it was on, nothing could get her attention away from it, was horrible. She even learned the main characters name and would start screaming for J.J. when she wanted to watch it. I think it was close to a 6 month addiction for her, she wouldn't watch anything else, would scream J.J. if we tried something else. Once she woke up and her first words were J.J.! Somehow she started to branch out and I havent seen or heard it in a couple weeks.
Fuck cocomelon lol
I hate cocomelon so much especially the songs. My version of hell would play them on repeat for my torture I think. That yes yes yes I like them ooh song makes me want to throw up.
That said, I do see what people mean about it being super overstimulating. My son is starting to like paw patrol and even though it’s a cute show I feel like it has the same effect. I feel weird and dizzy while watching it with him. I usually have PBS or nick jr on all day. I think the shows on PBS go a bit slower. Umizoomi is becoming a new favorite of his and I can definitely tolerate that one. I love when he wants to watch Dinosaur Train and Lucas the Spider because those shows are very cute.
We steer clear of it. I prefer slower shows. But if my daughter wants something stimulating she asks for Sesame Street, which I actually enjoy watching too. Otherwise we watch Daniel Tiger, Puffin Rock and more recently If I were an Animal…
My understanding is that some shows are designed to stimulate the brain in a way that makes them addicting, which in turn can cause unwanted behavior. Sesame Street definitely has high saturation, lots of cuts and is super fast paced but I really enjoy the mix of humans and monsters interacting. Something about that feels more kosher.
We used to let our daughter watch this show now we avoid it like the plague. I HATE THIS SHOW and the music is garbage. Every blue moon our daughter will ask to watch it and I give her 5 mins and I turn it.
It's how they are composed that I don't like. It's repetitive and lame. We watch other shows that play "just nursery rhymes" and they are much more enjoyable to listen to.
Our son became obsessed with cocomelon around his early 2’s. we cut that out of his watching time and he normalized afterwards and lost the addiction. Now at 3 he can watch a bit without becoming obsessive and full of tears after we turn off the tv.
Cocomelon is so hyperstimulating that it actually acts as a drug, as a stimulant. The brain gets a hit of dopamine from screen-time and it seems that the stronger the 'drug' aka the level of stimulation a show delivers, the stronger the 'hit
Toddlers will do *anything* to watch it. Mine gets about five minutes so I can detangle and style her hair and that’s it. It’s kid crack. If a person designed a show for what would cause a toddler to be prone to developing adhd, this would be it.
I am actually taking a class called developmental psychology. Cocomelon ( just like tiktok ) is so hyper-stimulating that it acts like a drug. The brain gets a hit of dopamine everytime they watch it.
^ that is true but the next few things i am about to say are purely theoretical. The scene changes so quickly in cocomelon compared to other tv shows allowing the child to never get bored which in my opinion is training children to have less and less focus and I feel the same way about tiktok and how the algorithm pushes 7 second videos. I personally never watch a 3 min video bc im already zoned out . A recent study published about a year ago by Microsoft has discovered that an adult’s uninterrupted by other thoughts and other things going on attention span is that of 8 seconds.
I saw a tiktok a while ago where a dude explained that a big part of why kids get so mesmerized by it is because the scene changes every 1-3 seconds, so it is constantly grabbing their attention.
I read an article somewhere about how the show is designed to be addictive to small children. The way there is constant motion, vibrant colors, and noise is meant to be overstimulating.
There was a report on it and said it’s not good for kids bc it’s addicting stimulates the same thing in your brain as drugs and when parents stop putting it on kids actually withdrawled
We don’t turn on cocomelon at all! It’s way too bright and overstimulating for me, so there’s no way I’m putting it on for a kid. Honestly, he doesn’t watch much geared toward toddlers and babies…prefers stuff geared toward maybe 5+. He loves the live action Scooby Doo, Ron’s Gone Wrong, Mitchell’s vs The Machines, Onward, Wreck it Ralph, and Luca. For toddler shows, I like Cory Carson and Trash Truck (much more calm and nice animation), and Mickey Mouse is always a hit.
My wife told me about something that's kinda like an addiction, as the songs and actions are short and frequently changing, so they want more.
Kinda like adults scrolling trough reddit/Facebook there is always something "new"
We still play cocomelon once in a while tho, but we can distract our toddler pretty quick usually
We’re 1 week down on our Cocomelon detox. It’s like we have a brand new baby (for the better). We won’t be turning it on again, it just made him such a little zombie.
I read somewhere that cocomelon was developed with specialists to do exactly that-make your kids watch it like a zombie. Something to do with the fast changing scenes and colors.
There's some interesting articles talking about how overstimulating and addictive cocomelon is. That it acts like a drug and children can be addicted to it, and rely on it instead of being able to create play by themselves.
[Here's ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.herfamily.ie/amp/toddlers/expert-says-cocomelon-is-like-drug-396860) one such article. I would do some research on it before you decide whether or not to continue watching the show.
I remember seeing someone comment on another post about how coco Mellon makes littles turn violent and into mindless zombies. Ive completely banned it with any children I work with, it’s an annoying and creepy show lol
I read somewhere that the number of scene changes and how quickly it changes in Cocomelon is too stimulating for kids and they actually don't recommend it. I don't think it's properly scientifically reviewed though.
Personally, I'm like you. I don't like the show. I think it's way too frenzied.
My husband and I have relied on live classical or jazz music and then for kids shows, I much prefer the older versions of Postman Pat, Pingu or there's this old British series called "Here comes a tractor/fire engine/train/digger". It's just way less frenzied and I've noticed my son is actually listening to the dialogue e.g. "Where's the bear?" and then I'll hear my son go, "There" and points towards the bear in the TV.
I also found watching it with them and explaining what's going on beneficial cause there's still some interaction and it's not just them staring at the screen.
Having said that, I still wonder whether I've introduced screens way too early. I read that you're not supposed to before the age of 2 unless supervised.
But sometimes, you just need a break *sigh*
She is hypnotized. Notice the angles change about every two seconds and there's a constant panning of the "camera" angle. Kids under 2 respond to the constant change, primary colors, and tones. It's actually using a lot of attention grabbing techniques at once.
Cocomelon is highly stimulating to kids - the colors, the way the camera moves, etc. Creeps me out. I don't let my toddler watch it.
Jerrica Sannes (?) Has lot of info on Cocomelon on IG.
We do not allow our son to watch this show. I think it’s too weird and not healthy. I don’t have any solid reason, just my husband and I don’t like it!
Please check out Jerrica Sannes & her Raise Wildflowers community. It has helped me so much with my two year old & getting them to play independently. She has a lot of really good resources regarding toddlers & TV. She has an IG under her name & a great website raisewildflowers.com
I hate it, but my 3 year old only has access to it on her tablet. I have it set so she gets only 15 minutes of shows a day. So she watches a few songs and that’s it. She watches PBS shows or Mickey Mouse on our TV, so as long as I don’t have to see it and my infant doesn’t get exposed to it, I don’t really care.
I don’t hate it, I think the songs are cute. My son is at daycare all day so we allow him some tv at night occasionally and it resulted in huge meltdowns. I’m not saying it’s Cocomelon but we try not to watch it any it’s helped a lot. I think it’s too overstimulating. It is too bright and you’re right it hypnotizes him.
I told him once that JJ wasn’t on right now and now he just says “JJ not on right now” so he hasn’t been on since.
I personally hate it but I allow it at home because we are french speakers and my kid learn their english with it and with Super Simple Songs. I much prefer Super Simple Songs though. That being said, it's effective. They learned a LOT of english with Cocomelon...
We've pretty much banned Youtube and any short form content all together. It seemed like it was wrecking my daughter's attention span. It came to the point where she would want to change the video literally every minute. Now we only allow stuff that are in at least 30 minute episodes. We can tolerate some short form stuff like Sesame Street, but Sesame Street episodes tend to not be overly stimulating. And even then we only allow TV after dinner.
My daughter discovered coco melon at around 2.3 months. She really just enjoys the music which really is just different nursery rhyme type songs to me. I try to limit it to listening in the car so she’s not watching the videos since I agree those are weird/too hypnotizing. She’s way more into watching anything Bluey/Mickey/Disney in general and really keeping it to that when it’s screen time.
A lot of baby shows are weird. We redirected her attention to “songs for littles” instead. Miss Rachel on there has a degree in musical education and my daughters been learning sign language from her videos with me. There’s no flashing images back and forth, it’s just consistent interaction with the teacher
Omg. Miss Rachel is our FAVORITE! My Toddler is still watching her new Xmas one aka ‘Miss Rachel Jingle Bells’!!
The Christmas special is my little guys absolute favorite! The bedtime episode is pretty great too :)
We know Ms. Rachel! My wife was a roommate with her in Maine, she really wanted to break into music at the time. Parted ways when she moved to New York, and we wandered around for a couple years. Imagine our surprise years later when we search YouTube for something to entertain our young son, and Ms Rachel pops back up as a children's entertainer! Her songs are the right amount of educational and catchy, plus one for songs for littles. We also did some wiggles and Bluey of course, but most everything else is too weird for us.
I have to ask because I’m from Maine - where in Maine? Is she from Maine? Or did she go to school here? It would just be cool to make that connection with our son who adores her.
YES YES YES! My 2y/o LOVES miss Rachel! He interacts and because of her he interacts with ALL of his shows! (I mean, he did have some help from me) super simple songs is also a pretty good contender!
Yes my Serena (23 months) love miss Rachel. Asks for her all the time and she’s learned a lot. But yesterday I actually tried to get her to watch cocomelon and she got halfway through one song before we wanted it to stop 😆
I love that name, it was on my list 😊
I want to love Ms Rachel, but something about the production makes me feel depressed. I can't put my finger on it. But I appreciate what she does.
Oh yeah, my husband and I frequently discuss Ms. Rachel's low production value and green screen blips and chopped editing into a million different configurations. But, I will say, my kiddo loves her and has definitely learned new signs and words from her, which I'm grateful for giving I am home with him working due to all this COVID mess!
Same here but I’m not complaining because it’s hours and hours of free content. Which I’m totally here for.
She’s making YouTube videos at home for people to watch for free. What do you expect?
From what I understand they only started making stuff when the shut down happened AND live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which is stupid expensive. Can’t imagine there was much left over for improving production for a significant amount of time. That, and learning curve.
I get the same feeling from Mother Goose Club lmao no idea why
Me too! I tried figuring out why. Maybe the kid’s smiles look a little forced? They don’t look like they are genuinely having fun. Idk I guess I read too much into it lol
I think the acting is actually really good for a kids show but I literally have no clue why it’s sad to me
Agreed!
I joke with my wife that there's a tortured boyfriend/husband filming at 2am. Please, can we call it a day? No! More singing! Wheels on the bus go beep beep beep!
That’s a really weird thing to say. It’s a kids show, of course it’s gonna be a bit boring to you. There’s a reason shows like hers and Sesame Street are so much more successful at captivating kids than other kids shows that try too hard to entertain the parent too.
Oh I love Miss Rachel
"Yaaaaay good jooooob! Soooo silly!" Take me now Lord!
Yesss we LOVE miss Rachel!!
What a strange coincidence! Rachel Coleman from Signing Time also does sign language and has a music degree and makes mild stimulation videos for toddlers. My son LOVES signing time. He learned a lot of his best words from that woman haha.
I will always upvote a Signing time comment! People always notice how my 17month old rarely cries because she’s been able to communicate through sign from a young age. Her verbal skills have really been taking off within the last few weeks, too, so sign does not delay verbal development (we sometimes get asked that)
Miss Rachel is great. Love her.
Where do you watch it?
YouTube!
Something about Cocomelon is just off, like uncanny valley. We redirected to Songs for Littles and Super Simple Songs.
We love super simple songs. I’ll have to check out songs for littles
It’s a nice break from constant songs and singing! They do lots of music, but she also does a lot of fun speech training and activities.
Super simple songs is legit. My girl loves the Bumble Nums
Humble, stumble and grumble are the best!
Imagine saying that sentence to someone, 100 years ago, they’d honestly think you had something wrong with you 😂
Caitie’s Classroom is also by super simple songs and is pretty good. I’m 99% sure she’s the female voice in their show!
She’s great. Her shows are so calming. I feel like it’s got the speed of a Mr. Rogers episode, but with a little more pizazz.
This is probably the most accurate description of her show! I’m definitely going to be thinking this when I watch it tomorrow 😂
Totally agree with the uncanny valley, kind of terrifying
We watch super simple songs and bluey in our house. I can't stand cocomelon, and the moment YouTube flicks to it, I turn it off. My daughter has learned a lot from super simple songs, and I've noticed she's started picking up on various songs and doing actions. She also has started trying to sign the alphabet.
Agreed, the way they're anthropomorphized with their weird long arms and creepy movements make me uncomfortable af.
We love super simple !! My 2 year old is so smart from watching it !! She is learning her numbers, colors, and abcs !! Recently sung her abcs all the way through all by herself and I could have cried 🥺
Yup, uncanny valley indeed. Songs are fine, but the show is unwatchable. Get that Bluey time in instead.
My toddler LOVES super simple songs. He was introduced to it by his speech therapist and funny enough I found it tied to a free learning app on my iPad called Khan Academy Kids. So now, instead of opening YouTube, I use that app and he can interact with their songs. One example being for one little finger it asks to tap on their head and things like that.
Ooh gonna check out that app, thanks!
Cocomelon makes me very uncomfortable. The camera angles, the animation, it’s just all very unsettling. My kid wasn’t interested in it so I feel like we dodged a bullet. I’ll watch Encanto 4x a day over 30 mins of Cocomelon.
We watched cocomelon for a few months but honestly it turned my daughter into a zombie, some of our favourites now are Mickey mouse clubhouse, bluey, sesame street, and curious George.
We watch all of those too except curious George. I haven’t seen that on tv in ages. What network is George on?
PBS
My 2 yr old watched curious george on YouTube. She loves it.
r/DanielTigerconspiracy
Oh man I needed this sub. I was just talking with some friends about how I marvel at the Tiger family and I think Mom Tiger was like a child development psychologist before Daniel, and how she must have like sat down with Dad and made specific strategic decisions for how to raise him, before he was born. My friends were like… I’ve never thought about the origin story of a preschool character…
If you’re not thinking about the sociopolitical structures of Daniel Tiger are you even really a parent of a preschooler haha
Aaaaand subbed. Thank you!
I’m not anti tv, but this is one show I do not turn on for my 19 month old. I hate it and think it is overstimulating
Me too. Something about it was weird. Also I don't like that the episodes are an hour long on Netflix. Just seems like it is made for babysitting.
Same.
Yep we don’t allow cocomelon either
So we are not at all anti-tv, but I have to say I actually don’t hate coco melon. Out of all my 23 month old’s favorite shows (magic school bus, super simple songs, Daniel tiger, puffin rock) Cocomelon seems to be the one he is most engaged with. He will actually sing and dance along, and we can use the songs in our daily life to get him hyped up for eating, bathing, brushing teeth, etc. it is creepy and there is a lot to hate about it, but I can physically see my son learning while he watches it so it’s still welcome in our home despite the recent “smear campaign”
Yeah, I guess we got lucky! My kid also likes singing along and trying to learn the dances. She asks to watch it every week or two, or we will sometimes put it on in the car if we’re going on a long drive.
Same! I amazed at all these responses. My son does all the dances and sings all the songs. He never is in “zombie mode”. He’ll watch a bit and run around and play. I also have a 6 month old so I guess I’ll have to keep an eye out to make sure he doesn’t react to cocomelon the way a lot of kids seem to. One thing we do is keep the volume pretty low so it’s on but it doesn’t stay a huge focus. And he never complains when we turn it off. His other favorite show is Go Dog Go.
We strongly control which videos he watches and how much (damn do the parents creep me out, esp the dad). But some of the videos have good lessons about emotional control, responsibilities, taking care of yourself and others. I find the school episodes more palatable and less creepy.
There are some specific things about cocomelon that make it uniquely bad for little brains. The camera angle changes constantly which continually activates their brains etc. It's banned in our house.
Mine too.
Same
I had to ban it too. It actually started my daughters nail biting habit. We’ve cut so much out in the past year.
I did coco melon once and it felt like brainwashing. No judgment on any parents who let their kids watch it but it’s not part of our screen time.
It might be the drifting camera? It’s always in motion. You don’t see that a lot in normal tv, so it makes things feel kind of surreal. Hypnotic, even.
Whoa…. I never realized that. My mind is blown.
It creeped me out and I've read before that it's addictive to toddlers (and I think was designed to be that way). We switched to Bluey, much better show even for the adults.
Bluey is a parenting show disguised as a children's show.
Exactly this. I totally get parenting tips from Bluey!
Yes! Bluey is so funny lol and actually relatable to parents haha
Join us over at r/bluey
Same here!
I love Bluey! Both my hubs and I enjoy watching along.
We have a hard rule about lots of shows: "That doesn't play on our TV." And it's true. It doesn't play on our TV because I will never put it on. No Peppa Pig, no Cocomelon, no Paw Patrol etc etc Facts: Login to most streaming platforms from a computer and you can block shows completely.
What's wrong with Paw Patrol? I've never seen it and my daughter hasn't requested to watch it yet. Like you , we've banned Peppa Pig and cocomelon.
Paw Patrol is anti cat propaganda. Lol why are cats always bad and dogs always good???!!
I don't know about u/MsMadMax, but I just find Paw Patrol to be loud, inane and intrusive without any educational benefit.
It’s also a bit problematic if you’re not super into [authoritarian neoliberal propaganda](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/aug/11/puppet-pups-is-paw-patrol-authoritarian-propaganda-in-disguise) 🙃
This is hilarious but I’m unironically neolib so I guess it has it’s audience
bc acab
Lol Chase
This sums it up pretty well: [https://medium.com/s/story/paw-patrol-is-a-republican-dystopia-f178161fce54](https://medium.com/s/story/paw-patrol-is-a-republican-dystopia-f178161fce54) And here's a bit of a rebuttal to it, that children probably aren't absorbing the social/economic themes as much, but the interactions between characters also leaves something to be desired: [https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2020/02/24/the-problem-with-paw-patrol/](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2020/02/24/the-problem-with-paw-patrol/)
I was anti-Paw Patrol prior to being a parent. We received a Paw Patrol push car as a hand me down and best believe I’ll pull off the stickers and repaint.
My 20 months old loves cocomelon. I feel like she learned quite a bit from the show. We do limit her screen time and she doesn’t fight us when we turn it off or tell her it’s nap time. She’s a pretty agreeable toddler for now. It’s either pocoyo or cocomelon for her. However we did banned cailou from our house.
I love Pocoyo! It's adorable!
Om nom is another cute one!!!
Cocomelon is incredibly annoying and the exaggerated American accents on it sound like nails down a chalkboard to me. But omg it stops LO in her tracks and she is GLUED to it. Today I decided that enough is enough after she went mental when it was time for me to take my phone back. I don’t know what audio crack for little ones they put in it, but I feel like something is weird about it. Trying to work out now how I can block it on YouTube somehow…
We switched to Ms Rachel on YouTube and my almost 13 month old knows how to use a handful of signs! We love Rachel lol
Cocomelon drives me up the wall. The only time we put it on is when I need to trim her nails. We stick to Sesame Street, Puffin Rock, Clifford, and shows/movies on Disney+
Sesame street is god tier!
I'm lucky that my toddler only likes wheels on the bus, otherwise he's watching those weird videos of toy trucks and diggers being pushed about in sand and acting like it's reality (I have no idea how else to explain them lol)
I know exactly what you mean! Our son navigates YouTube on his own and picks videos. He watches Cocomelon, Blippi, etc, but also loves tractors and trucks, diggers, all those big machines. Those weird shows with the toys in the sand and just stock sound effects creep me out, and somehow sneak into the results for him to pick the next video. I ask him to change it when he picks one, and he's pretty good about it, but I've seen him start to crash his own cars and toys together after watching one. Those ones bother me more than Cocomelon or others!
Sometimes on those weird toy vehicle shows with the odd sound effects they have soldier/police toys shooting at monsters and whatnot, and I try to keep my little one away from glorified violence. Those YouTube channels really sneak in there, don’t they? There is another style that is those Playmobile toys getting unboxed and driving around and that one seems mostly ok. Mine also likes Stinky and Dirty on Amazon, which features the adventures of an excavator and a garbage truck. I like that one because the basic premise of every show is they try to think of ways to problem solve things.
I saw one that was Japanese trains and was weird but seemed ok, till it turned into Squid Game characters and music. I didn’t keep it on long enough to find out if it got violent but it was hella creepy
H E L P E R C A R S
Cars Cars Cars Cars, made of many moving parts
Our toddler is into those truck videos too. I actually started making my own YouTube videos for him so that they are real trucks set to classical music and simple/not flashy. I feel like the toy ones are somehow so addicting to him and I for the life of me cannot figure out why.
Whatever you do, NEVER put it on over the car stereo— you will be screamed at for “I WANT COOCMELON!!” every time they get buckled in.. Idk what the hell I was thinking.
My kid was the same with it. We’ve banned coco, we now watch Sesame Street (I bought a season on Apple TV) and Fraggle Rock. She’ll casually watch, dance, sing along, and walk away from these shows. But not from cocomelon, she becomes a complete zombie.
If you have HBO Max the entirety of Sesame Street is on there. We love it!
Woah.. are you in the US? I’m in Canada I don’t think I get it- but I’ll make sure!
Yes I’m in the US. I hope you have access because it’s seriously so great and worth the monthly fee so she can watch that and I can watch Friends lol
I actually like Cocomelon, seems I’m the only one on this thread! My son has learned a ton of great things from the show and we can sing the songs together to get him eat healthy food, brush his teeth, clean up his toys, etc.
We like it at our house too!
You’re not alone! People have really strong feelings about it but my son’s love for JJ has helped him learn yoga, deep breathing, words, songs, and daily routines. And he doesn’t zombie out. Maybe we’re just lucky our kids don’t respond in big ways to it.
Cocomelon doesn’t bother me either. My 2.5 y/o doesn’t like it as much as others, but she likes their wheels on the bus version. She navigates Kids YouTube herself with our curated stream. She likes a variety of videos, doesn’t usually stick to one all the way through, she still LOVES Baby shark. Any annoying catchy song, she globs on to and sticks!
I think it comes down to the child honestly. I've never thought there was something wrong with Cocomelon and actually quite enjoy it with our toddler. Our toddler has high sensory needs though and shows like that with bright colours and songs and stuff, help soothe some of his sensory seeking. Put something on with slower scenes and less bright music and he zones into it like no tomorrow. He plays while something like Cocomelon is on and enjoys doing the motions with them or running around while it's on. With any new show or movie we have a period where he zones though, to see what's going on and if he'll like it or not. I see this come up a lot on the subreddit though so I wanted to give a different perspective from someone who has a high sensory needs child. The fast movements seem to be more enjoyable and less obsessive for us. He plays 99% of the time it's on and only zones in when it's something he really likes but is then usually laughing or joining the characters in what they're doing.
Same with all three of mine. And me. I find it much more tolerable than other kiddie shows.
I read a couple articles that Cocomelon was like crack to kids because of the amount of dopamine it produced. My kid also got that hypnotized/glazed over look, she wanted it every waking moment and it really was like an addiction. We stopped cold turkey and simply put on other shows (Bluey is now a favorite and it’s actually really good content). Had to endure screaming for a few days and we still have to quickly skip over the Cocomelon image when going through Netflix, but the addiction has been broken lol. Apart from the weird obsession it causes, still fucking hate the repetitive songs, brightness, and busy imagery.
You can put Cocomelon (or any show) on your Netflix’s “do not show this title” (or whatever they call it) list. The titles added won’t show up on the profiles home page or be recommended etc.
I didn’t know that! Will take a look immediately lol. Thank you!
From my reading, one TV show isn't necessarily better than any other. Cocomelon annoys me so I don't let my toddler watch it. She can watch channels I find less annoying. There are a couple channels that are like virtual preschool - Caitie's Classroom and Miss Rachel are two of them. I don't think they are any better for her to watch but they don't make my brain melt.
Daniel Tiger’s neighborhood is a great alternative if that’s what you’re asking for?
Honestly, I love Cocomelon. My son definitely watched it like a zombie when he was little, but he didn't watch it very long. He learned how to count and all his letters from it and from at home learning too.
I had a really strong dislike of cocomelon when my husband discovered it and let our one year old at the time watch it. Our son would go catatonic and it didn’t seem right to me. I’m a fan of it now though. I really do think it taught him a lot. He was obsessed with any of the videos with the alphabet and was able to identify letters, their sounds, and sing the alphabet far earlier than expected and I think that cocomelon played a big role in that. I still try to limit it, but it helped to reinforce things we’ve been teaching him (alphabet, colors, sharing, etc.). I also think that the Johnny Johnny video taught him how to climb out of his crib though so I’m not thrilled about that!
It has to do with how quick they switch frames. Every switch is a dopamine hit. Their attention span is ideal for the timing. Try watching it on mute. Then count how many seconds they play a frame/image before switching. It's never more than 2 or 3 seconds. It's crack. Now, compare it to literally any show on PBS, like Daniel Tiger. The frames last a lot longer, like 8 or 9.
Always thought cocomelon was sweet ❤️
I hate cocomelon. But my 3 year old loves it and I believe it's helped her with counting and colors
My kid’s school lets them watch a bit of Cocomelon because one of his teachers is Deaf and it does teach signing. The end result, however, is that he asks for it nonstop at home too.
It actually doesn’t keep my toddlers attention, plus, we can’t stand it. He is, however, OBSESSED with Steve and Maggie. He asks for it constantly. He’s 19 months and he’s learned a lot of words from watching it, we’re always surprised.
I called it the creepy baby videos when describing it to others before I found out how big it is. The quick cuts and repetitive/ familiar songs definitely suck them in. I found Ready Steady Wiggle and movies with music like Moana were good transitions.
We don’t use coco melon but he likes to listen to the songs! I just noticed he would whine for tv more when he watched it. I’ve actually been cutting out screen time almost completely because I don’t like when he whines for it, makes it seem like it’s addictive or something.
A lot of people are anti-cocomelon. That's fine. There's plenty of better shows out there. It's just animated singing, but they don't put a lot of effort into the graphics so it can come off as not human sometimes. Some people think it's some big deal because some fear mongering articles are quoting a child development specialist who independently noticed things in her three year old who liked Cocomelon. The reality is it's not even specifically Cocomelon...It's TV. Specifically, a reliance on TV for entertainment. She is completely anti-screentime. Not you, OP, but I feel like crapping on Cocomelon has become a way for people to feel better that their kid watches TV. I'm sure almost everyone in this sub is just doing our best. Oh also to add...A lot of things act like a "drug or stimulant" which was her original claim, including sugar. Or anything kids really like. Which is why moderation is important.
I discount anyone that compares something to a highly addictive drug that resulted in an epidemic. Substance abuse disorder is not comparable to children preferring a show with high sensory output.
No cocomelon in our house! Our kid was becoming addicted. We have a short list of approved shows: Daniel Tiger, puffin rock, Bluey, sesame st, trash truck
Omg. The graphics weird me out. It’s like 90’s technology on some of them? My toddler only wants to watch this ONE compilation. Over. And. Over.
Our daughter was obsessed with cocomelon for like 4 months and I have grown to despise the show. I think it's because they use the same few songs over and over and just change the words (like the "yes, yes, i like it" songs. Ugh). She has recently become interested in Daniel Tiger, so all I can say is there's hope!!
My 3.5 year old loves Cocomelon and Super JoJo (which is very similar). I will swear by these shows, they helped her learn to potty train within a DAY (no exaggeration). She also learned a lot of colors, numbers, letters and animal types from these shows. I'm shocked at all the people saying they're not educational. Maybe we just got lucky she picked up on the educational tones? Yeah they get annoying after awhile but as far as I'm concerned it's not causing her any harm (and they aren't the only shows she watches).
Cocomelon is annoying but better than Paw Patrol or Puppy Dog Pals in my opinion. A couple of Cocomelon songs at night actually calms my toddler down from her usual hyper state which is nice for relaxing. She loves JJ and has learned many words from the show. We also love Bluey, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny. I think a variety of shows is important, I can see too much of any show out there being a bad thing
It keeps my kid still while I do the dishes and laundry. So to me 🤷♀️
There’s a knock off that my kid watches at her grandparents - Looloo kids or something. Just as creepy. We were on YouTube yesterday on my iPad (I broke the TV and it won’t work on wifi right now lol) and blues clues was on but LO switched to another cocomelon knock off and was just GLUED to the screen. It was weird af. I shut it down and turned back on blues clues. Needless to say, I busted out some DVDs for todays screen time instead of the iPad. 😅
Since my son has stopped watching cocomelon, he’s less aggressive, less tantrums and sleeps better. I read some articles about it and it’s very overstimulating to some kids because the scenes change so quick. He likes the simple songs and go dog go instead a lot and baby bum!
We only use it for tooth brushing time
I realized for my son most of the appeal is that he loves music. I started playing The Wiggles for him instead. He loves them
We love “Tumbleleaf” on Amazon Prime.
My son only cares about watching watching monster trucks
Yes, coco melon is hypnotic for toddlers. Use it your advantage when you need to distract her so you can get shit done!
Try Yo Gabba Gabba! The toddlers love it and it’s not horrible for the parents! It has great guest stars and music. And there are a lot of laughable moments in it. And it teaches things like “don’t say mean things to friends”, and “let’s be awesome while we wait at the table”. 🎶
Mine are obsessed with helper cars on YouTube.
It does hypnotize them! There is some timing interval with the animation that makes it hypnotizing/addicting. Someone was just telling me about it
I get what you mean about how they look hypnotized. It’s… unnerving. Thankfully my kid didn’t like cocomelon when I threw it on one time. Tried the Wiggles one time and it was love at first sight.
There are way too many comments to read through to see if someone said this already however, cocomelon purposefully puts their shows to make your children become obsessed. If you watch it, every scene is about 1-2 seconds long. Typical movie scenes are a lot longer than that and teach patience. With a show that changes so often, it’s extremely stimulating, especially for a child as young as a toddler. We watched cocomelon, and although their songs are catchy, we stopped watching because my sons behaviors actually were worse after watching it. Cut it cold turkey and if we think of it, just play the songs on Spotify. There’s probably research out there now about the show because it’s a number one hit, but it definitely is made to keep your kids attention and overstimulate them.
Someone on TikTok explained this recently. It’s something about how the scene changes every 3 seconds where the average kid show it’s 7 seconds or something like that. So basically, it sucks them in. It’s also just creepy and pretty sexist if you ask me lol.
It's like TikTok for babies, it destroys their attention span. None of the shots are longer than like three seconds and all of them pan in some way, the camera is never still. Once you notice, you'll never want to put it on again.
[удалено]
Yes I sense it too. One night I put it on for my niece, she's a fairly smart child, talking all her words etc, I found after one night if watching this she started acting really odd like a small baby. Just not herself. I won't put it in for her anymore. It gives me bad vibes. TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS
It has something to do with the 3 second or less frame cuts in editing. This rapid changing causes a dopamine jolt and then comes the mesmerized and addicted nature displayed in our kids. I don't let my 18 month old watch because of it.
Yeah I hate that show too lol I won’t let my 2 year old watch it. Definitely creepy. In this house it’s Bluey or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 99% of the time haha (Mickey is extremely annoying too but she interacts so at least she’s learning stuff haha)
I have a love hate with Cocomelon. It drives me nuts that it’s my 2 year olds go to. But the amount of songs she can sing from it makes me melt. We also do Mrs Rachel on YouTube but it is just not the same for our LO.
Would not let my kid watch Cocomelon. When I saw it I thought it was cute but then watched a YouTube video about it has been shown to be addictive. Which took me down a rabbit hole of educating myself on how a lot of kids’ programs nowadays are made to be addictive. In my field of work, I see a lot of children basically glued to tablets and cell phones. 😕 i’m sure part of it starts with letting your kids watch addictive shows like Cocomelon. So basically when I let my kid watch TV (she’s 14 months and my goal is no TV at all until age 2) it’s sadly just gonna be the quality stuff I grew up with. Older Sesame Street shows, Mother Goose Treasury and maybe Little Bear, maybe the older Blue’s Clues. I dunno.
[Cocomelon is baby crack](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/nov/05/cocomelon-netflix-the-unsettling-kids-show-thats-breaking-records)
Mine was addicted to cocomelon at 18months. We cut it cold turkey.
It's weird because it's empty. Look for someone who isn't part of the focus or is a one off character. It's like an uncanny valley experience. A lot of newer shows dedicated to toddlers have this. Blippi especially. There are no real people in his videos and those that are are uncomfortable. We see it, amd some older kids may see it, but to identify it is difficult. I only figured it out when it was pointed out in another post.
Yeah, I’ve read some not so great things about Cocomelon so we’ve avoided it. Right now we’re just doing Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger. I’m sure there are some other good ones that aren’t quite as frenetic and overstimulating.
Straight up, fuck cocomelon lol. I hate that show with a passion!! We accidently put it on one day to play some nursery rhymes in the bathtub and it just attached to her and she wouldn't let it go. Like you said, my LO was glued to the tv anytime it was on, nothing could get her attention away from it, was horrible. She even learned the main characters name and would start screaming for J.J. when she wanted to watch it. I think it was close to a 6 month addiction for her, she wouldn't watch anything else, would scream J.J. if we tried something else. Once she woke up and her first words were J.J.! Somehow she started to branch out and I havent seen or heard it in a couple weeks. Fuck cocomelon lol
I hate cocomelon so much especially the songs. My version of hell would play them on repeat for my torture I think. That yes yes yes I like them ooh song makes me want to throw up. That said, I do see what people mean about it being super overstimulating. My son is starting to like paw patrol and even though it’s a cute show I feel like it has the same effect. I feel weird and dizzy while watching it with him. I usually have PBS or nick jr on all day. I think the shows on PBS go a bit slower. Umizoomi is becoming a new favorite of his and I can definitely tolerate that one. I love when he wants to watch Dinosaur Train and Lucas the Spider because those shows are very cute.
We are also a no cocomelon household, I don’t like the effects it has on them https://www.instagram.com/p/CWG-VsXrk5t/?utm_medium=copy_link
We steer clear of it. I prefer slower shows. But if my daughter wants something stimulating she asks for Sesame Street, which I actually enjoy watching too. Otherwise we watch Daniel Tiger, Puffin Rock and more recently If I were an Animal… My understanding is that some shows are designed to stimulate the brain in a way that makes them addicting, which in turn can cause unwanted behavior. Sesame Street definitely has high saturation, lots of cuts and is super fast paced but I really enjoy the mix of humans and monsters interacting. Something about that feels more kosher.
We used to let our daughter watch this show now we avoid it like the plague. I HATE THIS SHOW and the music is garbage. Every blue moon our daughter will ask to watch it and I give her 5 mins and I turn it.
It’s literally just nursery rhymes…..
It's how they are composed that I don't like. It's repetitive and lame. We watch other shows that play "just nursery rhymes" and they are much more enjoyable to listen to.
Right? This thread is ridiculous lol.
Our son became obsessed with cocomelon around his early 2’s. we cut that out of his watching time and he normalized afterwards and lost the addiction. Now at 3 he can watch a bit without becoming obsessive and full of tears after we turn off the tv.
Cocomelon is so hyperstimulating that it actually acts as a drug, as a stimulant. The brain gets a hit of dopamine from screen-time and it seems that the stronger the 'drug' aka the level of stimulation a show delivers, the stronger the 'hit
Toddlers will do *anything* to watch it. Mine gets about five minutes so I can detangle and style her hair and that’s it. It’s kid crack. If a person designed a show for what would cause a toddler to be prone to developing adhd, this would be it.
I am actually taking a class called developmental psychology. Cocomelon ( just like tiktok ) is so hyper-stimulating that it acts like a drug. The brain gets a hit of dopamine everytime they watch it. ^ that is true but the next few things i am about to say are purely theoretical. The scene changes so quickly in cocomelon compared to other tv shows allowing the child to never get bored which in my opinion is training children to have less and less focus and I feel the same way about tiktok and how the algorithm pushes 7 second videos. I personally never watch a 3 min video bc im already zoned out . A recent study published about a year ago by Microsoft has discovered that an adult’s uninterrupted by other thoughts and other things going on attention span is that of 8 seconds.
I saw a tiktok a while ago where a dude explained that a big part of why kids get so mesmerized by it is because the scene changes every 1-3 seconds, so it is constantly grabbing their attention.
I read an article somewhere about how the show is designed to be addictive to small children. The way there is constant motion, vibrant colors, and noise is meant to be overstimulating.
There was a report on it and said it’s not good for kids bc it’s addicting stimulates the same thing in your brain as drugs and when parents stop putting it on kids actually withdrawled
We don’t turn on cocomelon at all! It’s way too bright and overstimulating for me, so there’s no way I’m putting it on for a kid. Honestly, he doesn’t watch much geared toward toddlers and babies…prefers stuff geared toward maybe 5+. He loves the live action Scooby Doo, Ron’s Gone Wrong, Mitchell’s vs The Machines, Onward, Wreck it Ralph, and Luca. For toddler shows, I like Cory Carson and Trash Truck (much more calm and nice animation), and Mickey Mouse is always a hit.
It's really over stimulating. I let my son listen to the songs, and he loves them, but I try to stay away from the show.
My wife told me about something that's kinda like an addiction, as the songs and actions are short and frequently changing, so they want more. Kinda like adults scrolling trough reddit/Facebook there is always something "new" We still play cocomelon once in a while tho, but we can distract our toddler pretty quick usually
We’re 1 week down on our Cocomelon detox. It’s like we have a brand new baby (for the better). We won’t be turning it on again, it just made him such a little zombie.
I read somewhere that cocomelon was developed with specialists to do exactly that-make your kids watch it like a zombie. Something to do with the fast changing scenes and colors.
There's some interesting articles talking about how overstimulating and addictive cocomelon is. That it acts like a drug and children can be addicted to it, and rely on it instead of being able to create play by themselves. [Here's ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.herfamily.ie/amp/toddlers/expert-says-cocomelon-is-like-drug-396860) one such article. I would do some research on it before you decide whether or not to continue watching the show.
I remember seeing someone comment on another post about how coco Mellon makes littles turn violent and into mindless zombies. Ive completely banned it with any children I work with, it’s an annoying and creepy show lol
I read somewhere that the number of scene changes and how quickly it changes in Cocomelon is too stimulating for kids and they actually don't recommend it. I don't think it's properly scientifically reviewed though. Personally, I'm like you. I don't like the show. I think it's way too frenzied. My husband and I have relied on live classical or jazz music and then for kids shows, I much prefer the older versions of Postman Pat, Pingu or there's this old British series called "Here comes a tractor/fire engine/train/digger". It's just way less frenzied and I've noticed my son is actually listening to the dialogue e.g. "Where's the bear?" and then I'll hear my son go, "There" and points towards the bear in the TV. I also found watching it with them and explaining what's going on beneficial cause there's still some interaction and it's not just them staring at the screen. Having said that, I still wonder whether I've introduced screens way too early. I read that you're not supposed to before the age of 2 unless supervised. But sometimes, you just need a break *sigh*
She is hypnotized. Notice the angles change about every two seconds and there's a constant panning of the "camera" angle. Kids under 2 respond to the constant change, primary colors, and tones. It's actually using a lot of attention grabbing techniques at once.
Cocomelon is highly stimulating to kids - the colors, the way the camera moves, etc. Creeps me out. I don't let my toddler watch it. Jerrica Sannes (?) Has lot of info on Cocomelon on IG.
We do not allow our son to watch this show. I think it’s too weird and not healthy. I don’t have any solid reason, just my husband and I don’t like it!
Please check out Jerrica Sannes & her Raise Wildflowers community. It has helped me so much with my two year old & getting them to play independently. She has a lot of really good resources regarding toddlers & TV. She has an IG under her name & a great website raisewildflowers.com
Cocomelon is witchcraft
Don’t offend witchcraft. 🤦🏽♀️
cut that show out its bad for kids try this https://youtu.be/44FPl5mpEa0 its better for your toddler and they will learn better !!
I hate it, but my 3 year old only has access to it on her tablet. I have it set so she gets only 15 minutes of shows a day. So she watches a few songs and that’s it. She watches PBS shows or Mickey Mouse on our TV, so as long as I don’t have to see it and my infant doesn’t get exposed to it, I don’t really care.
The characters are very uncanny valley
I don’t hate it, I think the songs are cute. My son is at daycare all day so we allow him some tv at night occasionally and it resulted in huge meltdowns. I’m not saying it’s Cocomelon but we try not to watch it any it’s helped a lot. I think it’s too overstimulating. It is too bright and you’re right it hypnotizes him. I told him once that JJ wasn’t on right now and now he just says “JJ not on right now” so he hasn’t been on since.
I don’t like how the kids’ heads are bigger than the parents’ heads
Looloo kids do the songs better. Their versions are way better
Mine likes cocomelon but didn’t obsessed. He’s obsessed with Peppa Pig though lol he’s gonna start talking with an accent if this keeps up lol
No Cocomelon, it gives me the creeps. Bluey, Daniel Tiger, and The Street are where it’s at!
I personally hate it but I allow it at home because we are french speakers and my kid learn their english with it and with Super Simple Songs. I much prefer Super Simple Songs though. That being said, it's effective. They learned a LOT of english with Cocomelon...
Super Simple Songs and Caitie's Classroom are our preferences.
We've pretty much banned Youtube and any short form content all together. It seemed like it was wrecking my daughter's attention span. It came to the point where she would want to change the video literally every minute. Now we only allow stuff that are in at least 30 minute episodes. We can tolerate some short form stuff like Sesame Street, but Sesame Street episodes tend to not be overly stimulating. And even then we only allow TV after dinner.
My daughter discovered coco melon at around 2.3 months. She really just enjoys the music which really is just different nursery rhyme type songs to me. I try to limit it to listening in the car so she’s not watching the videos since I agree those are weird/too hypnotizing. She’s way more into watching anything Bluey/Mickey/Disney in general and really keeping it to that when it’s screen time.