I am going to be a father and am making a jellyfin setup for my child. I want to start early to make a good collection of movies and shows. So I am interested in knowing what other people experienced as positive influences in their lives.
Edit: English and Norwegian is fine, but I can always get dubbed versions of other languages. We will be speaking English and Norwegian with our child from birth. But want to introduce our child to many types of cultures, religions etc.
Half of the Ghibly movies. The other half i was too old already.
Bluey. It’s a really positive modern show , so not really from my childhood but it beats everything else from my childhood.
I am going to be a father and am making a jellyfin setup for my child. I want to start early to make a good collection of movies and shows.
Me too!
I have Bluey and The Magic Schoolbus.
Connections by James Burke
Franklin ( the one about the turtle ). For the most part, I feel like almost all the content is good enough to show a young child considering it’s one of those preschool age shows. May look a little old considering it’s 90s animation and also doesn’t have any traditional box sets ( it seems to be nothing but sets based around themes ), but I’m pretty sure every episode is on a Canadian company’s yt channel ( region locked AFAIK, so having a VPN is advised ). Treehouse Direct, IIRC.
Also, for a friendly enough way of teaching religious lessons in a non-preachy way that is actually not eye bleach or racist ( looking at you, FInding Jesus ) or low quality slop maid solely to profit off of religious parents, VeggieTales. There’s a reason why it was popular with Christians and non-Christians alike, besides the silly songs.
They can be fun to watch ( not including the 4th VHS episode where 3 characters get thrown into a furnace and magically survive thanks to a “glowing man” ( probably Jesus ) ) and can be good for opening a conversation on things like being nice to others despite differences or being thankful for what you have or a number of other topics they covered from the Bible. Honestly, one of the greatest Christian animated cartoons ever considering how it is probably the only Christian cartoon parents who are and aren’t Christian could probably both agree on letting their kids watch.
Cannot speak for modern VeggieTales, though, so take my words with a shaker of salt just in case modern VeggieTales isn’t as lesson oriented or anywhere near as good as the originals from the 90s and early 2000s.
The Neverending Story
Need to get that early childhood trams on lock with that atrax scene.
Hit em with that “My Friend Martin”
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Archiving it, to show my niece.
I’d like to think Babe taught me a thing or two about kindness and cooperation
🐑🐑🐖🐑 🐕🐓🦆🪿🐄
Just kidding. Don’t show your kid this movie unless it’s as a joke when they’re older. This might have been a Psyop.
I do actually recommend:
Brave little Toaster and Fivel Goes West. Those seem to stick out as most positive that I remember.
'Member that cartoon where the protagonist used a Nintendo power glove and zapper?
We swear we won’t go rooooamin’
Look up the original Tik-Tak from the BRTN. it’s non spoken animation with shapes, sounds and music. Great for toddlers. All the music is ingrained in me :D
Other good show from the BRTN was “Er was eens”. They are split up in 4 main "seasons: de mens, de aarde, de ruimte and het leven.
History, how earth was formed and evolved, space and human biology.
Dutch and French, I’m not sure if it was ever dubbed English, but my kids watched this on repeat.
Flukten fra dyreskogen , loved it as a child, but beware it is emotional carnage - animals dying left and right.
Pingu
La linea
Fantorangen and probably a lot of other nrk stuff
Remove the nightmare episode from pingu until they are older, that one caused some issues
I really like the pokemon show/anime. At least the original seasons (I kinda followed it until the sinnoh region
Other than that:
Ducktales (1987)
Avatar the last Airbender
Nils Holgersson
Weihnachtsmann und Co KG (original title: Le Monde Secret du Père Noël)These are the shows I keep dearly in my heart
As for movies, I don’t really have any recommendation besides “Wall-E” :(
But that’s a phenomenal movie!Surprised PBS shows aren’t mentioned more here, especially not Mr. Rogers Neighborhood being mentioned.
So in no particular order:
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Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood: great show for teaching kids to how to navigate emotions and complex situations like death and discrimination but in ways they can understand
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Sesame Street: similar to Mr. Rogers but more for younger children
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Bill Nye the Science Guy: Made science accessible and fun for children. Good way to build a sense of curiosity and desire for experimentation
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Zoom: similar to Bill Nye in that it made me what to try all the activities they shared. Lots of fun games, recipes, brain teasers etc to keep kids busy. The fact that it had an all kid cast made it more accessible as a kid. Highly recommended since it seems less remembered than other PBS shows
Non-Educational:
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The Simpsons: this may be divisive but I grew up when they were super popular and I believe it helped develop my sense of humor. The earlier episodes were also pretty wholesome
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The Avatar (Last Airbender and Korra): well written show that is based on many East Asian cultures and touches on themes of depression, genocide, war, and hope (among many others). One of my favorite shows to this day
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Most anything NRK makes will be what you want watch. Minibarna mostly at first. All the Fantus stuff is good. Especially “Fantus of maskinene”
Tbh when hen reaches the age where hen will understand the more neuanced elements of a story you will have to fight off Paw Patrol and Spidey and his amazing friends with a stick. Whatever the kids in the kindergarten speaks off. Your old dusty slow shit will not be appreciated until much later.
Edit: Bluey! Bluey is amazing. Well written, funny, reflective and is engaging for both children and adults.
The episode with no dialog when it rains and they make a dam is perhaps the best TV I have seem in years.
