A complicated subject: should children even watch TV? If so, how often?

And what to watch?

My children are the center of my universe, and I think carefully about everything that goes into their tummies, brains, and gigantic little souls. That sounds really clichéd, and kinda overwrought, but wait until you have children. Wow.

So I can make a few recommendations, with the caveat that all of these shows are available (or not) on multiple platforms (even free on YouTube, sometimes), so seek and find at your discretion:

• Peppa Pig: lovely, sweet, and hilarious. Just the best. Most of the characters voicings are superb. I am a particular fan of Captain Dog.
• Sesame Street: hard to find in its multi-decade entirety, but one of the best entertainment-type things that ever happened to America. Some folks think of Elmo as the devil, but Elmo brought us one of the very best Sesame Street characters: Mr. Noodle! Slapstick will never die…
• Octonauts: a family favorite. It was like Star Trek TOS crossed with Jacques Cousteau, with Sesame Street as a best friend. It ended too soon, but it was a wonderful, educational romp through the undersea world, with extra attention paid to teamwork and, for some reason, to the many types of squid.
• Franklin: the little turtle who learned something important about growing up just about every week. The series got better as the seasons progressed.
• Tumble Leaf: Amazon Prime has been good to us, not least because of this odd, quirky, charming little show.