Thank you, Daniel Tiger

Henry loves Daniel Tiger. He watches it on “his computer” (the iPad my brother sent him). He scrolls to find the PBS Kids icon, clicks it, scrolls through their list of shows and selects Daniel Tiger. This, in and of itself, amazes me.

 

For those of you who aren’t subject to the television preferences of toddlers, Daniel Tiger is based on the original character from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. There’s O the Owl, Katerina Kittycat, Miss. Elena (who calls everyone Toots - rhymes with foots) and Prince Wednesday and they all ride around on the trolley. It took him a few weeks to get into this show and then one day he loved it. I prefer it over Thomas because the characters aren’t jerks to each other and they sing a lot.

 

 

Here are the Top 5 lessons we’ve learned from Daniel Tiger (you have to imagine these being sung, it makes the lesson better):

5. When we do something new, let’s talk about what we’ll do: Daniel’s ever-patient mother recognizes new things (going to the doctor, brushing teeth, etc.) can be weird and scary. She stops to explain and then Daniel, of course, isn’t scared anymore.

4. You’ve got to look a little closer to find out what you want to know: Instead of the neverending Why? Where? What? from the kids, the adults give the questions back to them and then the kids feel like scientists discovering big stuff.

3. Try new things: Ever since this episode, I’ve been able to use this one several times to get Henry to try something. “Remember how Daniel Tiger had never played that game before and then he tried and it was so much fun?” Feels a little manipulative and peer pressurey sometimes, but luckily I’m not offering him alcohol or heroin so I get over that feeling pretty quick..

2. You can take a turn and then you’ll give it back: Sharing. Are we really that attached to our stuff or is it the possibility of never seeing it again that freaks us out?

1. When you feel so mad, that you want to roar, take a deep breath and count to four: This is the one Jared and I have used the most for ourselves, and it’s the root of one of my favorite, most recent Henry stories. In the cafeteria, we’ve been letting Henry sit in a “big boy chair” (one of the regular cafeteria chairs that we use). He has a hard time staying in it and we continue to remind him (okay, threaten) the potential return of the high chair should he continue to jump down. After a particularly challenging mealtime, he bolted and ran to the exit. I went to retrieve him, picked him up and said, “Henry, we keep threatening you with the highchair and you continue to run off. It makes me really upset to have to chase you. What am I supposed to do?”

He took my face in his hands and said, “Count to four, Mommy.”