Five TV Shows My Son Shouldn't Watch, but Does

There's at least a thousand articles out there stating that TV viewing for children should be avoided, or at least curbed. Many of those articles are very detailed, showing facts and figures on why kids watching TV is a bad thing. I have read many of them, and I've tried my best to avoid letting my son, who's two-and-a-half years old, watch too much. I can honestly say, I've failed miserably. Below is a list of five shows, my son watches, but probably shouldn't.

Phineas and Ferb is an animated series on Disney, that began in 2007 created by Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, and Dave Povenmire, of both SpongeBob and Family Guy fame. Each episode is kind of a three pronged plot involving the escapades of two brothers who consider every day the best day ever. They have a pet platypus, named Perry, who's actually a secret agent that goes off and thwarts an evil not-so super genius every day. Meanwhile, their teen sister, Candace, attempts to bust them, and just will not give up.

The show has great comic timing, and a great message, but it doesn't really offer much to a toddler. However, it is a pleasure to watch, and my son's not the only one that likes this one.

The Regular Show is incredibly strange. It involves main characters, each a different animal or device that you'd find in your local park. They all be-grudgingly work in a park doing menial laber, but find themselves getting into all sorts of surreal trouble through their laziness, and need for delaying gratification.

I'm still not sure why this show is good, but we can't seem to stop watching it.

This show kind of snuck up on us. One day we were watching TV, and it just came up next. My wife and I were both surprised to see our little guy acting out the theme song and dancing to it. After that, he would routinely ask to watch "Carly." We couldn't figure out why he liked it, and we still don't, but we've watched a number of the episodes.

SpongeBob is the punch-line of too many jokes, so we already knew he'd like this show. It's fast paced, silly and the characters are colorful and well though out. Each episode sticks to the dimensions of the show, but still manages to bring something new, even though it's been around since 1999.

The problem is, researchers believe, in the toddler years children require slower frame-rates to help understand and develop cognitive skills. This lends itself to a show like Sesame Street, which is slower paced. Anyone who's watched SpongeBob knows it moves at a frenetic pace.

The problem is, he's hooked on it, and asks for it routinely.

This has got to be the biggest surprise we have yet encountered. We saw a commercial for this show once, and my wife and I immediately began making fun of it, saying it was a show of desparation to hook teen girls. Unfortunately, it has hooked our son. This one is becoming a problem, as he'll scream and throw a tantrum if he doesn't get his fix each day.

This show is about four hockey players from Minnesota, who've been given their dream of going to Hollywood to become the next great boy band. The show involves a lot of slapstick comedy and sound effect jokes, as well as extreme facial expressions. They boys live in a hotel of the future famous, who are all want-to-be actors, musicians and models.

I don't understand it, but it's caused me giggle into my hand a few times. The show's corny, and I'm not sure what its demographic is, but it is the latest thing in our house to dominate the TV.