52,726
62,322
25,203Why I’m Disgusted with Nick Jr. *
Nick Jr.’s new tagline is, “The Smart Place to Play.” At this moment, I consider Nick Jr. neither the smart nor safe place for my children to play.
When Evan was born, I decided that I would not be one of those parents who park their children in front of the television for a moment of peace.
That worked well for the first 11 months of his life, and then low and behold, I found myself letting him watch a little T.V. here and there.
We only watched one channel. The one and only channel on our cable lineup that provided what I felt was a safe viewing environment for my child. There were no bad words or themes (they didn’t even use the word stupid, which was important to me) — and there were no commercials.
Our safe channel was Nick. Jr., and of course, Evan soon fell in love with shows like Yo Gabba Gabba!, Little Bill, and Dino Dan.
Before I knew it, Nick Jr. was a part of our daily life. I found myself singing Moose and Zee songs in my head, and yeah, there were times when I would have liked to put muzzles on the Fresh Beat Band.
Ultimately, I knew what I could expect from Nick Jr., and as a mom, I like that.
If you’re a parent like me whose children love Nick Jr., you probably know where this is going.
The first big change happened several months ago when one day, out of the blue, our kids were asking us, “What happened to Moose and Zee?”
Next was the debut of NickMom, a block of racy adult shows starting at 10pm every night… ON NICK JR.
I would really love to know what genius thought that real moms want to sit down in front of the television at 10pm with a glass of wine and watch crude mom-comedy on our kids’ safe-channel.
Listen, I’m not a prude, but Nick Jr. is not the place for this programming.
What happens when my 3-year-old wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep because he’s having growing pains, or because he’s sick?
Well, we won’t be turning to Nick Jr. for a little comfort and distraction. It used to be that Oobi was the worst thing you might find on Nick Jr. after dark, now when I flip by (and I try to go very fast), I hear the word V-A-G-I-N-A coming out of my television.
Before anyone jumps on my back, my kids know the word vagina. No big deal. I don’t need to see a woman talking about hers in the middle of some awful adult stand-up routine.
Again, it’s not necessarily the content, it’s the fact that it doesn’t belong on Nick Jr. — period.
The final straw for me was seeing that Nick Jr. now airs commercials between shows. The commercial-free zone was something else that I truly appreciated about Nick Jr., and now I’m seeing ads for Kmart and Lego on the regular. For the record? Love Kmart and Lego, just hate to see this kind of advertising introduced on a channel that used to be free of advertisements.
Granted, as a blogger, I have to note that I was already disgusted with NickMom before the programming even hit the airwaves. It’s hard to get on board with a brand who blatantly steals content from parenting bloggers — apparently with no remorse.
My husband and I recently purchased a smart T.V., and we are Netflix and Hulu subscribers. Nick Jr. was really the only reason we were hanging on to our larger cable package, but today I’m pulling the plug.
I am thoroughly disappointed and disgusted with Nick Jr., and I know I can’t be alone in this feeling.
Everything About You is Especially Fine
Overcoming Mom Guilt
Treasuring Family Play Time
Hi, I'm Crissy, a Mom, writer, and photographer from Ohio — welcome to my blog! Want the full story? 
Breastfeeding Second Or Third Child May Be A Charm #bfing #breastfeeding
Summer Skin Routine #JergensNaturalGlow
Wordless Wednesday: Green
Joya App Makes Video Sharing Simple #GetJoya
Totally agree with you here. I have slowly gravitated my son over to Disney Junior over the past few months, and whatever Nick Jr. shows we still watch are pulled from the Netflix options.
I think the Disney shows are a lot of fun and there are no annoying commercials or inappropriate “mom content.” I watched 5 minutes of one episode of NickMom and thought it was a COMPLETE disgrace. I don’t know any mom who would enjoy watching that kind of material. I’m sure the person who came up with it was a male CEO who assumed he could generate more advertising dollars if he tried to appeal to moms. Hmm, no thanks.
Couldn’t agree more! “A smart place to play” is pandering.
Has your kiddo seen “Ruby’s Studio: The Feelings Show”? It’s smart, gently paced, meaningful content that helps kids recognize, understand, and move through their feelings. There are animated segments with Mel Brooks (about Frustration) and dance numbers sung by Elizabeth Mitchell. Helping kids communicate about emotions before they turn 5 is one of the most important things they can learn, studies prove, and this show has won the awards to be worthy of it. You can download it or buy the DVD at http://www.RubysStudio.com (or on amazon)
I am so with you on this. Nick Jr. is something my 4 year-old loves as well and even he is disappointed that a “show for grown-ups” is airing in place of his regular programming.
I curiously watched the show for a few minutes the other night and agree with your statement of “crude mom-comedy”. I honestly don’t understand the strategy behind NickMom.
Agreed! We are on the West Coast (Seattle) so it’s coming on a 7 pm! Completely ridiculous and inappropriate for a kids channel to even HAVE programs like that no matter what time it is!
I agree! I don’t know what they were thinking. Why spend years establishing yourself as a kid’s brand then do this? I tuned into the Nick Mom programming one night out of curiosity. It’s so terrible. Besides being crude, it’s low quality and cheap.
Bravo! I agree 100% with you. I got to meet Charlie from How To Be A Day. You know, the guys who were robbed of their baby T-Rex graphic. Not cool, now Nick Jr. after hours. We’ve stopped watching it all together.
I agree with you! I LOVED when my kids sang Moose ‘s”I dont like Candy corn” song and now its gone. Then to add insult to injury they put some ‘crap’ on about nick mom REALLY!! Trust me if I want mommy tv time their are a few hundred other channels for me to watch please keep it off the kids channel.
I have actually emailed them several times about bringing back moose and zee and how upsets am about at 9pm central here my son cannot watch their channel. It wasn’t often that he did but on those nights with upset Bellies and such when you’re needing that place to go, it’s not there.. I have been watching Disney jr now in our house, they’re clean, the shows I find are better, and when we want a show from nick jr we set it to record and watch it at our sons wanting. I hate what they’ve done with the channel, we need back moose and zee and no nick mom things. I’m sorry but when my son goes to bed I’m not watching nick jr, I’m watching my regular programming!
You are not alone in your thinking at all. I’m pretty disgusted, too.
I agree. Not to mention that they are constantly pushing a gay agenda! I stopped watching Nick a long time ago when they put the first gay program on.
You are a sad person. Here’s a :) because you apparently need it.
Agreed. Someone give her a hug or a donut. The “gay agenda”? What year is it again?
What gay program? I never noticed …
I hope at least one of your kids grows up and turns out to be gay. That would make my lifetime.
… huh?
Gay Agenda??? What would that be? To be accecpting of others no matter what sex they choose to love? I teach my kids to be accepting and loving…I guess I push the “gay agenda” as well!!
*Looks around for Ashton Kutcher* I’m actually reading someone say Nick Jr. pushes a GAY AGENDA?!
*slaps forehead*
What’s a “gay agenda”? I don’t get what you mean…
You are allowed to have your own thoughts and feelings even when it comes to gay people, agendas etc. I don’t think any program should talk about being straight, gay, in a relationship etc. Children don’t understand relationships or gay ones for that matter, why must we label everything? Sesame Street has said they have not and will not ever label anyone as being in a relationship, being gay or even being straight.
Which programs exactly are the gay ones? I always had my suspicions about the Backyardigans…maybe it’s Blue…like seriously, a GIRL dog that is Blue? Is that the one you’re talking about? Those Beat Street Band boys sure are good dancers and you never see Dino Dan with a girlfriend. And we all know what Muno looks like… Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention… my child’s delicate eyes!
::sarcasm::
i don’t know what program you’re referring to, but you have every right to feel that way! crissy is complaining that she doesn’t want to hear about vagina on nick jr, you shouldn’t hear anything about homosexuality as well! how can you jump on her for not wantig nick jr to teach about anything sexual to her children? that’s absolutely no place for them.
Yeah it is not cool at all. His TV is on all the time (he is learning A LOT from those shows though) and now I have to turn to Disney at night so he can watch cartoons.
I completely, 100% agree with everything you said. I even blogged about it a few weeks ago. We are in Texas, so Nick Mom comes on at 9 here….which …my sons are often up at 9. So yeah, Nick Jr. Has officially gone down the toilet!!
Crissy,
As a Grandfather of 7 Grandchildren all under 4, I completely agree
with you. Nick Jr has crossed the line in Children programming. The
same thing happened to me last week when my Wife and I were watching
our Granddaughter. At 10:05 P.M she woke up crying so we turned on
Nick Jr to let her watch cartoons, when to our shock we found NickMom
on. This type of show is in no way appropriate for young children. So
after reading your blog I have joined you in cancelling Nick Jr from our
cable provider. Thank you for writing such a excellent article and thinking
of our children’s and grandchildren’s best interest.
I agree with the being disgusted with Nick Jr… but I have not had the pleasure of tuning into Nick Mom yet. I do miss Moose and Zee also, and i am sorry but when the Fresh Beat band switched actresses without even explaining it to our kids…. And I do wish there were no commercials… kids have a short attention span anyway so having them sit through commercials is torture. My girls are big fans of Disney Jr and Sprout, so far there are no Disney Jr Mom or Sprout Mom and I hope they keep it that way.
My two boys are moving away from Nick Jr anyways, and it seems the timing is good. Not because of the NickMom programming (more on that in a moment), but because of the commercials.
The nuisance for me is that the NickMom block starts at 7 pm here on the West Coast, since there’s only one feed for Nick Jr. I have enough options between DVDs and our DVR to find kid’s shows if mine wake up in the middle of the night and need a little soothing. But I know plenty of parents who are turning to Disney Junior now because there’s nothing on before bedtime or in the middle of the night.
The thing that has me the most upset is that Viacom is pushing NickMom forward before they ever even addressed the content theft on their site. Way to build a brand.
My granddaughter doesn’t sleep well at our home and we ended uo letting her fall alseep to nick Jr. Not anymore. They say the content is available else where when they are warning you Nick mom is coming on buy I have yet to find it. They other channels still have their usual content, and we have 4-5 Nick channels. They should out it on Nick teen at the least since teens have school and need to be in bed then to at least on weeknights.
My son is now almost 15 but when he was about 3 or 4 he watched loved to watch cartoons at night to go to sleep. He would watch the whole block of “kid channels”. This was fine because we thought they were safe because they were cartoon & kid show. But one night hubby & I were sitting in the living room & heard some very sexual talk & we thought OMG he must have turned the tv to Showtime without us knowing! Hubby ran in there * low & behold it was Cartoon Network!!!! We had NO idea they had started showing (12 years ago) adult cartoon late at night! Luckily our son was asleep & didn’t see this crap. It doesn’t belong on channels that are suppose to be or assumed to be for children. So we put a block on his tv the next day.
That is so sad! We used to have DayCare in our home for 12 years. Nick Jr. was a channel you did feel safe with IF you were going to allow other people’s children to watch a trusted channel. Since daycare is no longer in our home we haven’t been frequenting the Nick Jr. line up as our youngest is 16. I am sad to hear it though for other parents children. It makes you think that there just isn’t going to be a safe channel for small children; which is sad. Thank you for sharing!
My daughter stopped watching Nick Jr a long time ago and I’m glad. I usually just turn on her DVD player and have her watch movies. I usually get them for $5.00 at Wal-mart she can watch them over and over or I have her watch the Disney Channel, but for the most part she plays outside in the yard
I am proud to say that we have been cable/satellite free for about 4 years now. We are quite happy with Netflix, and recently a friend has been letting us use his HuluPlus subscription. This way it is so much easier to monitor what our kids are watching. If there is something we really want to see that’s not on Hulu or Netflix, we check the library or rent. Overall, it’s been a real money saver, and my kids aren’t being bombarded with commercials all the time.
Crissy, when I think of Nickelodeon in general, I think of kids. Who doesn’t? That’s what it was created for. Now there’s Nick at Nite and my boys are able to stay up late on Fridays. They want to watch those shows (they’re 13 and 9) and NO! it’s not ok. Those shows are NOT kid friendly. I can see this as being a total fail and I hope it crashes and burns. I don’t want anyone to lose a job over the terrible idea, but I want a KID channel to be family friendly at any time day or night. I’m right there with you!
i agree sometimes my kiddos are awake at that hour and i was shocked to see what they were showing, and i do too miss moose and zee i use to sing along :( very sad what nick jr has turned into
I completely agree with you. Our family is now almost 100% Disney or Disney-Pixar with our TV time.
I agree with you. Now my kids are grown but even they are disgusted by how racy television is getting. My son who is 22 refuses to watch shows that are hinting at or constantly referring to getting “some action”. The words that are being said today on tv is shocking to say the least, and some of the commercials. He was shocked when one afternoon he was watching a show and a KY commercial came on. I feel for those poor moms who will get that question from their kids about those commercials. Is nothing sacred anymore?
I hate the Nick channel and Nick Jr and Disney for that matter. The only reason we still have cable is because of the Sprout channel. These channels are losing sight of who they are for
Yep. My son is 3, so he’s more a Disney guy. This week, though, he’s had a really rough cold, so his sleeping is all messed up and Disney usually plays teen shows at night. My hubs flipped to Nick thinking they’d have cartoons, and I ran in the room shouting “little ears, little ears!” We also have a special needs 15 year old, and I don’t want her hearing that mess, either! Total disappointment.
We pulled the plug on cable in favor Netflix over a year ago, and I’ve never looked back. I LOVE that there are no commercials! And it’s super-cheap. And there are a TON of shows to choose from. I don’t think you’ll regret leaving cable one bit! :)
So sad that there’s no longer any kid-safe channels on tv.
My husband was like, “Yeah there is…Home Shopping Network” *facepalm*
But at least that would put him to sleep if he were to wake up that late, I suppose.
I still think they should be kept separate. Mom-programs belong on a mom-channel and kids-programs belong on a kids-only-channel. It should be simple. Networks are just crazy now.
When my oldest was born, we loved Nick Jr. Like you, it was a safe channel to watch, especially with middle of the night problems that left both mom and child tired, but not asleep.
For the last 2ish years we haven’t had cable. Then we moved, and of course had to “bundle” (ugh). The only time Nick Jr is watched is if I record Fresh Beat Band, because, well, I just love them :) I am utterly dissappointed in the changes at Nick Jr.
Amen! We had been faithful to Nick Jr. since 2007, when our daughter was born. I also said I would never make my TV a babysitter, but sometimes I needed to get laundry done, or make dinner, or go to the bathroom in peace and Nick Jr. was always there to keep Delia from losing her mind when I wasn’t in her line of sight. We came to love all of the Moose and Zee bits between shows…and would sing all the songs (even when the TV was off). I think Delia loved them more than the shows themselves. And then, like you said…they were just…gone. No warning. Just booted off the air. Delia cried all day. I kept thinking it must be a mistake or that maybe they were trying out a new format and would just show them less, but no. And then the commercials…even when you try to watch a Nick Jr. show On Demand, you now have to sit through about 5 minutes of commercials. Before, you didn’t. There may have been a trailer for an upcoming special Dora episode, but that was all. And we’ve already mostly stopped watching Nick Jr. to even know anything about Nick Mom. I had heard of it, but until this blog post…I had no clue what it was about. It’s a completely ridiculous idea, from what I’m now reading. That’s what my 800 other digital cable channels are for. That was the 1 channel I knew I could count on. At least with Disney Jr., I knew what I was getting into. They’ve slowly been phasing out all the great shows we really like anyway and filling the time with mindless junk. It used to be more about education…it really was like preschool on TV. Now it’s just another channel. Shame on them.
A suggestion would be the PBS’s Sprout Channel. Good programming, great shows, and the commercials are “kid-oriented” (The Dream Lights pillow pets night-lights or commercials of other shows on PBS’s Sprout). The only thing that is in the slightest bit annoying is the “squeaky bird” they like to squeeze during doing “kid birthdays”.
You should look into watching baby first tv it is all about learning for children and they have cute fun cartoons. No commercials either straight cartoons. They have family fun time and craft time. no crude mom show either all child appropiate shows 24/7. They have night programs to help your child go back to sleep. I have dish and i think you have to have a big tv package of channels. Its channel 9400 on our cable setup. They have a website as well for enteractive learning. The only channel i let my daughter watch.
we gave up tv a few yrs ago. too much crap and i couldnt see paying for something i was getting angry about all the time. we have a tv hooked up to the internet and we watch netflix. when we want news we get it from the internet. i watch my favorite programming online. we have a large dvd collection. now my daughter is married with kids of her own…guess what…she has not cable and lots of dvd’s!
I too was super hesitant in letting my son watch TV, but when he was around 9 months old my husband would let him watch cartoons and soon enough, the only way I could get my son’s breakfast going for him is if he has a little Sesame Street on (which, while it’s on, he only watches about 50% of the time). We use Hulu and Netflix, no cable… and now I can see we’re not missing much. Thank you for the insight!
If you have DirecTV Baby’s First is amazing! All of the shows are meant to be educational! I also like DisneyJr, mostly for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. My Mila goes nuts over the “Hotdog” song/dance!!
I agree with you. I find myself turning on Disney and PBS or Netflix before I will even think to check Nick Jr. I am disappointed that they would be putting that kind of programming on Nick Jr., it is not the place!
Amen. The last show we watched yesterday morning was on Nick Jr. When my son turned the tv on last night he got an ear full of completely inappropriate content before I was able to run in and grab the remote. I am no prude either but I agree, NickJr is not the place for any adult content. We are considering blocking it so the kids can’t mistakenly access it “after hours.” (It comes on VERY early here in the west) Not such a smart place to play anymore.
Kids channels should be just that. I’ve had worse surprises on channels I thought were purely family. =/
I could not agree with you more. We quit watching long ago for the same reasons!
I’ve never been one to agree just because every one else is and it seems like the cool thing to do. So here it is. Why be disgusted? Most kids are in bed and asleep by this time, and we all know that moms like a little “me” time after the kids go to bed. C’mon now. Put a video in if you don’t like what’s on. Maybe some of us DO like what’s on at night.
there’s nothing wrong with women watching the view point if they desire, or even that its late at night and most kids are asleep. But, its a kids channel, created to have been that, a kids channel. If they want to discuss things out of charactor of why the show was even created , for kids. Then they should be The View or Oprah. You don’t exspect to go into the kids clothing department and see sexy womens clothing of g-strings etc amongst all the kids clothes for sale. It’s much the same way of thinking I say
Most of the shows that are premiering are actually airing when kids are still watching tv on west coast 7 pm ( which is 10 pm EST), but the problem is Nick Jr is a channel created for children hence the name NICK JR. If they want to premiere a channel for adults then why not create one like they did for preschoolers, teens and for late night adult crowd.
Nick Jr and Nick at Nite are 2 different things. You should be able to distinguish between the two. Anyway, you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Find something else to watch. It’s simple, really. IMO TV should not be a big part of our children’s daily life….
The question asked was in relation to Nick Jr and I answered that question. And no I am not confused as to the difference between Nick Jr and Nick at Nite. Maybe your a little confused about the topic and what is being discussed. I am not disputing that hey Viacom owns the channels and can air what they want but what is the point of having a Nick Jr channel that they originally stated kids shows all the time and that they geared towards “preschoolers” and now they want to air adult content. Why not create another channel? And as far as Nick at Nite the title says it all, why not air the show on that channel – isn’t that geared towards adults? And yes everyone is entitled to their opinion but maybe you misunderstood what I said and felt offended but in no way did I confuse the two shows but I apologize if I confused you.
Thank you!!! I’m on the West Coast so nick mom starts at 7pm. No more yo gabba gab a before bed. I was furious and my 6 year old even more do. That was her nightly ritual. I, too, thought nick jr was safe, but not anymore. Truly SUCKS in my book.
In all fairness, I think it depends on the market area. It seems to me like you have a problem with what’s aired on Nickelodeon as a channel and not Nick Jr. In my market Nick Jr. is a single line up that is only on in the morning w/ pre-school shows and standard Nick shows in the afternoon. When I was younger Nick at Nite was for older children like teens or adults because the market was geared toward adult programing There’s also Teen Nick and standard Nick that’s the same way
As for Nickelodeon/Nick Jr. airing adult shows after 9 P.M. I think that’s their right and entitlement as a channel after all to me young children to me that’s those 8 and under that they market for Nick Jr. should be in bed by 9 P.m. so to me that’s on the parents not monitoring what their children watch after 9 P.M. v.s. the cable channel airing inappropriate shows.
I feel the same with other similar channels like PBS or the Hub. In the morning, in my market I see and enjoy PBS kids until about 4 in the afternoon when shows for an older crowd come on out here or documentaries . Or even on the Hub some of the retro shows I grew up watching that are now on the Hub with newer name have a few shows on in the afternoon that I don’t agree w/ because of amount of physical fighting they allow on a show for kids 7 and up while trying to market to the 7 and up crowd that’s how friends behave
I do agree that I think as parents its our job to know what our children are watching regardless of what age group the media uses to advertise to our kids. Anything labeled kid friendly to me is taken at face value until I monitor a show, or book etc myself. To me the words “kid-friendly” encompasses a wide spectrum of age groups and multi-faceted media opinions of what’s appropriate for children to watch on t.v. based on trying to boost a sale or get a rating. Since parenting styles vary greatly I can’t and don’t expect the word “kid-friendly” to be a one size fits all theory.
When there’s an illness in the house or a middle of the night waking I definitely use DVDs that I’ve watched and approved of versus letting the t.v. make the decision to target my family with a show I haven’t seen yet or approved of
See, I don’t know if I agree with you. There’s plenty of other places for the content being aired on ‘nick mom’ without hedging into the programming lineup that’s designed for children. The entire point of Nick Jr. was to provide a place for kids. Now- regardless of the reason, the programmers have changed their mind and are catering to an audience outside of the initial targets. They may have the right to do that, but we as parents don’t have to like it- especially since it takes away something that we might have used to educate our kids with programs, or keep them entertained when they’re up sick at night.
Your not alone, I feel the same way. I watch my 8yr old grandson everyday here at my home while his mom & dad work.And during the summer before school started back he wanted to spend the night so we turned on my TV one day to watch the Disney Channel and it was around 6 or 6:30 pm I think and he was watching some cartoon movie that was running at the time and during the commericals I remember hearing from the kitchen the commerical ad for the show that would air in a few days which was some series they were introducing. I can’t recall now what it was called. But I remember hearing them say how the teenage girl was having feelings she for her female friend and deciding if she wanted to go further with those feelings. And I thought what? So I went back into the livingroom…ran the channel back (we have Dish Network and can hit the back button to watch it repeat)and then it showed exactly what I thought I heard and the girl was about to kiss (a pastionate kiss not a quick kiss on her lips) I could not believe that I was seeing that on the Disney Channel. I know everyone has there beliefs about what is right or wrong about same sex relationships. And I will not start an argument here with my beliefs on the subject. But the reason I was so upset was simply because my grandson is 8yrs old, he does not know anything about the birds & the bees yet. He still believes in Santa, the tooth fairy etc. And though I know he will learn of all the grown up things soon. I think it should be told in another way, not by TV on a channel you exspect to see Donald Duck, Tinkerbell etc runiing shows on. I know too that most kids at ages of 12 to 14 have already went through changing hormones & had body changes in development. And most TV shows mark the rating for each show running to warn you. But during a commerical when your watching cartoons on the Disney channel is not the time to run them. For as you say, you certainly don’t exspect to plot them down in front of a channel you feel is safe fun and age appropriate and go off to leave them on there on. But at the same time we don’t exspect to have to guard every part of that Channels viewing as not to let them see things they don’t need to know yet. I feel they will be corupted soon enough in this crazy world where it’s not all a bed of roses. So until then, why can’t you trust what was always before a place you knew you would get & see what they said they delivered? Everything in this world does not have to be sold with sex or the mention of it in some way. I even saw a commerical on TV the other day on another channel about liquid plumber and how 2 men knock on the door to show the lady how they can unplug her clogged drains & the music, the moving gestures & the voice of the narorator all suggested it to be a sex /sexy commerical to sell that product. And the kids that are to small to know what that means yet, does not need to see that and wonder..What ever happen to values & being respectful of others. I guess the producers get the say & go where the money is at, no matter the true cost others may suffer or not like. There is a place & time for everything and the right age to see, hear or learn about it. I’ll step down off my soap box now..But I agree with you 100%
Are you kidding me …
I haven’t seen the adult programming in the evening but I sure HATE the idea of it and completely agree with you. I don’t like the idea of commercials either, ugggg
Nick Jr has been a huge part of me and my children’s lives , Its a shame to see it go down hill.
Wow. I had no idea. Of course, I don’t have little ones in my house, but still…this is nuts.
I agree – my son started watching Nick Jr. at an early age. It’s ironic you mentioned Oobi being the worst, because that’s exactly what we had to watch if he ever woke up in the middle of the night. This NickMom thing, I joined thinking it was decent stuff, but a lot of the things they post in their FB profile have nothing to do with Moms and everything to do with vulgarity. I’m young, 33, but associating myself with a channel that’s supposed to be for children, all the while having adult-related FB posts makes ME look ridiculous. I appreciate you throwing this out there!
i switched to disney junior right after they took moose and zee away….. i have been much happier with disney junior too the only mom thing they have is a 3 minute segment on cooking healthy 2 ways for kids and for adults and it doesnt bother my son to sit and watch it bc right after there is a little “story” for him….. way better than nick jr if you ask me … plus they show disney movies from time to time so thats a bonus!
100% agree with you. Our son was a fan of the Nick Jr. lineup, and his mother and I had no problem letting him watch some of it because the content was prefect for a kid his age, and there was no risk of exposure to anything he didn’t need to be seeing at his age. Recently, my wife told me about the ‘Nick Mom’ lineup, and I saw the commercials between programs. It’s just not the same channel. the content’s not the problem- as you said- its the placement. I don’t like that we have to dip and duck around things that are age inappropriate in the event that our son is up late at night for one reason or another.
I, too, have been super annoyed with the commercials on Nick Jr. However, I had no idea that they would stoop to stealing and trying to pass it off as their own. I also had no idea about this Nick Mom stuff at 10 pm. Wow. Can’t they just make a whole new channel for that or something??
I’m pretty lax about what my kids watch… My 8 year old tells people his favorite movie is Die Hard… But I rant nightly about Nick Jr. First, I don’t appreciate nickelodeon telling me my kids should be in bed by 9 pm… 2nd, if my kids WERE in bed at 9, I sure as shit wouldn’t be watching lame “mom comics” on nick… I’d be watching Dexter or SOA. So at 9 every night I post that were changing to Disney junior and tag nick Jr to let them know how STUPID their programming us. It sucks that my daughter has to watch princess crap rather than Diego, like she wants… Maybe we’ll shut off the cable and watch Diego on Netflix instead.
I agree with you! This is why nick an nick jr are not allowed in my house, we stick to Disney jr now and I’m so glad they have a 24 hour channel now.
AMEN!!! I have been so annoyed by the new programming. I’m in Mountain time so the NickMom shows start at 8pm here. And they are lame! If I want to watch “comedy” I’m not going to NickJr for it. I’m a Nana and we discovered NickJr. when my grandbaby and her Mom where living with me. We loved it. I told everyone how wonderful the programming was…no commercials, just learning. I was impressed by how much my grandbaby learned about feelings, letters, etc from the shows. Grandbaby is now 3 1/2, has always been a night owl and now we can’t watch Wow Wow Wobzie before bed. And one Saturday afternoon we turned it on and it was two hours of “Go out and Play”………thanks but I needed a half hour of Kailan to settle her down before nap time. Thanks for sharing something that has really been bugging me too!!!
That is sad that Nick Jr., is not showing cartoons for kids to watch and instead showing adult shows. I use to watch tv land alot, but it has the same ole shows on,I emailed Direct Tv to see if it would be possible to get the station MeTv, and so far it is not available. I know the comment above has nothing to do with Nick Jr., but I just wish if a certain number of people would ask for a certain station, we would get a chance to purchase it. Nick Jr is suppose to be a kids station,and I hope all parents let them know how inapprociate it is for them to show adult shows instead of shows for kids. We always watched popeye, smurfs, bugs bunny,flintstones,those were great cartoons also
All of my kids grew up watching Nickeloden from the original “face” to the “moose and zee”. I really don’t like the Nick Jr. and I think most of the channels seem to originate from the idea of a new Disney jr. My daughter has a compromised immune system which triggers different types of crises in her body which may cause her to be up at night and I used to be able to turn to Nick Jr for her and sometimes had to suffer to through the dreaded Oobi. But I have seen many comments stating that hey why shouldn’t they air what they want, well if that’s the case shouldn’t they change the name of the channel and can’t moms find the raunchy comedy that they crave on the Comedy Channel. My kids only have a few channels dedicated to them and most of the content on television now is geared toward older teens and adults. So when I turn to Disney Jr. or Nick Jr. I should expect to turn to something for my preschooler at any time of the day. I too am a Hulu and Netflix subscriber via Roku which is often plugged in unless my older kids want to watch something geared towards teens.
You definitely are not alone. I have “blocked” Nick Jr. from the list of tv channels available, because of the reasons stated above. Now, my kids enjoy the company of Jake & the Neverland Pirates, Doc McStuffins, and Mickey Mouse. I only wish we had the Disney Junior channel for those late night moments when “Handy Manny” is the only thing that will comfort my 4 year old. Luckily, our DVD has quite a bit of storage, so we’ve got plenty of programming recorded just in case that happens.
So long, Nick Jr. I’d say it’s been nice, but……
Well to be a voice on the other side I have to say….I like Nick Jr. Makes sence to me to put on other programing after 10pm. I’ve always found it weird to see little kids shows on late at night. I’ve truned to see what’s on and wondered what kid is watching Dora at 3am??? Really? kids that watch Nick Jr should be in bed by 10pm….not watching tv. If they are up I’m assuming there’s a reason that doesn’t involve watching tv. Agreed with time shifting sometimes 10pm is much earlier out west which is a problem. Plus I’m a mom that actually does like some crude comedy when the kids aren’t around….yup we do exist!
Nice to know I am not the only here who feels this way.
We used to watch a lot of the Disney channel. But it only has the preschool stuff for a few hours of the morning which is frustrating. But I loved that it was commercial free. Making the switch to Hulu and Netflix were the best decisions we could have made. Now we can show the boys what we want them to see when we want them to see it. With Hulu there are commercials. But we don’t usually use Hulu for the kids. We use Netflix primarily for kids/family shows (yes many of them are older but my kids don’t care!). I wouldn’t go back to cable for the world! Besides that we went from paying around $120 a month to paying only $14! Big difference!
How right you are! My issue with it is as you note above, this type of programming should not be on Nick Jr. One wonders what sort of genius came up with that plan…
It definitely is content that is not needed on a channel that should stay focused on children. I don’t know why Nick and Nick Jr. had to change. Do they need ratings to feel important? TV has really gotten so raw lately. Why can’t people just keep some thoughts and feelings at home and to themselves. Everything is put out there and then they wonder why children end up being rude and raw at school. Just because they put it on late TV doesn’t mean a child might not be exposed to it. I remember sneeking a look at TV late at night as a kid, especially when I couldn’t sleep. I’d sneek out and sit next to it with the sound down very low at night as a child when I couldn’t sleep. Then like you wrote, parents sometimes put the TV on when a child is sick and you know they aren’t going to school the next day. Now, I guess they’ll just have to pop in a safe DVD instead. So sad the way Nick and Nick Jr. have been changing.
As a random thought here, Nick used to do this about twenty years ago. It was called “Nick @ Nite”, and it started around 10 PM. It was shows like Gilligan’s Island, I Love Lucy, and Laverne and Shirley. I fondly remember going to bed as a child and secretly sneaking out to watch those shows. They weren’t really “adult” shows (or if they were, I’m sure I missed all of the adult references as a child), but I’ll admit that I loved those shows a lot more than the daytime programming.
I feel like I wrote this myself. These are my exact thoughts. And I hate that they push the mom stuff during the kids’ viewing hours, so my 5 year old kept saying, “Mom, there are shows on just for you at night!” I had no interest in what those obnoxious ladies had to say; besides, after the kids are in bed is my time to do laundry, dishes, and homework (I’m a teacher).
Oh my gosh, I was just talking about this to my mom last night.
What I do not like is that on the West Coast this starts at 7. Part of our bedtime routine has been a sippy cup of milk and watching Nick Jr before bedtime at 8. Now we just turn it off. :( I also miss Moose and Zee too.
I totally agree! This is so aggrivating because its the same thing they did to Nickelodeon. It was originally very kid safe amd had programs on that you never had to worry about your children seeing. Then it started getting shows with a little bit of cursing and a little bit of sex. People complained and Nick Jr was born to give us the safe place once again. Now we have this channel doing the same thing. Whats the point? Very disappointed in Viacom. Truth be told we gravitated to Disney Jr when Viacom wouldnt settle with Directv and we arent looking back!
we pulled he plug too. for the same reason
Not using the word stupid in front of my kids is also important to me. And other negative labeling words.
I haven’t seen NickMom and I probably wouldn’t because I don’t watch TV even at 10pm. And I’m glad.
On the other hand, I love Hi-Five and I’m happy it’s in Disney Junior.
I had no idea! My kids DO watch Nick Jr, but I have a habit of switching to Sprout at 8 pm since it has all the good night shows more geared towards my 3 year old. He also knows that boys have…and girls have the V word. But like you said, Nick JR isn’t the place to use it in a stand up routine for my kids to see too, bad call!
Wait till they start showing commercials for erectile dysfunction or tampons. That will be the next thing.
Woah! Lucky for us, we pulled the plug on cable earlier this year, so my son missed Moose and Zee’s surreptitious departure. I was still sad to hear they aren’t on Nick Jr. anymore – loved them! – but I didn’t realize the network changed it up so completely! How disappointing (just like the NickMom fiasco – terrible)!
We love being cable free (so does our wallet), and except for my missing AMC and my DVR and DH missing ESPN, we’ll never go back to cable again!
I don’t have kids, but I do have lots of nieces and nephews who enjoyed nick jr. I totally understand your disappointment! I guessing going back to loops of old Disney DVDs for the rug rats when I sit with them! Sigh!
Sign the petition…..msny of us want to stop nickmom on nick jr. http://www.change.org/petitions/viacom-say-no-to-nickmom
I’m a mom of three and when one of them used to wake up in the middle of the night I knew that nick jr would help them distract the nightmare they just had or help soothe them if they werent feeling well. Nick mom is disgusting, annoying and I can’t imagine any mom truly sitting down to watch any of this.
You might already know this, but many Nick Jr shows are on Netflix.
I am completely on board with your disgust. My husband and I entered our 4 year old daughter’s room last night to hear a guy talking about his penis and his sex life. I too thought it was safe to leave my kids’ TV on Nick Jr. I assume the inappropriate Viagra and panty commercials will be aired next. I can no longer trust Nick Jr to entertain my 2 young daughters with age-appropriate prgramming. It’s really sad and disappointing. I guess we will keep DVD’s in from this point on.
I do not have cable, so I will likely never see Nick Mom. But an author friend of mine just pointed me in the direction of her “Toddler Wisdom” Facebook page, and one of the things her daughter said to her is about Nick Mom. I thought you would find the comment very interesting.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Toddler-Wisdom/10150140904485029?ref=hl
I agree all the way! Don’t even get me started on the poor messages today’s toys are saying to our kids.
PBS is the best WILD KRATZ! SUPER WHY! CURIOUS GEORGE! BARNEY! BOB THE BUILDER! what more can we ask for. We do have Nick JR on in this house unless Max and Ruby is on…
That’s so disappointing to hear. I am not a mother, but am an intern for special education resource room, and many times, we turn to children’s educational (but fun) videos and cartoons for entertainment and a “different” way to teach certain things (our students, obviously, don’t do well learning the “normal” way, so we have to get creative). We always scramble around looking for shows or videos that we can pull up online, but most are riddled with commercials (with content that we don’t need to having our kindergartener or first grader seeing… really….), or are titled in inappropriate ways (especially on YouTube) to make one think that it’s safe, only to have it turn the wrong direction after a few minutes.
I was pretty disappointed when the Question 7 commercial (one of the election questions in Maryland calling for gambling to be legalized in certain counties) came up on Pandora, even. I don’t need my classroom atmosphere being breached by political or combative commercials.
It’s sad that there are less and less “safe” places for young children. They’ll learn all the not-so-”safe” things about the world sooner or later, but there’s no need for it to be at 4 years old.
I actually just exploded with rage after Dora went off and then came the parental discretion. So I googled ‘I’m upset with Nick Jr. and apparently I’m not alone. This frustrates me to all ends and no my 3 y/o isn’t a tv hound. When my child has a fever and we are up at 2am cooling her down, I know we lay in my bed and there’s a channel with 24/7 cartoons to keep her calm. I’m live in the PNW, so we get adult programing at 7pm, which if I’m not mistaken was Yo gabba gabba’s time slot. The marketing genious behind this idea claims that ‘Moms’ requested the change to unwind or whatever…. I thought that’s why we have prime time programing on the network channels and DVR’s.
If only Dish Network offered Disney Jr.!!
What kind of ignorant people put adult shows with cuss words on a childrens network that plays shows like Dora,Wow wow, oobi,wonder pets,little bill & bear etc, This was a childrens learning station, They should be fired!! My 5 1/2 yr old came running to me to say they just said son of bitch on tv!! i checked and their talking about sex too!! come to find out it changes here at 9 to this comedy crap nick mom night out..what children want to watch this.My daughter watches late tv on weekends and wednesdays cuz no school!! this is childrens learning network i dont want her learning this CRAP at 5yrs old Take It Off Please This is for the Children. Theirs enough terrible stuff out there Protect them!! Oh and yeah we can change the channel thats why numbers have dropped but a child doesnt understand why they cant watch their shows anymore. To state again it was a childrens learning station not an adult inappropriate show We have plenty of those, but not many for children!!
I sort of always wondered why they had kid programming on at midnight. I know there may be a few who can’t sleep, but enough to merit full time kids programming that late?
Maybe one of their accountants finally realized this hence the change. Doesn’t sound like it’s the RIGHT change, but how can you pay for 12 hours of programming that no one is watching?
Well the thing is, their ratings are WAY down (to the tune of 70% down) in that time frame since introducing NickMom. So, it had the opposite effect they were hoping for.
I am right there with you… I don’t mind the programming itself but I am not sure that it belongs on that channel. I came upstairs one evening to my fiance wide-eyed at some lady talking about vaginas and I was all “WTF” until I realized he had just turned on the TV a little later than usual on our “safe” channel. I don’t think it’s a trend that will last long as I am sure others share your sentiments.
Here here. I feel the same way. Nick Jr. was a safe zone for my 1st daughter (now 7) and now with my second (2) we never watch it. I am using Netflix to find suitable commercial free programming now. We are going to get rid of cable all together soon. And in addition to this, what ever happened to good family programming (sitcoms)? I feel like there is nothing I can watch with my children that satisfies both of our needs for entertainment. It’s either shows for them, or shows for me after they go to bed.
You are by no means alone. My tv hasn’t been back on a Nick Jr since 7:18pm 10/1. So disgusted by the way they just abdonded the childrens programming and for what, NickMom. They barely have any fans. We have been addressing the issue directly with the sponsors because Nick and Viacom are ignoring all the angry parents. Made a lot of progress so far with getting sponsors top drop advertising. Boycott thre channel!
I totally agree. I was not impressed when they showed a commercial for NickMom in between, Dora I think it was, and the women mentioned va-jay-jay. I had to rewind because I thought no way did someone just say va-jay-jay on NickJr! We have since switched to Disney Jr. If my kids want Yo Gabba Gabba or Max & Ruby I pull out the DVDs or stream it on amazon prime. I am so thankful for the Directv/Viacom dispute earlier this year, when Directv brought on DisneyJr since we had no Nick for a couple weeks. It was an easy transition once the va-jay-jay incident happened!
The sad thing is, I would bet almost anything Viacom is just waiting for all the angry parents and bloggers to calm die and let is all “blow over”, and then just continue on with an even bigger block of time.
*calm down
You do sound like a complaining prude. Get yourself DVR and play a show for your kid if they wake up. Not the end of the world, mom so take that pacifier out and get over it.
And did anyone see the embrace word of the day lesson? It’s two gay man romantically hugging. For the record, we aren’t homophobic. But seriously, must we push this on kids.
I, too, was unpleasantly surprised to accidently tune in my daughter’s tv to NickMom. She’d had a bad dream and our usual practice is to turn on NickJr to let her watch (with the volume all the way down) to help her get the bad images out of her head as she goes back to sleep. It’s always been a safe channel to turn on and I have always been confident it would not have anything scary or inappropriate on it. I turned her tv on (it was already tuned to NickJr) and before I could turn the volume down I heard some woman talking about her vagina. I did a double take at the tv, checked the channel because I though it surely must be on the wrong channel, but sure enough it was NickJr. The satelite showed the show to be NickMom. I quickly changed the channel to DisneyJr. Honestly, what are they thinking?! Very disappointed!
Slate has a new post up about this, which is actually pretty well thought out: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/11/nickmom_comedy_block_nick_jr_goes_after_the_edgy_mommy_demo_with_not_much.html
Switched to Sprout when Viacom forced DirecTV to pull channels. When it came back and NickMom aired 7PM! West coast time we stopped watching NickJr entirely. Via con constantly makes moronic decisions across all their networks. Rocket scientist’s throughout the company. 200 non kids channels (20 of them Viacom owned) and they need to steal a 4 hour window that is BEFORE prime time on providers not time delaying NickJr. NickJr does not have a West Coast delayed feed and most providers won’t time shift it. Your loss Viacom – your licensed merchandise from shows will now never be purchased as we don’t watch any longer. Good luck. Sprout all the way now for what limited time our little one watched TV
OMG! I was thinking the same exact thing. My son was on a Disney Jr kick for a little bit but he decided he wanted to watch something on nick Jr. I didn’t remember it having commercials. They were also advertising them Mom show. I thought it was a clean show were moms interacted with their kids. A show they could both watch. No. I was wrong. We are now back on Disney Jr.
i 200% agree how can we get it off…see hollywood and their bs have kids growing up too fast!!!
I LOVE MY NICKMOM AT NIGHT LOOK FORWARD TO IT EVERY NIGHT WHEN MY DAUGHTER IS IN BED
I feel the same way!! My twins are 15 months old and I let them watch one show of ” yo gabba gabba” before nap. They LOVE this show. I always DVR it and was not use to watching more then just the 20 min show. How ever, I was sick last week and the TV was a life saver. I found it odd that nick jr had cold med ads playing… I don’t want my kids to see ads for that and then go looking for it in our home!! Don’t even get me going about nick mom! It’s a nasty crud show. I also am making the switch to Disney jr.
Not saying that you are not entitled to your opinion. but it would have been a lot easier to just change the channel to Sprout, or use Netflixs, then to wright a whole artical about this. You people need a hobby……..
Not everyone has Netflix or Sprout. I don’t even think I have ever heard of Sprout. It’s not in our cable listings.
Sprout is not on my listings either. But if you have Time Warner Cable, you can still watch their programming On Demand at the Kids channel – Sprout section.
It’s pretty appalling. My nephew also knows that he’s not allowed to watch “TD” as he calls it, after 10pm while he’s in bed because of this time block. He is constantly asking (when it’s closer to night time) what time it is because he knows how to count very well and knows when he’s getting closer to 10 when you tell him the time. It’s cute but kind of sad at the same time. Parents shouldn’t have to screen what kids could be or are watching on a child’s network.
I am in total agreement with you! I almost fell out the first time I saw that mess on nick jr! I have a three yr old who thinks he’s as big as my 12 and 13 and stays up late with them sometimes and they of course watch what he wants to watch . Not only do I not want my 3 yr old to see or hear it I really don’t want my big kids to hear it! They learn plenty of that at school! And yes you are right! Most moms don’t sit down @ 10:00 and watch tv and if I do that trash is the last thing I want to watch .
You are ABSOLUTELY NOT alone! After their inconsiderate, obnoxious, heartless way of poking fun & making children’s food allergies! I am utterly disgusted with them! And I have been using every source of social media possible to spread the word!
I completely agree! Though, my biggest beef is with the ads aimed at children. NickMom never bothered me that much because we’re both in bed before it starts. But my biggest annoyance is the Winx Believix commercials. Those things are AWFUL! I don’t want my little girl to start out life comparing herself to a bunch of disproportionate, slutty-looking fairies!
I agree.
Hi there, great article and I agree! I have no kids but I have a 7 yo sister who used to really love watching Nick Jr. everyday and she stopped just in time for this NickMom nonsense. (Good!) This is just too ridiculous, why would you spend years building yourself up as a 24/7 preschool channel and then put a show on there that talks about s-e-x in the most CRUDE WAY POSSIBLE? There are hundreds and hundreds of other channels for adults – if I want crude comedy, I’ll either go to HBO or Comedy Central or YouTube! Not to mention there’s commercials on Nick Jr. now – talk about breaking promises, you jerks!!!! And the idiots at NickMom can’t even understand the SIMPLE concept of copyright and “give credit where it’s due???” God these people are stupid and when you call them out on it, they just roll their eyes, or outright delete your comment/email or say “I’m sorry, but…” No, stop right there. What kind of apology is that?? It’s not even an apology at all, it’s just ANOTHER excuse. Shame on you Viacom and shame on you Nickelodeon! I’ve lost all faith in you!
Who the hell lets their children much less a baby watch television in the evening when they’re supposed to be winding down? They should be reading books, being read to or playing with their toys.
I was really disappointed with the recent Kids Choice Awards commercials which I felt were very sexual. A man dressed as a woman with whip cream coming from his fire cracker boobs. I know it was a parody type theme with him as famous singers videos etc. but my four year old held Legos to her chest afterwards and that was my last straw! A network claiming to be geared at toddlers and children can not have that content. I’d have her watch MTV if I wanted her exposed to that. I have been torn as to what to do about it, as I feel something needs to be done and said but I’ve had emails to them go unanswered already. I’m no prude either as you have said, but I don’t need a sexually charged four year old either. Exposing sexual images to a minor is a felony and you can get jail time. Is this different because he was a man or because the message was hidden? It still made my daughter interested in putting Legos to her boobs and wave around like they were spraying. And to say that is inappropriate to her was hard as she just saw it in between Dora and Diego…. If her teacher at school had done this, the teacher would have been fired. This shouldn’t be any different. We need to fire Nickelodeon!
I couldn’t agree more, all programming has gone to the dogs, in my opinion. Also in my opinion, how dare some of these parents jump on this woman for not wanting to promote a gay agenda. Kids programming is no place to push sex of any sort. I happen to agree with her, and just because she hasn’t conformed to your belief system, she shouldn’t be ridiculed for it. You believe what you want and we will believe what we want. Judgement will be passed by God.
And oh guess what I said God, and if that offended someone, then tough!
I agree
i completly agree!! we actully got a dvr so that we can fast forward the commercials, because we dont like our child watching them. a good channel that we have made sure we have in our cable or satalite package is pbs sprout. like nick jr, its for toddlers, and some of the shows are short for there little attention spans! theres no commercials inbetween shows, and the few that they do have are directed more for the parents. it has great daytime shows and night time shows like ‘the good night show’ which helps with getting the kids to wind down. its a few hours long, and has streches and crafts and things like that, along with the kids programing as well. its good to look into the channel, we love it!
I TOTALLY agree 100%!!