PBS may have branched out in all sorts of directions over the years, but their core competency (as those corporate-types like to say) is literacy education. And while many of us children of the 1970s may miss the old days of The Electric Company, it’s good to see that PBS is still encouraging a love of words - most recently via the new show, Word World.

Not surprisingly, many of our parent bloggers’ children have become big fans:

• “My boys were both glued to the TV while watching this DVD, calling out the letters they could see, and have asked again and again to see it.”
• “…not only has she been watching it every single day since we’ve gotten it, she can also now spell every single word on the show!“
• “…my soon to be 4 year old is not much of a TV watcher; she likes to have the TV on but not much catches and holds her attention. She watched the two, eleven minute, Word World segments without a peep. My six (going on sixteen) year old declared, I really like Word World, even if it is a baby show. High praise from the child who is into shows that I think are much too old for her.”

The bloggers were enthusiastic as well:

• “I found myself caught up watching just to see what words would pop up next in a creative way.”
• “It kind of reminds me of when I was younger and my mom labeled many items around the house to help me learn how to spell. It worked!“
• “I found the characters endearing and the message positive.”
• “I’ll tell you a little secret - I generally don’t like kids TV shows and find it torturous to watch them with my girls. This show was entertaining, educational, and it didn’t make me want to run screaming from the room.”

But even though parents like to have a little time to ourselves now and then, we won’t plop the kids down in front of any old so-called children’s show. Put simply: “I feel that used properly, as any other tool in a parent’s arsenal, [TV] can be educational and fun. But I also recognize that TV is different now than it was when I was a kid.”

One blogger was admittedly skeptical: “I know I can’t keep my kids away from television forever, so they may as well be watching something educational. And Word World comes with a pedigree - it was developed by leading literacy experts and partly funded by the Department of Education.” Another blogger (after my own heart) commented that she’s not anti-TV “as long as the little angel is not glued to it for very long. Like me, she gets cranky if she watches too much TV.” The first blogger went on to state that her “totally personal, unprofessional opinion is that if we’d spent the time actually reading or just interacting instead of watching the DVD, that probably would have done more good. Most experts recommend that you watch these kinds of shows with your kids, but if you’re anything like me then you watch these shows while you can take a break to do something else.” Finally, a third blogger weighed in on the pacing of the show: “Because I’m one of those moms, I did count seconds between scene cuts just to see if the show was perpetuating the fast-paced visual addiction that has become all too common in visual entertainment. For the most part, scenes are on camera for at least three seconds, with several instances of long shots where the camera pans out and refocuses on something else.”

In general, the parents had as much fun with the show as their kids did. One quipped that “it’s no accident that Dog can’t talk - much like Pluto, it seems like dogs in cartoons are always actually dogs, while everything else is human. Sheep was my favorite character. I think she must be loosely based on Ellen DeGeneres. Duck, much like Daffy, had a speech impediment. Clearly, some of these Disney themes found their way into the Word World creative meetings.” And another…well, she tells it best:

“After my kids burned through 45 minutes of Word World on the first day, [my son] had to go poopy on the potty, where he proceeded to poop an L. He was so excited he had to tell me all about it and have me admire it…Over the next few days he proceeded to poop a C, a T, and an X. I think he was most excited about the X.

We’re very proud…Because anything that gets my son excited about both letters and going to the potty is worthy of adulation. And cake. Lots of cake.”

Tell me again, when does Word World start? September 3?

Sounds like a great day to begin potty training!

More reviews coming up, along with the Round-Up Review here on PBN. Check out the schedule below!

Monday, 8/20 - Karianna and Daddy In a Strange Land
Tuesday, 8/21 - Little Bird Reviews
Wednesday, 8/22 - Mayberry Mom
Thursday, 8/23 - One Plus Two
Friday, 8/24 - Motherhood Uncensored
Monday, 8/27 - Rookie Moms
Tuesday, 8/28 - Radioactive Girl
Wednesday, 8/29 - Mother May I
Thursday, 8/30 - Toddler Planet
Friday, 8/31 - Plain Jane Mom
Tuesday, 9/4 - Suburban Oblivion
Wednesday, 9/5 - Round-Up Review on PBN