The entertainment industry seems to be turning out titles for the small screen as fast as Willy Wonka’s factory produces candy. All harried parents can do is stand and gawk at videos crammed on store shelves without knowing which ones to try.
Now, however, the “The New York Times/Kids First! Guide to the Best Children’s Videos” (Pocket Books Trade Paperback Original; $16) can take the chore out of choosing because professionals have done the sampling. The editors have filled the more than 450 pages of this must-have resource, which allows parents to take control of the moving images in their children’s environment, with descriptions not only of videos but also of CD-ROMs and age-appropriate films for children from infancy through adolescence.
Parents can rest assured that the titles included won’t be full of violence, sexist or racist attitudes or anything considered inappropriate or unsafe for children.
The 300 adult volunteers who made the selections also focused on finding productions that don’t play down to children, but treat them with the respect they deserve.
Even with those worries out of the way, parents still won’t have the stamina or the time to skim through page after page of video listings. The major portion of the book includes more than 1,000 videos and 100 CD-ROMS that have been approved by the Kids First! program of the Coalition for Quality Children’s Media, which is a professional, non-profit organization that evaluates and rates children’s media.
To make the listings manageable, the book is divided into chapters for specific age groups beginning with infants. Parents who want to start stimulating their child’s brain as soon as possible will find details about several videos in the “So Smart” series. If separating listings according to age isn’t helpful enough, titles for each group are divided into categories such as Educational/ Instructional, Fairy Tales, Literature and Myth, and Nature, which give parents a chance to easily find ones that suit their children’s interests or that cover subjects or concepts they want them to learn.
Occasionally there are a few listings under the heading of Foreign Language. One such is “Bonjour les Amis” for parents who might want to raise a bilingual child. Titles about holidays are predominantly about Christmas, with only a few addressing Hanukkah.
Each listing includes a description, running time, a star rating that makes it easy to choose the very best, and reviews not only by adult specialists, but also by kids. A few of the Barney videos get only one star while many of them get the maximum of three. The “Bear in the Big Blue House” series gets top ratings, too. Approval by very young children might be limited to just one word such as “more,” which means they liked it and want to watch it again.
Older kids usually are more explicit about videos they like and might say they would like to watch them over and over again. That’s not surprising, since kids like repetition. The clue for moms and dads is to be careful about the titles they buy because not only will their children be watching them nonstop, but so will the parents. Each entry includes the suggested retail price and the name of the producer.
If the idea of scouring the stores for some obscure video or CD-ROM is too discouraging, it doesn’t have to be. An appendix lists the names, addresses, phone numbers and (often) even the Web sites of the producers.
One-stop shopping is possible because many of the titles can be purchased on the Web site www.reel.com. More help in locating videos is available on the coalition’s Web site, www.cqcm.org, which has links to other sites where they can be purchased.
It’s also worth checking the site because reviews of new titles will be posted once or twice a month. Those who want to try before, or instead of, buying will find a number of them for rent at Hollywood Video.
While newspaper’s name looms large on the book’s cover, in fact its input is less than that of Kids First! Peter M. Nichols, home video columnist for the Times, contributed a list of 500 motion pictures on video. Each entry includes a short description and the film’s rating. While the title of this chapter of the book is Family Films for Teenagers, the selection is a hodgepodge of choices, including “The Adventures of Milo and Otis,” “Flipper” and lots of Walt Disney classics that adolescents probably would find too babyish.
It’s interesting to see how few films have been made that actually feature teen characters. Since Nichols believes that teens are not tuned into films made before their time, he has separated his selections into those made before and after 1980. But who knows, maybe youngsters who liked “Titanic” might be able to relate to “Casablanca.” The difficulty, however, might not be in finding a film teens will like, but in convincing them to sit down with their parents to watch it.
But the guide is more than just a practical listing. It is also is a valuable mini-course in child development. The chapter for each age segment begins with an introduction by a child development specialist who gives insights into what to look for, and why, for each stage.
If this useful expert advice isn’t enough, the newspaper’s writers have contributed chapters based on their professional work, and insights from their personal lives as parents, which should help readers meet the challenge of finding titles that present strong, competent, creative female characters and grapple with whether they should worry whether Tinky Winky is gay and how much time they should allow their children to spend in front of the small screen.
PARENTING DEMO TAPES
The “Guide to the Best Children’s Videos” offers more than the title describes. It also includes titles on the how-to’s of parenting, which any mother or father will agree is a daunting job.
It begins, in fact, before the birth of the baby so parents-to-be can find the information they need in a video such as “Make Way For Baby!” which not only describes how a pregnant woman should take care of herself, and the stages in the development of the fetus, but also ways to bond with the baby before the birth.
Other videos describe how to care for a newborn, how a child develops during the first year or how to select a method of discipline.
Some videos take the fun factor into account by offering songs and finger plays for small children and music from different cultures, while others emphasize early education such as giving a child a head start at learning the ABC’s. Yet other videos provide information for children with special needs.
For the sheer joy of it, reviewers recommend an Oprah Winfrey video called “About Us: The Dignity of Children,” which looks at the world through the eyes and words of children themselves. According to one adult juror it “opens your eyes and your heart.” The major challenge for parents, of course, is to find the time and the quiet to watch these titles.
