I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but one day I’m going to be able to use the potty without my entourage of 6 year olds: two pugs and one child. (Lest we forget my pseudo-6 year old hubs who thinks it’s hilarious to bang on the door as soon as I sit down.)
Until then, I’ve found that the best distraction for the 2 legged 6 year old is to turn on a “show” and she is instantaneously and irreversabliy entranced by the television, allowing me just enough time to take care of business. This also works when she miraculously awakes an hour early on weekends as she quite literally peels one of my eyelids up, “Mama? Mama? Are you awake?” It’s a rather rude awakening. “Can I watch a show?”
“YES. PAH-LESE.”
The only way this happens without a nagging at my sleep-deprived semi-consciousness is that she knows there’s only one channel that she has full and unfettered access to: Sprout. Channel 337 on our AT&T Uverse. She dials into Sprout and I have a few minutes of much needed mommy time.
As much as I like to think I am unique, I am apparently not in the minority when it comes to a mother’s love of Sprout – which allows for peace of mind television viewing. “Little lessons buried into short content” and ranked #1 trusted network in the Harris Interactive poll of 96 television networks, Sprout is our safe-haven for television in our house. It is a network run by parents so it’s no wonder. Sprout’s SVP of programming says, “We program based on what we know.”
In fact, Sprout has a great idea about what kids like and how to deliver it all they way down to the precise timing for kids to “get” the joke. Sprout developed late-night favorites, The Goodnight Show with Nina and Star, and the Pajamanials, and this fall will launch 5 new original programming shows:
Astroblast: Premiering July 12th, This fully animated show features 4 characters in space who work in the Frosty Star where they serve healthy shakes to visiting aliens. The Princess Cupcake got a sneak peak of two of the episodes and I’ll just say that it has her seal of approval. (I thought it was pretty cute too.)
Ruff Ruff Tweet and Dave: Aimed to a younger audience, Ruff Ruff is a dog, Tweet is a bird and Dave is well… You get the pattern. This show is dubbed a second screen interactive game show which means there’s an app that can be run simultaneously as the show airs. The answers to all the questions can only be the names of the characters, and as the kids interactive live, they can unlock bonuses and additional surprises.
Clangers: This stop frame animated show takes an immense amount of time to film (only 11 seconds per day!) but is well worth the wait, teaching family values and togetherness. There are no words on this show, the characters speak through whistles. This show is actually a throwback from the original that aired in 1969 starring pink, long-nosed mice-like creatures living on a blue planet. Sprout has updated it for this new generation.
Floogals: In keeping with the alien themes, Floogals is a live action CGI hybrid show about 6 inch tall aliens who crash land on earth and are trying to get home. While they work out a means of escape, the show captures their first experiences of discoveries on Earth (such as a fork), all from a the shortest of shorts perspective.
And lastly, one near and dear to my heart….
Nina’s World: Who doesn’t love pajama-wearing sweet Nina on the Good Night Show? No one could ever imagine a harsh word from her lilting voice as she soothes our children to sleep. Well, seems as though Nina has quite the following (250,000 votes during the contest to pick her new pajamas) and as such, landed her own show. Nina’s World features Nina in animated form as a 6 year old girl in a bi-cultural world, having the experiences she speaks of during the Goodnight Show. Don’t worry, her sidekick Star continues as her guest-star.
Lucky me got to meet Nina (aka Michele Lepe) and the SVP for Programming for Sprout Andrew Beecham and other Sprout leaders at a luncheon last week.
Here’s an DYK: As Sprout is now officially part of the NBC family, the network is moving to 30 Rock in New York City this summer — which means that if you visit NYC in the fall, you’ll be able to visit the studios on the must-see tour and buy your favorite licensed characters in the gift shop, and quite likely you’ll be seeing some big name faces as guests. And another DYK, Sprout has the only live morning television show for kids in the US.
As a mom, it was a thrill to connect with the network that we know and love. Hearing how Chica receives 50,000 birthday cards each year and about how successful the Mother’s Day promotion was on Instagram (designed to get mom in FRONT of the camera, not behind it #mamashere), and how they elected a child with a hugely great philanthropic idea to Chief Kindness Officer quite simply warmed my heart. It’s a network and a brand I feel good about, and honestly, that’s really really hard to come by these days.
Well done Sprout, well done.
Here are some more more photos from our amazing lunch at The Mansion on Turtle Creek.
Group photo courtesy of Molly Thornberg of Digital Mom Blog and featuring Michele Lepe of Sprout Network, Moi, Lea Ann Stundins of Mommy’s Wish List, and Jennifer Buxton of Real Posh Mom.
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