I've never been one of those people to smugly tell everyone that no child of mine would ever watch a TV screen.
Even before I had kids, I knew the chances were high that I would wind up plonking them in front of the TV so as to make dinner, get a pressing deadline out of the way or just have five precious minutes for a fortifying cup of tea.
But I did smugly decide pre-kids that I wouldn't let them watch any of the garish cartoon rubbish that clogs up most children's TV channels. Oh, no. My kids would only be feeding their brains with educational shows, Baby Einstein, classical music and the like, thanks very much.
Photo / Supplied
Of course, if I could go back in time, I would probably slug my smug self with one of the many pieces of Peppa Pig merchandise that are currently lying around my house.
Because, yes, my two children have both worshipped at the trotters of that most annoying of TV gods, Peppa Pig.
I feel a bit treacherous trashing the famous swine, because she's saved my sanity more times than I'd like to admit, but I have to say I won't miss her – or her relentless fat-shaming of poor old Daddy Pig – now that my kids seem to have outgrown her.
I wish I could say we've happily moved on to those educational shows since bidding Peppa Pig farewell, but I foolishly dipped the kids' toes in to other popular programming – and there was no going back.
We've now worked our way through the two seasons of Fireman Sam currently on Lightbox, a long-running show set in the fictional Welsh village of Pontypandy, where there's a suspiciously high emergency callout rate for what looks to be a population of about 20 people.
It also has the most irritating animated character to ever be foisted upon the world – naughty Norman Price, whose high-pitched whine has most parents rocking in the foetal position. I'm sure it's crossed even Fireman Sam's mind to leave Norman to save himself from whatever danger he's put himself in.
My kids have also fallen under the spell of Paw Patrol, which can be found on Lightbox, too (although really, truly, don't do it to yourselves).
Photo / Supplied.
Set in a Canadian town called Adventure Bay, it also has a suspiciously high number of emergency callouts, most of which are caused by the town mayor and her pet chicken. These emergencies are handled by a kid named Ryder and his team of talking puppies, who like enthusiastic catchphrases and overly complicated rescue plans.
It's big, bright and dumb. And there's nothing my two kids wouldn't do for these puppies.
But there is some hope when it comes to finding shows that strike a balance between being fun and being a bit more substantial. And you don't have to look as far as fictional Welsh villages or Canadian towns to discover them.
TVNZ's HEIHEI platform, for example, has been awash with good Kiwi content since its launch last year.
My kids have adored the bilingual version of Tākaro Tribe, where five friendly patupaiarehe (woodland fairies) sing, dance and learn simple words in te reo Māori.
They're also big fans of Darwin & Newts, about a brother and sister who go on adventures and use science to figure things out.
But we might have a new favourite in the form of Kiri and Lou, a stop motion animation series that launched last week and comes with one heck of a pedigree.
Written and directed by Harry Sinclair with songs co-written by Don McGlashan, the show's animation director, Antony Elworthy, was also the lead animator on Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs. The voice talent for the show includes Jemaine Clement (Lou), Olivia Tennet (Kiri), Rima Te Wiata, Jaquie Brown, Josh Thomson and Mark Wright.
Suffice to say, the show looks and sounds amazing – and it's incredibly cute to boot.
Dinosaur Kiri and mystery creature Lou gad about in prehistoric New Zealand, as they learn to deal with all kinds of emotions, like impatience, loneliness, sadness and excitement. They also discover the importance of kindness above all else.
That might sound very worthy, but the show handles those themes deftly over the course of its five-minute episodes and injects everything with warmth and humour that feels very Kiwi.
Pre-kids me would have definitely approved of Kiri and Lou. Present-day me does, too.
Kiri and Lou is available on HEIHEI, TVNZ 2 and OnDemand
