Parental Control

My kids have a new favourite TV show

This week we pulled out the big guns and blocked a cartoon on Netflix.

Whilst we were in Ireland, we didn’t have BBC iPlayer or Disney + so we relied heavily on Netflix, more so than we would normally. It was here that the children had to find new things to watch.

At first it was a pain, not having our favourite shows to punctuate the day around trips to the park and time playing with grandparents, but they managed and soon they had a new favourite.

Now, if you have young children you may already have heard of this particular show and if you haven’t - block it now - before the kids find it.

Their new favourite is called Grizzy and the Lemmings, and it’s a cartoon about a bear and some lemmings who in a Tom & Jerry / Itchy & Scratchy style way, go out of their way to hurt each other for no apparent reason.

Grizzy & the Lemmings

There is no language involved, no words and little storyline. Just pure silliness and violence. It’s funny and in some ways very imaginative, but it lacks any depth.

The children love it and don’t want to watch anything else.

At first I didn’t see it as an issue. It was just hugely annoying and there are many shows they love which I find annoying. cough - Peppa Pig, Paw patrol…But this one is different. The short nature of the clips coupled with the fast moving action - it is one of those shows that has them glued to the screen. This isn’t background TV - this is, like social media clips, designed to pull you in and not let you go.

My partner and I had noticed a change in behaviour in the children. They were suddenly very bothered if away from the TV and only wanted to watch this particular show. There was anger, tears, tantrums if we were to pull them away after being left with Grizzy for a lengthy amount of time. We had hoped it was only available in Ireland, but when we found it on our UK Netflix too, we knew there was only one option.

We utilised our Parental Controls.

We blocked Grizzy.

My partner always tells me that We are the boss. That it is we who make the decisions; not the kids. That we don’t need to argue with them and deliberate. It wasn’t my idea to block it, but I was completely on board. We were in control.

I thought back to my own childhood and wanting to watch the silly stuff. Parents were just being boring wanting us to watch something else. But it does feel different now, it feels like something more sinister is at play here, especially with social media on their horizon. I’m not ready to lose my kids to screens just yet.

When they came home from school, of course they noticed.

When my eldest couldn’t find it, I mentioned that Netflix does sometimes have to remove content, and that it was a shame, but we will find something new to watch.

But my son didn’t fall for it.

Why would they take off something they had only just put on?

He searched for ages. It must have been twenty minutes. I prepared dinner in the time he was looking. He typed the name out in full, he scoured and searched every item that came up in the search. The concentration was immense. It’s not here! he cried.

I suggested once again we find something else, but he didn’t give up. He left Netflix and went into the TV menu, where you can see all the options of apps available, and some that aren’t available. Here you can search everywhere.

He pressed the microphone button and spoke directly to the TV Gods.

Grizzy and the Lemmings!

They delivered.

The TV presented him with several options. One of which was Netflix.

See it is there.

He selected the familiar logo but the parental control blocked his way. White text on a blacked out screen. I don’t know if he read it but he knew it wasn’t going to let him go any further. If he had read it, he would have known to try another profile. He didn’t need to. The TV had already told him that this TV show existed somewhere else - somewhere Mummy usually says is a safe place - BBC iPlayer.

One more click and he was there. Full Access.

Our parental control completely pointless.

I looked to my partner and sighed as the kids began to cackle at the silly mindless violence on our screens once again.

How naïve of us to think we had any control. We should have known better.

Have you ever had to block a TV show?

How do you manage screen time for your kids?

Do your kids have a favourite TV show that drives you mad?

If you enjoy Distracted and would like to support my writing, you can take out a paid subscription for unlimited access to my writing. An annual subscription is less than £1 a week. You could also treat me to a coffee (or a cup of tea!) – for a one off £4 payment, or you could simply like and share Distracted. Either way, your support means the world to me. Thank you so much for reading Distracted.