MomCat Reviews: Wilbur

When the Parent Bloggers Network asked me to review Wilbur, and new series coming to Discovery Kids Channel READY, SET, LEARN! programming block, I jumped at it. A new learning show for my three-and-a-half-year old that is only 30 minutes? A show that didn't involve past reruns of The Little Mermaid series, which she will not stop watching? Sign me up! I'd been recording Sesame Street on the DVR lately and my daughter was just not interested, which breaks my heart. How could anyone reject Super Grover, I ask you?

When I checked out the website and learned that Wilbur was the brainchild of three moms, I really wanted to like the show. The ladies saw a need for preschool learning shows when their children were very young and took action, each using their career expertise to produce and market the series. Wilbur teaches early reading skills to preschoolers, promoting a love of books and reading. Who can't like a show like that, I ask you?

The good thing is, I DID like the show. The puppets were adorable and the storylines were equally cute. I loved how Wilbur the cow starts to wiggle when he is faced with a predicament and doesn't know what to do. The other characters were equally as entertaining. I like how so much of the show revolves around reading and the clever ways they weave in clips of real children, much like Sesame Street always has. All of these things typically captivate my daughter.

The bad news, my daughter had no interest in Wilbur whatsoever. Of the several times we've watched the show, she's consistently asked to watch a different one about halfway through. And, I have yet to figure out why, except for the fact that she knows I want her to like it.

This parenting a-ha moment came to me this evening as I watched my daughter sit down in the middle of a dance class that she's talked about attending for a week straight and refuse to dance...just to "get my goat" as my Grandmother would have said.

And that, my friends, is why my three-year-old little strawberry blonde darling is going to give me more gray hairs than any person should have before the age of 40.

So, I'm going to try an experiment. I'm going to start acting like I really want my daughter to continue watching the mindless reruns of Ariel that have no learning value at all, and I want her to have nothing to do with Wilbur the cutie-patootie cow. And, somehow, Wilbur will be miraculously recorded on our DVR every day. And, we'll just see if that doesn't do the trick.

For now, as a mother of two, I highly recommend Wilbur for preschool aged kids up to early elementary. And, if any of you has any recommendations for ME on dealing with stubborn pint-sized redhead, please do send them on!