Hating a vegetable and talking in a British accent, diving down to the bottom of the ocean to save marine life, and nannying four kids with insanely wealthy parents are just some of the many plots in children’s television shows.
Growing up, there was an abundance of options for entertainment for the younger audiences. Channels like Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Cartoon Network were all staples in the lives of many children in the 2010s and now.
Does anyone ever go back and rewatch these shows that they watched all those years ago? For some, the answer is yes.
For junior Rebecca Maddox, she enjoyed the Disney Channel TV show Jessie. She watched the show at her cousin’s house when she was sleeping over there; because she has younger siblings, she wasn’t supposed to watch it at her house. So, Rebecca would watch Jessie with her cousin in the morning when they woke up.
“I love my siblings, but [being with my cousin] meant getting a break from them and getting to do something that was, to me, an older kid thing,” Rebecca said. “I had to watch younger kids’ shows and read younger kids’ books, and [watching the show] meant getting to be myself outside of my siblings.”
When Rebecca’s youngest sister, Elizabeth, started watching Jessie, Rebecca was excited to watch it with her. After all that time of watching it with her cousin, she finally got to watch it in her own house. Though Rebecca does not watch the show as often as she used to, she will still sometimes revisit it. When she rewatches Jessie, the show brings her a feeling of nostalgia
“It brings back a lot of memories from when I was younger,” Rebecca said. “There’s something about younger TV shows where they’re are clean and stuff like that; it brings back sort of a youthful innocence; it’s a fun way to relax.”
“I feel that in a lot of ways the characters in these shows raised me as well. They were an escape and these little worlds that I was just so invested in.”
— Anneke Anglin
Passing on the show that she had loved when she was a kid is an excellent way for Rebecca to watch it again and revisit the moments she loved from it originally.
Another pair of siblings that grew up watching shows together is junior Anneke Anglin and her brother, Aaron, who enjoyed the BBC channel CBeebies’ show Octonauts.
Her mom used to work night shifts at the hospital, and every weekend, she had to take naps during the day, so Anneke and her little brother would always watch shows together when she was sleeping.
“We would sit on the couch with our dad’s iPad and watch shows,” Anneke said. “It was just me and Aaron time.”
This brought them together and grew a stronger connection between the two. Additionally, when Anneke visited her friends’ houses, they would watch Octonauts together. They would exchange the facts they already knew about the animals in the show, and there was, as Anneke describes, “a connection out of the screen and into the real world.”
She will sometimes revisit an episode or two to feel a sense of nostalgia and rewatch a show that had brought her so much joy as a child.
“I feel that in a lot of ways, the characters in these shows raised me as well,” Anneke said. “They were an escape and these little worlds that I was just so invested in.”
For senior Sarah Hughes, whenever she is stressed out or wants a fun pastime, she will turn on an episode of CBeebies’ Charlie and Lola. A huge draw to this show for Sarah was their British accents. Ever since viewing the show, Sarah has loved to mimic the British accent. Her favorite episode is “I Will Never, Not Ever, Eat a Tomato.” because of how imaginative it was. When rewatching Charlie and Lola, she feels transported back to a time when life was easier and slower-paced.
“This show reminds me a lot of nostalgia and being able to go back to a time when everything was simpler and just finding time to unwind and find your inner child again,” Sarah said.
Besides the show being entertaining, it also taught her valuable lessons that she still uses and values in her life today. With the curious and vibrant nature of the show, Sarah tries to be more carefree and have fun in life.
Childhood TV shows are a way people can reconnect with their younger selves and be reminded of when they were little. To replay the best moments that, even when older, people still fondly remember.
“It’s important to rewatch childhood TV shows because it gives you a glimpse back at what you used to be like,” Sarah said. “I feel like a lot of our inner children, so to say, have a really deep connection with our adult selves because what we enjoyed and valued then are probably still the same principles that we want to have in our lives today.”
