TV – Caillou

☻☻☺☺☺

(two smiley faces out of five)

Caillou is an animated show airing on PBS aimed at preschool-aged kids. It’s about a little boy, Caillou (pronounced Kai-you), who is four years old and his family: his little sister Rosie, his mom and dad and his grandparents. What’s with the weird name? Well, the show is produced in Canada, and apparently Caillou is French for “bald” or “stone” and Caillou has no hair. Why? I don’t know. The kid isn’t a cancer patient or anything.

This will be one time when I’ll bow to public opinion. I don’t think I have ever, ever, ever spoken to a single parent who likes Caillou. I hear the same complaint over and over and over again: CAILLOU WHINES. In fact, many parents think that Caillou encourages whining in their own children, so they’ve banned the show completely. Others try to leave the room while their child is watching, because their kid is in love with it, but they can’t stand to watch it themselves.

Now here’s the weird thing: Caillou actually doesn’t bother me that much.

I know. I can’t believe it either.

Unfortunately for parents, Caillou is extremely appealing to small children. And the reason he appeals to small kids is because he is one. He whines. He’s demanding. He’s selfish. He’s a pain in the butt.

I think it’s Caillou’s realism that actually kind of appealed to me when my child used to watch it. Frankly, the character is extremely realistic.

The adults on the show, however, do annoy me because they’re too patient, too kind, too sweet-syrupy-drippy goodness and light, and they always seem to say the right thing. Ugh.

I felt compelled to give this show two smiley faces rather than just one because of the realism of the central character. But there’s nothing about this show that is so stellar that your child is going to be harmed if he or she misses it, so by all means, don’t feel guilty about keeping your kid(s) away from Caillou.