I may have had TMNT on when sorting laundry and my son came in to see ‘The Tuttles’. I tried to change to a tamer cartoon since he’s three, but he kept yelling about wanting to know what happened to ‘The Tuttle’. So, my son has just become a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan.
Is this an oops or good parenting? He’s watching it now in a trance that breaks only to eat some goldfish crackers.
Legends of Windemere 
Hmm… I haven’t watched any of the newest TMNT cartoons, so I dunno how dark/violent it is, but at the same time he’s only three, so I doubt even comprehends what’s going on in the cartoon. He just wants to see ‘the tuttles’. 🙂
Try him on the 80’s/90’s cartoon if you’re concerned, maybe?
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It’s the animated movie from years back. It’s violent in a cartoon way. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the old cartoons.
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Aw thats a shame… they were great! I grew up watching them!
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I have the old Ghostbusters cartoon though. That and the Legend of Zelda cartoon series. I’m surprised I never got my hands on ‘The Tuttles’.
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Oh I didn’t know there was a Legend of Zelda cartoon! It must never have made its way over here. I remember the Ghostbusters cartoon and I vaguely remember a Godzilla cartoon!
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Way back, they had the Super Mario Show. It focused on the Mario Bros, but they would occasionally have a Legend of Zelda cartoon. There were 13 episodes overall. I vaguely remember Godzilla too.
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Three may be a golden age for children and TMNT. I think Tom was around that age when he decided he loved them. It didn’t last terribly long, but he found an old VHS at the library used book/video sale and refused to be parted with it. Since I remembered them fondly from my childhood, I decided it was okay – he watched a lot of Bear in the Big Blue House to offset it, though.
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Aidan watches a lot of Team Umizoomi too. He’s only into the TMNT movie right now. We’re going to try him on ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ today and see how that goes.
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I think the animated movie was the one we had too! Have fun with “How to Train Your Dragon!”
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He’s back to Team Umizoomi. We’ll see how long this lasts.
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It may be a little rough at times but the morals of the stories are good. Right now he is probably just interested in the cool looking turtles and the action in primary colors!
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He made it through most of the movie and stopped right before the final battle. That’s rather impressive for a three-year-old. Means he sat and watched for about an hour and fifteen minutes.
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anything that can occupy a three year old for that long is definitely impressive. My iPad does that for my granddaughter, she likes flipping through the cartoons on netflix and has her favorites.
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I would like to get more variety into his watching, but I think he’s in that ‘run an episode into the ground’ stage.
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As long as the crackers don’t have real Goldfish in them, no problem Charles 🙂
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Nope. Those are only for college.
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Hahaha! I’ve never seen these but the trailer was cute. “I’m OK.”
Ellespeth
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TMNT is classic from my generation. 😀
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As long as he doesn’t start imitating their fighting moves, it should be okay. I had to make my kid stop watching Powerpuff Girls when she started punching everyone “like Buttercup!”
Of course, any kid should steer clear of the old b&w TNMT comic books that started it all. They were a bit naughty. . . But soooo cool.
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I thought about the comics and am thankful I don’t have those. I have a bunch of Wolverine comics, so those are hidden.
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Ninja Turtles is AWESOME! You taught your son well. xD
Honestly, some of the series/movies can be kind of dark. But I don’t know if you have seen the new TMNT show on Nickelodeon (I have no idea if I spelled that right…) it’s really well done. I was kind of worried they were going to butcher it, but it’s great. It’s not too violent, but they are ninjas so there is obviously some butt-kicking going on, but the writers made the turtles more their age. They act like real 15-year-olds, real teenagers. Leo was such a goody-two-shoe in the latest series, now he actually defies Splinter sometimes to do what he wants.
They did really well keeping their personalities in check, too. Leo “tries” to be the leader, Mikey is obnoxious, Raph is a hothead, and I still can’t understand anything Donny says. Because your son is three, you could stick with this series. Then maybe when he’s older you can introduce him to the earlier series. 🙂
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I was always annoyed by Mikey. I think they overdo his obnoxious personality. It makes him a tough character to like.
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I enjoy Mikey, though I do feel as though they make him seem a little dumb, for lack of a better word. I don’t know if you’ve seen the Nick version of TMNT, but he’s very comical in that one. I will admit they sometimes make him act younger than 15.
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I haven’t seen the Nick version yet. I should check it out.
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I think it would be better suited for your son. I’m sure you’d enjoy it, too. 🙂
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He stumbled onto the TMNT movie, so that’s what he wants. I’ll try the cartoon when I get a chance.
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Ah, gotcha. Good luck!
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Whatever your child is exposed to, just try to know what they are watching and talk about it. What do they think? Who did they like? What was good and bad about it? As children grow they need to learn how to deal with the dark stuff. We can’t protect them for their whole life but we can help them learn how to deal with life. Get in your kid’s head and let your kid in your head… watch together, my kids still make me watch their shows with them because we always have. I don’t like them all but I know what they watch and we talk about them. My son still wants to learn how to be a ninja cuz of TMNT, lol. I just can’t tell you how thankful I am that I don’t have to watch the Jr shows anymore… thanks Barney, Dora, Diego, it was fun but I get to move up to PG-13 🙂
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I think he’s too young right now. I tried talking to him and all I got was ‘I like Tuttles’. The blissful ignorance of a three-year-old. He hasn’t gone for Barney, Dora, or Diego thankfully.
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lol, I like tuttles too… keep talking to him and enjoy!
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We had a similar oops which resulted in a 3 year long obsession with Power Rangers. Be careful when you visit the stores!
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Didn’t think of that. Going to have to stay on our guard from now on.
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Better TMNT than that awful telly-tubby stuff or power rangers OMG…what I had to go through…
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I’m trying to avoid tele-tubbies, but I think Power Rangers will appear at some point. Nearly impossible to hide from that one.
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Poor you…my babes (grandkids) are into strange things like Sponge Bobs and their father is corrupting them with Ken (only know the title in Italian) and other goofy stuff. My poor youngest son had to do with documentaries and Fievel Goes To America and stuff like that…his dad is a sociologist…need I say more?
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I loved ‘An American Tail’. Not sure what Ken is though.
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Damn these translations…Ken the Warrior is a japeanese manga sort of warrior that goes around destroying everything…I think…all I see is a bunch of explosions. Ian loves Japanese cartoons and tries to watch them when the kiddies are asleep…but one of his twins can do all of the crazy karate movements and jumps about goin Whatah!!!! from time to time
she’s very good at it though.
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Interesting. Never heard of that one, but I’ve fallen behind in my cartoon knowledge.
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Naw…it’s really stuff from the 80s…probably too violent for the American censorboard or what ever…
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Looks like Fist of the Northstar.
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I have a hard time deciding what my children should watch. I get a lot of flack for letting my younger children, who are 4,5 and 5, watch Adventure Time. But they watch so much educational programming with their allotted TV time, that a little fluff isn’t going to hurt. I hope. But I think the newer TMNT shouldn’t be too bad, especially since its offset by Umi Zoomi (which even my 8 year olds like) I think it should be okay, I mean, I introduced my kids to Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings movies (extended editions with more violence) when they were like 4, so TMNT shouldn’t be too detrimental. Good Luck!
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My son is sticking to Umizoomi though. He liked the TMNT movie from a few years back, but he gave up when he realized how long it was. We’re trying to get him to watch How to Train Your Dragon, but he’s not letting go of Umicar.
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He’ll eventually move on. I liked Sprout at that age because the shows were short, just like the childs attention span, and they were mostly educational shows. Sometimes my 8 year old puts that on, and I think, Oh not again, but I can just leave the room. Its certainly better than whats on cartoon network. For How to train your dragon, see if maybe he’ll sit through the show, it’s on nickelodeon, I think. Its definitely shorter than the movie and he may like that, and then once he’s seen a couple of those episodes, he may be willing to pay half attention to the movie.
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He’ll sit through a 30 minute show without a problem. It seems after an hour, he’s lost his interest, which is impressive for a 3-year-old.
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That is impressive. I can’t get my 5 year old to sit through a meal, let alone a tv show. Then I would definitely try the show first. Maybe he’ll get attached to the characters, maybe he won’t.But it’s worth a shot.Good Luck
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I got him to watch a few episodes a few weeks ago. We need to get him to agree to the movie first. He keeps wanting Umizoomi.
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