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[Carlos del Vaca]

Your kid had to be *taught* to throw a tantrum?  Wow, you're one lucky man. 

She figured out Basic Tantrums on her own.  Angelina taught her Advanced Tantrums.

[littlefallsmets]

I was a huge fans of the Bears' books but not so much of the various adaptations.

From a very young age, my parents figured that letting me watch adult teevee was probably good for my learning curve as long as they were around to explain things when they didn't make sense to me... and it wasn't just a babysitting device thing.

I knew more about politics at the age of seven than most adults do, just from my parents explaining the jokes on SNL and David Letterman and Johnny Carson to me.

Of course, I was very precocious about my language skills as a child. I could read the New York Times in kindergarten and when adults would challenge me on it, I'm told I would lay down the science.

As a child I was singularly obsessed with proving to adults that I was as smart as an adult.

I was a very weird kid and not particularly above average in most other ways... but I was very tall and very well-read.

[jay-ell]

I think lfm just told the life story of 75% of the board regulars, with minor variations.  At least, it sounds a lot like my childhood.  I remember being really excited every four years because I was allowed to stay up late to watch the presidential election returns. 

I was for Reagan because we had the same birthday. 

[Nabubrush]

I've never been particularly tall, but everything else makes sense.

Jough, you are an evil man.

[AlohaDawg]

I think lfm just told the life story of 75% of the board regulars, with minor variations.  At least, it sounds a lot like my childhood.  I remember being really excited every four years because I was allowed to stay up late to watch the presidential election returns. 

I was for Reagan because we had the same birthday. 

I was pissed, I was two years too young to vote in '84. Otherwise I was pretty much Alex P Keaton growing up.

[jay-ell]

I had a crush on Alex P. Keaton growing up.  Not Michael J. Fox.  Alex P. Keaton. 

[Golfhaus]

My wife really likes Wonder Pets! as a show - she DVRs it regularly, it's educational and entertaining, and there's a few jokes-for-the-grownups snuck in there kinda like old school Sesame Street was. It introduces kids to opera (as the show is performed as an operetta) and there are two episodes per half-hour - each adventure is twelve minutes long. It also follows a Blues Clues-like predictable format to help build up their confidence in themselves.

When we start popping out babies, though, I'm showing them Wonder Showzen episodes when the wife is away.

[jay-ell]

Pedro and I have discovered that the Mickey penis Clubhouse is basically Seinfeld for kids. 

Seriously! 

Mickey is Jerry
Minnie is Elaine
Goofy is Kramer
Donald is George
Daisy is Susan
Pete is Newman

We haven't figured out where Pluto fits in.  We think he might be a metaphor for Seinfeld's seventh main character, The City of New York. 

But still.  Dudes.  It totally works, and I'm not even stoned. 

[side_show]

There's plenty of wonderful children's entertainment out there.  I'm immersed in it at the children's theatre all the time, so I've got loads of suggestions.  I'll just rattle off the classics for you:

The Snowman is a short film based on the book by Raymond Briggs.  It's a beautiful film, was nominated for an Oscar, and is basically timelessly wonderful.  I don't know how much of the US it reached, but in Canada it's basically an institution.  Here's a link to the entire film on YouTube, though it's of shitty quality.

I've yet to see the DVD itself, but Where the Wild Things Are is so good, and Maurice Sendak is the god of children's literature.  The DVD has a great read-along feature.  It's also got the equally good Night in the Kitchen on it, so I'm pretty sure it has to rock.  Here's the YouTube of just the Where the Wild Things Are Part of the Disk, and even though it's not the best quality here, it's still pretty fantastic.

If you truly want to ensure your boys turn out wacky, I highly recommend the brilliant, funny, smart and unnerving Canadian children's show The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.  It is the best show ever made.  A kids show with Vincent Price as the host/narrator?  How can you go wrong?!  Looking back on this show now, I can't believe how awesome it is.  There are loads of clips of it on YouTube, and you can by at least two seasons of it on Amazon.  I have fantastic memories of the unnervingly creepy characters and the total insanity of that show!  Wolfman Jack?  Did they want us to grow up to do drugs?

My SO would hate me if I didn't recommend Fraggle Rock - they've got seasons 1-3 out on DVD, and we've got all three.  He's watching season 3 right now while he washes dishes.  These are more his thing than mine, but he just loves it.  And granted each episode teaches important lessons about kindness, compassion and acceptance. 

If you wanna talk Jim Henson, I recommend the fantastic  DVD collections of The Storyteller series.  This is basically the high art of Jim Henson at it's best, and you've got some unbelievably brilliant actors along side fantastic creatures of Jim's creation.  So damn, damn good.  Great for kids, and the quality of these sets is bar none.  If you want to save money, just get "the Complete Collection" - the second collection of Greek Myths is not quite as strong, but is still great. 

I could go on for a lot longer, but these are probably my top pics for kids your son's age, and they're all timeless enough that he and his future lil' brother will enjoy them.

Edit:  Oh, I almost forgot:  The Dog Who Stopped the War (aka La Guerre des tuques) is a brilliant French Canadian film dubbed into English about kids who build a giant, fantastic, unbelievably awesome snow fort, then go to war over it's owner ship.  It addresses, quite deeply, the concept of war.  The war is ended when part of the fort caves in and kills one of the children's dogs.  It's a surprisingly frank, deep exploration of war and loss from a child's perspective.  I saw it when I was about 7, just before my first experience with human death when my grandpa died.  It was very useful in helping me understand loss.

[CortJstr]

Pancake fuck*ng Moutain I can't believe I didn't think of this before. Any kids show with Henry Rollins, Built to Spill, and George Clinton as a guests gets a gold star automatically.

[side_show]

Okay, I got lost in YouTube after the last post... Every Canadian kid who was a child in the 80's has seen this, and it's delightful.  Probably not interesting to hip kids today though.

[AugustWest]

Harold and the Purple Crayon?

[KeithHernandez]

Charlie the Unicorn?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnJAozfBq7w

[theinevitable]

Adventure Time!

[AugustWest]

Adventure Time!

That is so excellent.

1 can for my fellow KWUR DJ.