Thinking Outside the Box
According to a new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, older adolescents who have a TV in their bedroom suffer because of it. Specifically, they’re less likely to exercise, eat fruits or vegetables, study, eat meals with their families, or even read. Our point? When you bring home that new flat-screen for the family room, get rid of the old one at freecycle.org.
Read the study »

Spin Off
Break out the glue gun! At CakeTV.com, your artistic tween can learn how to do all the funky projects featured on the show, Cake, from pillow picture frames to snack keepers. Good news for parents who don’t have a running tab at Hobby Lobby: Most of the crafts encourage kids to re-use ordinary items.

Poll
Who’s your favorite female role model for kids? Let us know on Gather.com.

We are absolutely, positively never not going to watch Charlie & Lola. And we
strongly encourage you to tune in, too, since a brand new episode airs May 16 on Playhouse Disney. Charming and visually clever (not to mention full of pink milk – sometimes spilled, sometimes not), this animated half-hour show chronicles the everyday adventures of Charlie and his very small and very funny four-year-old sister, Lola. The eps are so regularly droll (and so true to how real-life sibs interact) that we urge you to watch along with your offspring.

• Record this show to TiVo »

Okay, so it is kind of annoying to see Dora’s face everywhere. But behind the cereal, pajamas, sunglasses, t-shirts, and lawn sprinklers is a very cool little girl. Blogger Melissa DeFord explains.

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Outside the Box
PBS Kids celebrates the earth with the aptly named, “PBS KIDS Share the Earth Day.” On Tuesday, April 22, Curious George; Clifford the Big Red Dog; It’s a Big, Big World; Arthur; Maya & Miguel and Cyberchase will all have Earth Day-themed episodes. The burning question: Will D.W. become a freegan?

Spin Off
If you caught the recent season premiere of PBS’ Design Squad (a 2008 Parents’ Choice Foundation winner) you saw teen engineers creating some stylin’ (and eco-friendly) cardboard furniture for IKEA. Inspired by that “Cardboard Furniture Challenge,” the show is now inviting kids from around the country — from kindergarteners to high schoolers — to reduce, recycle, and redesign items from their recycling bin into the next big thing. (If helping the planet isn’t enough incentive, there’s also a $10,000 cash prize provided by the Intel Foundation.) The nationwide Trash to Treasure competition will launch at www.bkfk.com and run through June 30, 2008, so start saving those Mighty Bites cereal boxes.

Our theory? You can never have enough shows which send up the tween years. That’s why we’re looking forward to The Mighty B!, an animated half-hour show premiering Saturday, April 26, at 10:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon. Co-created by comic genius Amy Poehler (now entering her seventh year on SNL), the show follows nine-and-three-fourths-of-a-year-old Bessie Higgenbottom, an overly zealous member of the Honeybee troop for girls who is bound and determined to earn every single Honeybee badge so she may become mysterious (and totally awesome) superhero, The Mighty B. We’ll watch.

• Learn more about this show »

Tell Us What You Think
What helps you decide which TV shows to let your kids watch? Word-of-mouth from other parents? What parenting mags recommend? What you watched as a kid?

• Let us know »

I want my MTV, and I want it now!
by Laura Preble

One mom’s argument as to why you should demand On-Demand.

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