CoCo No

If you thought Barney or Blue’s Clues was enough to put you over the proverbial edge, you haven’t met JJ from the cartoon, CoComelon. 

At first blush, it’s a harmless show with cute little nursery rhymes and topics that are typical for the preschool set. Don’t be fooled though, the more you listen, the worse the voices get and the repetition leaves you ready to pull your TV off the wall. 

Nevertheless, the littles are hooked.

It’s no wonder why they’re entranced because there’s apparently a dopamine hit that occurs in kid’s brains as the scenes change every few seconds. You and I both know that highly overstimulating kids isn’t a good idea. 

Ringing in for mom of the year, I let my daughter watch said train wreck during emergencies. Read: airplane travel. As we watched JJ and his siblings start singing about exercise, my ears perked up. With a degree in exercise physiology and career in fitness, I was intrigued where CoComelon would take this train. 

My intrigue led to disgust and a prompt and permanent shut down of CoComelon. Why was I so fired up? 

The show started off with harmless clips of the whole family getting in on some form of movement at home. Yay! Exercise is fun! A perfectly appropriate message for kids. Abrupt set change, the dad comes over to THE BABY IN A DIAPER to physically move him through a set of sit-ups. My jaw dropped. 

Was there no adult in the room speaking up to say that NO BABY SHOULD BE FORCED TO DO SIT UPS? 

Movement/exercise has a very important place for mental and physical health for both kids and adults, but this had gone too far. 

How much movement is enough? What is too much? I talk about all this and more in my upcoming book because it’s such an important part of healing your relationship with food and body. 

In the meantime, check out my online yoga classes and online course that explains exactly how to find peace with food and your body. 

Until then, repeat after me….just say (CoCo) NO.