Parents of the land rejoice – it looks like CBeebies is safe! For now, anyway.

In case you’ve been on another planet (I often feel like I am) CBeebies was under scrutiny as part of the BBC charter renewal, and when it looked like money could be taken away so more kids’ TV programmes could be shown on channels with adverts more than 157,000 people signed a petition to stop it.

An Ode to CBeebies

The government announced this week it’s going to scrap the plans, and is going to run a public consultation in the autumn instead. Which doesn’t actually mean it isn’t going to happen, but does mean we get to have our say.

I could have a rant about why taking money away from CBeebies is a bad idea, or I could write an open letter, but what with ‘meternity’-gate it’s been a bit of a ranty week so I decided to lighten the mood and write a poem about it instead.

This is only my second poem since I was at school (the first was when I was preparing to stop breastfeeding BB) so bear with me. Here goes:

An Ode to CBeebies

Dear Mr Prime Minister
I’m imploring you not to administer
Budget cuts to kids’ TV
On the BBC

Admittedly there are characters
Who make me want to scream
Like Topsy’s mum
And Justin’s ‘fun’
I’m not just being mean

But they are all forgiven
Because they give me time for me
To drink hot tea
And have a wee
Without a child upon my knee

The fact there are no ad breaks
Pushing shiny plastic tat
Spares mums and dads
From little brats
Shouting ‘I want this and that’

And let’s not forget the presenters
Who brighten up our day
There’s Andy for mums
And Rebecca for dads
In fact, there’s a whole array

If you stop and think a while
You’ll see that I am right
We can’t all afford a nanny like you
So it’s really quite a plight

CBeebies is invaluable
There are too many reasons to list
As well as being greatly missed
We’d all go round the twist

Seriously though, I do think channels like CBBC and CBeebies offer something special that commercial channels simply can’t replicate – high quality children’s TV that doesn’t brainwash kids with adverts.

What do you think? Are you a fan of CBeebies? Or do you prefer the likes of Milkshake and Tiny Pop?

Linking up with…

The Secret Diary of Agent Spitback
Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday
Life Love and Dirty Dishes
A Cornish Mum