Even before I was a parent, I was already imagining of all the things I wanted to share with my kids one day. Being a TV junkie from an early age, it made sense that one of the biggest areas I would want to share would be cartoons, TV shows and movies.
For TV shows and movies, it would be hard for those genres to stand up and last a generation. But cartoons, well they keep going and going without ever losing a beat. Now that being said, my friends and I are often complaining to each other that cartoons are not what they used to be. This is especially true of Saturday morning cartoons. I remember waking up and being excited for cartoons starting as early as 7 am. Super Friends was a classic for me.
But still, for the most parts, a cartoon that is 20-30 years old, still engages and entertains today’s kids. Considering all they have to watch and play with, that’s pretty impressive.
Being a cartoon addict as a kid led me to a career in TV later on in life. My choice was sports, but I was also lucky enough to work at YTV for four years and there I got to watch cartoons for a living. Classic, current and trendy, I saw it all. I had access to it all. I even started mass recording my favourites on VHS tapes so I could easily share with my own kids one day. This was before Netflix even existed of course.
But thanks to streaming video and services like Netflix, those VHS tapes were tossed and now there are thousands of hours of shows I watched as a kid, ready at our fingertips anytime we want. Scooby Doo, Transformers and others.
Netflix even did a massive study on the topic and learned all kinds of cool stats about dads, their kids and what cartoons they enjoy together.
One of the first cartoons I passed on to our first son was Transformers. It was so weird. The exact same cartoon I had watch decades earlier. It was still engaging, cool and interesting. My son loved it and still loves Transformers today. He is more of an Autobot fan. Me, I was all about the Decepticons.
Yes the quality is not the same, but that is part of the nostalgia for me.
So what other cartoons are on my list to share with my kids? Here are a few.
Top 5 Cartoons I Want to Share With my Kids
1. Transformers
This was one of my most favorite cartoons growing up. If you would have told 10-year-old me that one day Michael Bay would bring Optimus and Megatron to the big screen, I would have paid a million dollars to see it.
It was a classic good versus evil where one shot red lasers and one shot blue lasers and nobody ever died. No matter how close the Decepticons came to winning, those darn Autobots would prevail.
Our oldest son started watching Transformers with me when he was two. Yes he has gone away from them for now, but I know he will come back. Besides, our youngest is now two and once I show him the ways of the Transformers, he will be making that signature noise as he runs around the house.
In case you were wondering, Transformers made the top 5 list of cartoons that dads wanted to share with their kids. No surprise there.
2. Scooby Doo
Again, our oldest boy has experienced Scooby Doo, but only for a short time. He got scared of some of the episodes which is not surprising. As silly as Shaggy can be, there are some spooky looking creatures and situations on that show.
Our oldest son enjoyed the Scooby and Shaggy relationship of course. Ah getting home from school and watching the gang ride around in their van, those were the days.
Charlie, Charlie doo, where are you??
3. GI Joe
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Now, even though this show is not on Netflix (as I know if), it is one that I hope to show my boys one day. I think they need to be a bit older, but it was one I loved growing up. I still have a lot of my toys that I will also pass down to them. Cobra Commander and company will be a big hit in our house.
Again, red and blue lasers, nobody dies and you get a decent helping of USA patriotism. I also will do my best to never let the boys see the GI Joe live action movies. They were, well let’s just say, not great.
4. He-man
Ah the powers of greyskull. Another classic cartoon from my youth. Man at Arms, Skelator and more. There was a cool sword, magical powers and a creepy castle. All the makings of a cartoon that lasts forever. My boys will love this one as well and to be honest I look forward to watching it all again.
I can’t imagine He-man would have done so well if it came out today. This cartoon compared to others, is pretty dated, but it is also part of what makes it so good. Although, Man at Arms at least could have been open about who he really was.
5. Inspector Gadget
This one was a before school cartoon for me. Which works well because right now our boys watch one cartoon before school while we get ready to all leave for the day. They too can experience the mystery of who exactly Dr. Claw is. I really would have thought that by now I would know this. But the secret keeps going. All kids can identify with Penny, trying to figure out the mysteries of life, while relying on her faithful sidekick. Also, how many times have you said “go go gadget” something in your life. That alone is worth passing down to the boys.
So There You Have It
Cartoons, dads and kids. What a great mixture of memories and new experiences. I am not even sure what we would do without Netflix to bring all of these classics to our TV. Those VHS tapes I mentioned surely would have disintegrated by now into a giant pile of dust.
What shows (on Netflix or not) do you want to share with your kids one day? Maybe you already have, what did they think? Cartoons and other TV shows are a great way to show your kids what you used to love when you were their age. Then they can enjoy it with you, while you get to relive all those great moments again. It is really a perfect situation.
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