TiVo KidZone: Create a Personalized TV Experience With Only Parent-Approved Programs

This week, TiVo launches a new feature called TiVo KidZone. If you’re a parent concerned about what your kids are watching -- and a TiVo subscriber -- take a look. It’s the best thing we’ve seen yet for families with young kids.

TiVo KidZone creates

We like it because, unlike the V-Chip and other content blockers, TiVo KidZone represents the first “positive option” programming ability: All a kid has to do is turn on the TV, and only the programs you've selected will show up.

Given that one of Common Sense’s missions is to help families get to the good stuff fast, we were delighted to be asked to include our recommendations in the TiVo KidZone menus. Each week, we'll provide a new list of shows that we give our green light to.

The recent Kaiser Family Foundation study on the viewing habits of young children underscored just how much TV has become a part of our youngest kids' lives. In a typical day, 83 percent of children under 6 use screen media, averaging about two hours daily, which only increases as kids get older.

And kids are watching by themselves: One third of kids 6 and under have a TV in the bedroom. We understand why parents turn to the tube for occasional babysitting -- when we have to vacuum, we have to vacuum -- but it's critically important that we act responsibly.

TiVo already gave parents a useful tool in allowing us to time-shift TV programming: We can now watch The Sopranos long after the kids are in bed. Now, with TiVo KidZone, parents can go one step further in ensuring that their kids see only age-appropriate programming.

As always, however, our Common Sense advice is to make sure kids enjoy a healthy media diet. Just as we're careful about what we let our kids eat, we have to be careful about the media they consume -- the quantity and the quality.

For more ideas, check out our tips on creating a healthy media diet.