I am making a public confession here: despite my desire for our kids to have little, if not absolutely no TV exposure, I have failed miserably. During our busy days on mission in Timor Leste, especially when we had to prepare for back-to-back national conferences, there were a lot of times when the TV and DVD player became Tim’s babysitter. It was the only way (at least, that’s what I thought at the time) for me to perform miscellaneous tasks.

Because of this, we chose only DVDs which we thought had “educational” value. One of the DVDs we chose had episodes from different Nick Jr. shows, including “Ni Hao, Kai-Lan”. Tim enjoyed watching this show about a 5-year old Chinese-American girl and her friends, and even now that we have returned to the Philippines, he still likes viewing it on Nick Jr. whenever we are able to catch it during his limited TV time.

Kai-lan and her friends, Rintoo the tiger, Tolee the koala, Lulu the pink rhino and Hoho the monkey explore the world together and overcome the “challenges” preschoolers usually face on a daily basis. Kai-lan’s grandfather, Yeye, is usually featured in the show as a source of wisdom and guidance whenever the kids need it. Similar to the show Dora and Diego, which are also aired on Nick Jr., Kai-lan is a show that introduces not only a new language (Mandarin) to its young viewers, but also an entirely different culture (Chinese).

Growing up in Brunei with friends from different cultures and speaking different languages, including Chinese, I couldn’t help liking Ni Hao Kai-Lan, too. I am of the belief that raising bilingual, even trilingual kids can be done (though to be honest, Filipino is a big challenge for our preschooler!). Exposing our children to these shows will help open their eyes to people of different backgrounds, although of course, nothing beats exposure to real-life people of different nationalities.

Click here for more