Kids absorb a lot from children’s shows, but what if they end up learning the wrong things?
For Kelly, it was an unexpected parenting challenge.
She expressed her surprise in a recent TikTok after her three-year-old son, Kia, started using a new phrase.
“We made sure to teach him that the sentence wasn’t nice pretty quickly.”
When Kelly asked Kia to do something he didn’t want to, he’d reply with, “You’re not my best friend.” But the real issue began when he started saying it to other people.
“It broke my heart every time I heard it,” Kelly told Kidspot.
Usually, Kia is a sweet child—empathetic, loving, and with a personality that wins everyone over.
“Each time I heard him say it, I’d ask, ‘Son, where did you learn that? We don’t say things like that. It’s okay if someone isn’t your best friend, but you shouldn’t say it to hurt others,’” she explained.
“I was fortunate we taught him that phrase wasn’t kind fairly quickly, and he stopped saying it after about two weeks, but it took a lot of correcting and guidance.”
She had no idea where Kia had picked up the phrase—until it suddenly clicked.
“Kia was watching TV, and right when I looked up, Peppa said the exact line. I was shocked,” Kelly explained.
“I immediately turned it off and talked to him about why it wasn’t okay. He understood and even said, ‘Yes, Peppa didn’t make a good choice.’”
She told her son that Peppa tends to be “not nice” and a “bully,” which is why they decided to stop watching the show—something Kia fully agreed with.
“Today, while I was browsing kids’ Netflix for his screen time, Peppa came up on the screen, and Kia said, ‘No more naughty Peppa,’ then picked a different show,” she shared
In fact, Kelly has noticed that even the small, carefully monitored amounts of media Kia watches can affect his mood.
“If he’s watching something like Miss Rachael or Trash Truck, he’s happy and positive. But when he watches Peppa Pig, he tends to get a bit sassier,” she explained.
She’s since dug deeper into the show and uncovered more concerning issues.
“Small, quick phrases in shows like this can easily go unnoticed,” she said.
“Peppa calls her dad fat and is really mean to her younger brother. That upset me because it seems to teach siblings to be unkind to each other—especially since Kia has a younger brother, Kian, whom he’s very sweet and loving toward,” she explained.
“Peppa is not a role model I, as a parent, would want my child to learn from. We always monitor screen time, but those brief moments in shows like this can slip by unnoticed.”
Kelly believes it’s a ‘blink and you miss it’ situation that many parents might not catch until their child starts copying what they see.
“In my own home and under my watch, I won’t allow that kind of influence.”
“Sometimes our children will hear things beyond our control in the real world, and it’s our responsibility to teach them right from wrong. But in my own home and under my watch, I won’t allow that kind of influence,” she insists.
She hopes her experience serves as a reminder to other parents not to let their guard down—even when children’s shows seem innocent and harmless.
“It’s easy to trust a show just because it’s on a ‘kid-friendly’ platform, but that doesn’t always mean it’s appropriate or sets a good example,” she said.
“As parents, it’s our responsibility to know and monitor what he’s watching, and I’ve definitely learned a lot.
“Being our first son, there’s no rulebook for parenting. We’re learning as we go, and we’re proud to share what we’ve learned with other parents.”
