If you’re a parent, chances are you have to sit through more children’s programming in a week than you ever would in your life if you had the chance. That’s not to say all of it is bad – in fact, some of it is quite good. In Canada, we’re fortunate enough to have a number of excellent channels at our disposal that commit part of their programming to childrens television. With each of these channels being so different, it’s hard to know which of these is most suitable for your family. Luckily, we here at SmartCanucks have the inside track, and we’re going to share it with you in our seven part series “The Best Canadian Kids Channels.”

Ok – so it’s not exactly a “Canadian” kids channel, but it is available in most of Canada, so I’d say it counts.  If you’re fortunate enough to have a cable provider that offers the American PBS network, then chances are you’re fortunate enough to be able to show your children Sesame Street in the way it’s meant to be seen. Sure, cobbled down version such as Elmo’s World and Play With Me Sesame appear on Treehouse – but to get the real experience you’re going to need PBS. After all, how else will your kids learn about Big Bird?

In addition to Sesame Street, PBS offers an excellent selection of original toddler-friendly programming — much of it from the Jim Henson Workshop. Between The Lions, Bear in the Big Blue House, and It’s a Big Big World all hail from the house of Kermit.

PBS has another big plus going for it — if you’re fortunate enough to have an HDTV, PBS is the only children’s channel that offers HD content. There’s nothing creepier than a crystal clear Boobah, trust me.

The period of time in which children’s content is offered varies from region to region. Where I am it’s a rather small window, but what is shown in that time is some of the best. For the parents out there, PBS evenings offers some brilliant original programming. If you want to check it out but don’t know where to start, let me recommend History Detectives. Like most things on PBS, it’s both entertaining and educational – a surprisingly fun combination.

PBSKids.org is the national website for children’s programming on PBS, but since each station has it’s own scheduling and selection of programs the website doesn’t really lend any direct help in finding the shows your looking for.  Still — it’s a good starting point if you’d like to learn more about PBSKids.  Most local stations have their own websites complete with schedules, so if you google the call letters for your PBS you’ll probably find what you’re looking for.

This article was written by our very own Jim Squires. To check out more of his writing visit the pop culture blog Fjetsam, now updated daily.