Adults Need to Love a Children’s License too!

(c) DreamWorks, Gabby’s Dollhouse.

As my little one asked to watch Gabby’s Dollhouse again for the millionth time, it struck me how important it is for the growth of a license in 2023 that not only children love and engage with them, but the adults in their life do too.

Everything my little ones watch is on a streaming service of some description, which means that they have to ask for their preference of show, but especially for young toddlers, the adult has to physically put the show on. Often, if I don’t like the show (for whatever reason that might be!), I can ‘gently persuade’ them to watch something else, because frankly, if I am going to be overstimulated by something in the background of my home, I would prefer it was something I can enjoy or tolerate too. And in 2023, where we have far too much choice on-demand, I don’t have to. One of the few ‘parenting’ silver linings of 2023, we have over our parents, you might think.

As a millennial parent, the generation of extreme nostalgia apparently, I also find myself far more likely to guide my little ones towards brands I loved and cherished as a child (and also as an adult). If you then pair this with platforms like Disney+, you’ve almost got a perfect storm of consumerism. If we are going to part with our money to buy a licensed product, especially during a cost of living crisis, I find that I am much more likely to do so if it appeals to my sense of nostalgia.

Take Spidey and his Amazing Friends, for example, not only is that show completely adorable for a young toddler audience, but as I was watching it, I recognised a familiar voice in the songs (all the songs slap, by the way. If they come on while I have my headphones on, the probability is that I don’t skip to the next song.). The voice is Patrick Stump, lead singer of Fall Out Boy. Which started a fabulous trip down musical memory lane for us, plus our little one is now a Fall Out Boy fan – all the ingredients for inter-generational family bonding!

I imagine the parental control over which licences they like will wane drastically when they start school, but for now, I will be proudly singing ‘Sprinkle Party’ (from Gabby’s Dollhouse) all day, even when the kids aren’t here.