Article image

Advice From Our Favorite Children’s TV Characters

What’s your most precious childhood memory? Family road trips, birthday parties, or special school events may immediately spring to mind. But many of us also cherish happy memories of plunking down on the couch to “veg out” and watch our favorite TV show.

Maybe TV time was our preferred way to relax after a long day at school, or maybe it was the coziest way to wake up on a Saturday morning. One of the best parts of children’s TV shows is watching the wacky plotlines unfold: School buses shape-shift, dinosaurs dance, loquacious sponges roam the sea, and superhuman teenagers in technicolor spandex save the planet. Such colorful stories could make us feel as if anything were possible.

But as it turns out, there’s also a lot of wisdom tucked into those funny, zany storylines. While the language may be simple and the comedy slapstick, the underlying themes and advice often contain life lessons well worth revisiting.

So get cozy on the couch, fill that bowl with your sugary cereal of choice, and hit “play” on these 14 tidbits of wisdom from our favorite kids’ TV characters.

There are many ways of saying who you are and how you feel, ways that can be so helpful, ways that don't hurt yourself or anybody else.
Mister Rogers (Fred Rogers) in “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”

Share Quote

These things happen, honey. I’ll tell you what I do: I have a little cry, then I pick myself up, dust myself off, and keep going. The show must go on.
Chilli Heeler (Melanie Zanetti) in “Bluey”

Share Quote

​Things may change, and that’s OK. Today we can do things a different way.
Mom Tiger (Heather Bambrick) in “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”

Share Quote

Isn't the smallest chance of victory enough of a reason for us to keep fighting?
The Red Ranger/Jason Lee Scott (Austin St. John) in “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”

Share Quote

We worked hard, and we deserve to take it easy for a little bit. I mean, just look at that view. It’s beautiful.
Steven (Zach Callison) in “Steven Universe”

Share Quote

Every cloud is silver-lined, even when it rains / So don’t get too downhearted, as things are bound to change / … / If you never lose hope, you’re sure to cope and carry on.
Children’s choir in “Thomas & Friends”

Share Quote

As I always say: Make mistakes, make mistakes, make mistakes! It's the best way to learn something.
Ms. Valerie Frizzle (Lily Tomlin) in “The Magic School Bus”

Share Quote

And I say, “Hey!” / What a wonderful kind of day / If we can learn to work and play / And get along with each other.
Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers in “Arthur”

Share Quote

Look at the leaves … Those leaves came from one amazing tree, standing strong, its branches like arms stretched wide with leaves of many different colors, side by side, swaying together in the breeze. When people of all colors come together, we stand strong, like this tree.
Elijah (Chris Thomas Hayes) in “Sesame Street”

Share Quote

Sometimes we have to go deep inside ourselves to solve our problems.
Patrick Star (Bill Fagerbakke) in “SpongeBob SquarePants”

Share Quote

It’s better to do one job well than two jobs … not so well.
Bob (William Dufris) in “Bob the Builder”

Share Quote

You never do know what’s around the bend / A big adventure or a brand new friend / When you’re curious, like Curious George / When every day is so glorious / Then everything is so wondrous / There’s more to explore / When you open your door.
Dr. John in “Curious George”

Share Quote

Today me will live in the moment, unless it’s unpleasant, in which case me will eat a cookie.
Cookie Monster (David Rudman) in “Sesame Street”

Share Quote

We all make mistakes, but we can make most anything right again when we have some help from our good friends.
Barney (Dean Wendt) in “Barney & Friends”

Share Quote

Featured image credit: AJ Pics/ Alamy Stock Photo

Author image
About the Author
Christy Lee Barnes
Christy Lee Barnes lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and toddler son. She's a poet, educator, and an (extremely slow) trail runner.
Play more header background
Play more icon
Daily Question
Fill in the blank: "___ is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person that you always should have been." - David Bowie

More Inspiration

happiness theme icon

You don't meet the people you love, you recognize them.

separator icon
Anna Gavalda
motivation theme icon

The best advice I ever got when I was starting out: Never give up. And I never did.

separator icon
Rita Moreno
hope theme icon

To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.

separator icon
Confucius
love theme icon

Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you.

separator icon
Mary Tyler Moore
wisdom theme icon

We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry.

separator icon
W.B. Yeats
happiness theme icon

I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted.

separator icon
Jack Kerouac
motivation theme icon

Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.

separator icon
Bruce Lee
hope theme icon

Words are the clothing of our thoughts.

separator icon
Jonathan Swift
love theme icon

Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it.

separator icon
Gilda Radner
wisdom theme icon

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.

separator icon
Anaïs Nin
happiness theme icon

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.

separator icon
Zora Neale Hurston