American kids' TV driving you crazy? Try these understated British alternatives.

From Peppa Pig to In the Night Garden...

British TV show Shaun the Sheep.
(Image credit: (Illustration | Photos courtesy iStock, Facebook/ShaunTheSheep))

When U.S. interrogators admitted to using Barney the Dinosaur's saccharine ditty "I Love You" to break captives in Iraq, I learned everything I needed to know about American-made pre-school TV.

I'm a Brit, married to another Brit, and we're raising our 2-year-old daughter in the U.S. Like many kids her age, she's the proud owner of parents slack and tired enough to outsource way too many of her waking hours to whatever is on TV.

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Ruth Margolis
Ruth ​Margolis is a British ​journalist living in the U.S. Her work has appeared in ​The Guardian, ​The ​Daily Telegraph and BBCAmerica.com.