Nobody needs convincing that the cartoons of yesteryear just hit different. They are miles away from the noisy, ultra colorful, fast-paced (read: overstimulating) shows that a kid might watch today. And, it turns out, those classic cartoons might just be superior for getting kids to actually relax.

This was a discovery made by one mom (Lauren, aka @mamasandmesses) when she introduced her toddler to old school shows like Bear and the Big Blue House, Arthur, Dragon Tales, and more. Her grand experiment led to some pretty fascinating results.

For one thing, she noted that while her child enjoyed watching these programs, there was no adverse reaction when she turned them off. “He didn’t fight me or get upset, he just went back to playing!”

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But perhaps even more importantly, she noticed that his sleep improved. That’s right, parents with tough-to-put-to-bed kiddos, listen up.

Why these old shows work better

Lauren........

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