Open your mouth and speak.

I’m almost in your camp.  I am a Pre-K teacher and it seems to me that one of the skills we as teachers should be emphasizing is language development and socialization.  One of the first and strongest areas that children develop language is in their play groups and plugging the class in to a cartoon eliminates the opportunity to develop/reinforce socialization skills.  Simply state your concerns to your child’s teacher and be professional.  In the interest of serving both ends of the spectrum though, perhaps you might want to consider the content of the cartoon.  If your child’s teacher is engaging them in an educationally valuable cartoon (yes, they do exist) like one of those cartoon designed to teach children the beginnings of another language or emphasize social skills in a way that is exciting and engaging you might want to reconsider.  Maybe you should start the conversation with your child’s teacher with an earnest question about the value of the cartoon.  Again, be professional and transparent, the last thing you want to do in any conversation is put someone in a position that triggers their defensive posture.

I played dumb and said that my daughter said she was watching Curious George and I just wanted to get clarification on what she was watching, when and for how long because it wasn't clear to me based on what my daughter was telling me.  Her teacher told me they had been watching Curious George during lunch because it keeps the kids calm and everyone finishes at different times.  I guess they eat and then go outside, but it rained every day last week so they watched a little longer. Apparently she also put in Looney Toons one day last week too.  My daughter goes to a Catholic School so she will be watching some religious DVD's too according to her teacher.  That I don't have a problem with, but I don't think Curious George or Looney Toons has a place in school.  Furthermore, we do not let our children watch television while they eat meals at home, and I don't think they should at school either.  Just to clarify, my daughter eats lunch in her classroom, not in a lunch room.  So, how do I tell the teacher I disagree with what she's doing?  As a side note, the day after I emailed the teacher, my daughter said she did not watch anything at school, not even during lunch.