If you raised children decades ago, two things have changed a lot since then: kids now have near-unlimited access to video content, and many of today's most popular children's songs weren't around when you were doing the singing. Neither is complicated once you know the landscape — this is a quick, practical guide to both.
The Classics Are Still the Classics
Good news first: the core repertoire hasn't changed much. Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald Had a Farm are still exactly as popular with today's toddlers as they were with your own kids. If you already know a stock of nursery rhymes, that knowledge is still fully useful — you don't need to relearn a new songbook from scratch.
What's new is mostly on the media side: songs your grandchildren know from YouTube channels (character-based animated shows with original songs) rather than from a songbook or a preschool teacher. If a child asks for a specific song you don't recognize, it's very likely from one of these channels rather than a song that's replaced the classics.
Screen Time: What Changed and Why Parents Are Strict About It
Current pediatric guidance recommends limited screen time for children under 2, and modest, supervised limits for preschoolers — guidance that's stricter, and more specific, than what most parents grew up with themselves. This is why many parents today have firmer screen-time rules than their own parents did, and why it's worth asking directly rather than assuming your usual approach applies.
A short, friendly conversation before babysitting — "what are your screen rules right now, and is there anything specific you want me to stick to?" — avoids the most common friction point between grandparents and parents. Most parents appreciate being asked rather than having to bring it up themselves.
If You're Choosing a Show or Video Yourself
If screen time is allowed and you're picking content, a few markers of a genuinely kid-appropriate channel: no unskippable ads interrupting mid-video, calm-paced editing rather than rapid cuts, and content clearly aimed at the child's actual age rather than "family" content that's really aimed at older kids. When in doubt, ask the parent for one or two channel names they're comfortable with in advance — it removes the guesswork entirely.
A Few Non-Screen Alternatives Worth Knowing
Singing the classics together, without any screen involved, remains one of the most reliably engaging activities across every age from infant to preschooler — and it's the one area where a grandparent's existing repertoire needs no updating at all. Action songs with hand motions (patty-cake style games, clapping rhymes) also tend to hold a toddler's attention just as well as a screen, without any of the screen-time-limit questions.