Outraged parents have taken to social media.

Finally dinner is complete. The kids are bathed and zippered tightly into their animal onesies. That fresh damp smell of baby wash that makes you forget the frustrations of the last hour. The sheer relief of getting through another day.

You pour a tiny splash of wine. You cozy them up together on the couch and turn on the TV ready to attack the peas scattered across the floorboards, trying to ignore the smattering of mashed potato sticking to the ceiling.

But instead of the lyrical tones of the brass band and the swing of Curious George you are faced with DINOSAURS.

DINOSAURS.

Those dastardly TV programmers at ABC Kids.

They’ve done it again.

First they moved Peppa Pig and In The Night Garden . Now they’ve gone ahead an axed Curious George from the 6:20pm time slot.

Stop celebrating, George.

The programmers obviously don’t have preschoolers in their homes. Otherwise they would realise that wiping George is screwing with the pre bedtime schedule of almost every toddler around the country.

There is mayhem in houses across Australia and the ABC Kids Facebook page has been bearing the full brunt of the anger.

Another read, “OMG I thought I’m the only mum that had a child melt down because he couldn’t watch curious George anymore. Please ABC Kids bring back curious George, I’m begging you so I could have half an hour to clean my kitchen after dinner in peace!!!!”

There was begging:

Anger:

And total hysteria:

Don’t they understand?

For some the problem was more than just a few tears:

Others though weighed into the debate telling parents they needed to be less reliant on TV and teach their kids some resilience.

Some suggested maybe it was time to read a book.

“Come on parents. Your children need to accept change as well. They will be okay. It happened to me and I survived. Some monster changed the time slot for the Goodies, Dr WHO and the Banana Splits when I was all of 5. And if this wasn’t enough,  they moved Sesame Street as well.  Being the diverse 5 year old I was, I settled straight in to Monkey Magic and pushing my brothers Tonka Truck with the cat strapped on the tray. ”

And those who thought the parents, more than the kids were the ones affected.

“Can the parents post a picture of themselves throwing a hissy fit alongside the kids?

If Curious George gets you through then I say we protest loudly and clearly.

Seems like TV is a central part of these kids lives as many parents use it as a electronic babysitter. What happened to dinner, bath time (with lots of toys and bubbles) and a good bedtime story?”

Meh.

Really?

I’m on the side of the primate lovers here. If a bit of Curious George-as-baby-sitter gets you through to bedtime then damn the naysayers.

We need a bit of help when we can get it.

Lucky for the devastated children of Australia ABC Kids has informed us that it’s only a temporary break. He’s back soon – at 5pm on Monday October 5th.

Only… 33 days to go.

Maybe it is time to get Netflix.

Has the TV schedule ever affected your evening routine?