Because of its notorious notoriety, Caillou, one of the most well-known children’s cartoon series from Canada, may be familiar to you. The Canadian television program Teletoon showed the series, which was based on a line of children’s books by Hélène Desputeaux and Christine L’Heureux, from 1997 to 2010. Because the program was shown on PBS under the PBS Kids banner, many American children also got the opportunity to watch it.
The sitcom follows the titular Caillou, whose name means “pebble” in French. He is a four-year-old kid who must adjust to changes brought on by maturing, such as getting a new baby sister. Despite appearing innocent, the program has drawn criticism from many parents and others due to Caillou’s attitude and temper tantrums as well as how it teaches children poor manners. As proven by a Reddit forum where individuals criticise the lead character, the criticism persists to this day. Even when PBS officially announced in 2021 that they would no longer be broadcasting the series, there was tremendous jubilation.
Caillou is one of the most enduring television characters, whether you like him or not. He’s so well-liked that even debates about why people don’t like him end in joking moments where people inquire about Caillou’s height. People naturally looked for solutions, and what they found was unexpected!
Caillou is a Superhuman Toddler
A Twitter user decided to search up Caillou’s height on Google, which is how it all started. Caillou, a four-year-old boy, was discovered to be 5 feet 11 inches tall! That measures around 180 cm in metric units.
The concept of a four-year-old child being that tall obviously threw the internet into a frenzy.
Both fans and reviewers made fun of Caillou’s potential as a future basketball player and questioned how strangely unsuitable the show’s theme tune is. When Caillou’s mother Doris hears him sing the line, “Each day I grow some more,” she responds, “You’re getting to be a big boy!” Perhaps Doris is correct, Caillou is already an adult.
Unfortunately, Caillou’s superhuman height remains unreported, which is bad news for viewers who enjoyed the concept of a huge kid. The creators or producers of the program have never disclosed his height. Indeed, Google searches no longer display this alleged 5 feet 11 in height. Instead, the results include news articles and forum conversations regarding his equally divisive height.
Children’s television characters’ heights have become a bit of a go-to issue online. The same incident happened with Peppa Pig, with the internet asking how tall she is.
Caillou’s Family Consists of Giants
While Caillou’s height was the subject of great pomp and circumstance, it appeared that his family members’ heights received less attention. There doesn’t appear to be much attention paid to Boris and Doris, other than a few Reddit postings that stated they are around twice as tall as Caillou (i.e., about 12 ft 9 in or 396 cm).
But let’s just pretend that Caillou is 5 feet 11 inches tall. If that were the case, Caillou’s parents and sister Rosie would be so tall that they would qualify as a clan of giants.
Why is Caillou Bald Anyway?
While we’re at it, it would be appropriate to bring up another of Caillou’s more well-known characteristics: his baldness.
Despite being four years old, Caillou’s head is still bald. Fans and detractors have conjectured about the motivations behind this design decision for a long time. Caillou may have terminal cancer, which would account for why his family mainly approved of his conduct, according to a Reddit user’s theory.
The actual response is, however, far from exceptional. Caillou was initially developed as a newborn, and infants often have little to no hair, according to the publisher’s official website. Caillou was chosen to be a little older when the animated version of the novels was created. He was left with his characteristic bald appearance since it was believed that adding hair would render him unrecognisable.
What caused Caillou to age up? It was done so that he would be more relatable to the show’s target audience, who is mostly youngsters aged five and under.
So What Have We Learned Today?
We now know Caillou’s height (or at least what fans think of how tall he is). We learned that the rambunctious kid that everyone loves (or hates?) is probably not a toddler with superpowers. The theme music for his program really suits his reported height rather well! Finally, we discovered that the heights of characters from children’s TV shows had become a peculiar online fixation.
