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Houston Babies
rayskit10
member
By Madison Park
CNN
(CNN) -- Watching television does not make babies smarter, according to a
study released this week in the journal Pediatrics, adding to existing
research that challenges the usefulness of baby educational videos and DVDs.
Researchers from Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and Harvard
Medical School reached this conclusion after monitoring more than 800
children from birth to 3 years of age.
"Contrary to parents' perceptions that TV viewing is beneficial to their
children's brain development, we found no evidence of cognitive benefit from
watching TV during the first two years of life," the authors wrote.
Educational DVD and videos geared towards enriching babies and toddlers,
such as "BabyGenius," "Brainy Baby" or "Baby Einstein," which proclaim to
"encourage discovery and inspire," have no benefits, researchers said.
This echoes a similar finding published in the August issue of Pediatrics.
Researchers from the University of Washington and Seattle Children's
Hospital Research Institute found no evidence of benefit from baby DVDs and
videos and suggested that it may be harmful. Infants who watched the videos
understood fewer words than those who did not watch them.
Pediatrician Dr. Michael Rich, a co-author of the latest study from Boston,
calls baby educational DVDs and videos "just wasted time."
"At the very best, they steal time from much more productive cognitive
developmental activities," he said. "Ultimately, what it's about is to make
parents not feel guilty about an electronic baby sitter."
The parents of the 872 children in the Boston study estimated the number of
hours their toddlers spent in front of the television, including TV programs
and DVDs. Researchers did not have data on what kinds of programs the
toddlers were watching.
On average, babies at 6 months watched approximately 0.9 hours of TV per
day. That number increased as the child aged: 1.2 hours at 1 year and 1.4
hours at 2 years.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen media for children
under the age of 2 years. Educational DVDs are tailored for babies as young
as 3 months.
In the Harvard study, two I.Q.-related tests were administered to the
children: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III, which indicates how many
words the child understands and uses, and the Wide-Range Assessment of
Visual Motor Ability test, which presents puzzles and peg boards to test
cognitive abilities.
Babies who spent more time watching TV had lower language and visual motor
skills at age 3. But when results were adjusted for household income and
education levels, the association did not appear.
Lead author Marie Evans Schmidt and her colleagues "did not find evidence of
harm or benefit of TV viewing."
Based on the existing body of research, Schmidt, a developmental
psychologist instructor at Harvard Medical School, said, "there's still more
evidence of harm than benefit as far as TV viewing in infancy is concerned."
Studies exploring the relationship between TV viewing and the effects on
children are just beginning, she said.
"My hope is that when this information is made available to the general
public, that it won't be perceived as study that means there are no harmful
effects of TV viewing on infants, because other studies have shown TV
viewing at high levels can put kids at risk for some things like obesity,
sleep disturbances and possibly attention problems," Schmidt said.
Rich, a pediatrician who directs the Center on Media and Child Health at
Children's Hospital Boston, said TV watching during infancy instills habits
that promote obesity.
"You're teaching 4- or 5- or 6-month-olds how to watch TV," he said.
"They're learning to watch TV. The more they watch as they get older,
they're snacking in front of TV, they're exposed to snack-food commercials,
which inspire them to eat even more and sit even more. It is a cumulative
effect of many, many factors."
But Karen Hill Scott, a senior fellow at UCLA who works in the field of
child development, said the criticism ignores real life. "To me, as a
scientist and parent, we can't hold on to completely demonizing screen time
when parents are really very determined to use it."
Modern parents "want kids to be literate on computers. They don't see the
screen media as evil," said Scott, a consultant for Baby Einstein."The net
effect that it's not harmful is a relief to many families who have been made
to feel guilty or awful that they use screen time."
Scott said the material in educational baby DVDs is similar to what is in
books.
Baby Einstein products were designed by Julie Clark, a teacher and mother,
and were not devised through scientific research. Susan McLain, general
manager of Baby Einstein, said the company receives thousands of letters
from satisfied parents.
"We've basically stayed true to the philosophy to what [Clark] created. That
was exposure to real-world imagery," she said. "The core themes are art,
music and nature; that's the core essence of what we've created."
She said the Harvard study indicated that "screen time is not harmful for
baby and infants."
Rich, the study co-author, recommended relying on what has been proved to
benefit children.
"The best thing for our kids is to provide them with stimulus that we know
is positive for their brain development," Rich said. He suggesting
activities like reading, singing, interacting and stacking blocks to help
children.
Study: Want a smart baby? TV's not going to help
rayskit10
member
By Madison Park
CNN
(CNN) -- Watching television does not make babies smarter, according to a
study released this week in the journal Pediatrics, adding to existing
research that challenges the usefulness of baby educational videos and DVDs.
Researchers from Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and Harvard
Medical School reached this conclusion after monitoring more than 800
children from birth to 3 years of age.
"Contrary to parents' perceptions that TV viewing is beneficial to their
children's brain development, we found no evidence of cognitive benefit from
watching TV during the first two years of life," the authors wrote.
Educational DVD and videos geared towards enriching babies and toddlers,
such as "BabyGenius," "Brainy Baby" or "Baby Einstein," which proclaim to
"encourage discovery and inspire," have no benefits, researchers said.
This echoes a similar finding published in the August issue of Pediatrics.
Researchers from the University of Washington and Seattle Children's
Hospital Research Institute found no evidence of benefit from baby DVDs and
videos and suggested that it may be harmful. Infants who watched the videos
understood fewer words than those who did not watch them.
Pediatrician Dr. Michael Rich, a co-author of the latest study from Boston,
calls baby educational DVDs and videos "just wasted time."
"At the very best, they steal time from much more productive cognitive
developmental activities," he said. "Ultimately, what it's about is to make
parents not feel guilty about an electronic baby sitter."
The parents of the 872 children in the Boston study estimated the number of
hours their toddlers spent in front of the television, including TV programs
and DVDs. Researchers did not have data on what kinds of programs the
toddlers were watching.
On average, babies at 6 months watched approximately 0.9 hours of TV per
day. That number increased as the child aged: 1.2 hours at 1 year and 1.4
hours at 2 years.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen media for children
under the age of 2 years. Educational DVDs are tailored for babies as young
as 3 months.
In the Harvard study, two I.Q.-related tests were administered to the
children: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III, which indicates how many
words the child understands and uses, and the Wide-Range Assessment of
Visual Motor Ability test, which presents puzzles and peg boards to test
cognitive abilities.
Babies who spent more time watching TV had lower language and visual motor
skills at age 3. But when results were adjusted for household income and
education levels, the association did not appear.
Lead author Marie Evans Schmidt and her colleagues "did not find evidence of
harm or benefit of TV viewing."
Based on the existing body of research, Schmidt, a developmental
psychologist instructor at Harvard Medical School, said, "there's still more
evidence of harm than benefit as far as TV viewing in infancy is concerned."
Studies exploring the relationship between TV viewing and the effects on
children are just beginning, she said.
"My hope is that when this information is made available to the general
public, that it won't be perceived as study that means there are no harmful
effects of TV viewing on infants, because other studies have shown TV
viewing at high levels can put kids at risk for some things like obesity,
sleep disturbances and possibly attention problems," Schmidt said.
Rich, a pediatrician who directs the Center on Media and Child Health at
Children's Hospital Boston, said TV watching during infancy instills habits
that promote obesity.
"You're teaching 4- or 5- or 6-month-olds how to watch TV," he said.
"They're learning to watch TV. The more they watch as they get older,
they're snacking in front of TV, they're exposed to snack-food commercials,
which inspire them to eat even more and sit even more. It is a cumulative
effect of many, many factors."
But Karen Hill Scott, a senior fellow at UCLA who works in the field of
child development, said the criticism ignores real life. "To me, as a
scientist and parent, we can't hold on to completely demonizing screen time
when parents are really very determined to use it."
Modern parents "want kids to be literate on computers. They don't see the
screen media as evil," said Scott, a consultant for Baby Einstein."The net
effect that it's not harmful is a relief to many families who have been made
to feel guilty or awful that they use screen time."
Scott said the material in educational baby DVDs is similar to what is in
books.
Baby Einstein products were designed by Julie Clark, a teacher and mother,
and were not devised through scientific research. Susan McLain, general
manager of Baby Einstein, said the company receives thousands of letters
from satisfied parents.
"We've basically stayed true to the philosophy to what [Clark] created. That
was exposure to real-world imagery," she said. "The core themes are art,
music and nature; that's the core essence of what we've created."
She said the Harvard study indicated that "screen time is not harmful for
baby and infants."
Rich, the study co-author, recommended relying on what has been proved to
benefit children.
"The best thing for our kids is to provide them with stimulus that we know
is positive for their brain development," Rich said. He suggesting
activities like reading, singing, interacting and stacking blocks to help
children.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Study: Want a smart baby? TV's not going to help
Oh, I so agree.
While my child DOES watch some TV....I'm not fooled into thinking it's doing much good for her at all.
I just got in a heated debate about this subject & how it relates to commericalism, etc. I'm also not at all a fan of regular DVD watching in the car (every so often on trips is OK).
I'll refrain from getting on my soapbox, but suffice to say, I feel pretty passionate about this topic myself.
Isabelle gets very limited TV, but I do buy into the Baby Einstein world. I didn't till she got her first tape at her first birthday, I never saw one prior as I didn't believe the hype.
but my child at 21 months can name things by sight recognition that just boggle my mind. I do think she gets something out of the few videos we do watch. she can look up, and clear as a bell, tell you it's a "helicopter""airplane" "hot air baloon"(that one shocked me), or last weekend she looked at the U-Haul truck idiling next to our car at a light and promptly told us it was a "Tractor" and "Barn". she was very correct.
she's a quick study, and while I do believe in limited TV, I do believe it has an impact, both good and bad. if you're showing her good things (educational stuff) you're giving tools to work with. if you're just sitting in front of spongebob....yeah, not so helpful with the brain activity.
however we do watch spongebob while sick. it's a guilty pleasure, for both mommy and baby.
truitt was doing this at the same age and has never watched a BE video ever. he saw his 1st tv show at 18 mos (sesame street) and has only seen 3 different tv shows ever. sure, he retained some things he saw on SS, but the vastness of his language skills does not come from television. he hasn't had enough exposure. i'm sure G is the same way- had she seen a hot air balloon or barn in a book or on a toy, she probably would have remembered it the same way. i'm sure she is very smart and you should in no way give the credit for that to BE. honestly, all studies that have been done say that she would probably even have better verbal skills without BE. i have yet to read one study, and plenty have been done, that supports BEs educational claims.
that's exactly right. so, people can stop thinking that BE is actually making their kids smarter.
was this directed at me? because that's not how I feel. I just think it's a great addition.
If it doesn't matter whether they watch tv or not, who cares if they do? Sometimes moms (and dads) need a break too!
F watches stupid nature shows with DH, I don't think it is going to make her any smarter, but I am not going to shield her from tv either.
My parents didn't allow me to watch tv at all unless it was PBS. When I got to college my roommate had a tv and I think I watched it nonstop my first semester and I have been a tv fan ever since. DH admits TV was his babysitter as a kid, his mom was a single mom and that is just the way it was. I consider us both to be of reasonable intelligence, so obviosuly TV exposure didn't influence us one way or another.
So Tasty, So Yummy
j+k+m+e | running with needles
LOL
too too funny.
no. it's directed at the moms who think that- the ones who turn in to terrible helicopter parents and put their kids in front of 4 hours of BE a day b/c they think it is going to make their kid a little Einstein. but mostly it's directed at Disney- who needs to stop using guilt and anxiety to sell their products and needs to stop promoting them with a false message.
if they would say "our bright colors and fun sounds can entertain your child while you cook dinner" it would be different. but they don't. they say "our videos will help your child be more advanced and more competitive in school and in life" and it's not true.
Ditto this. And....get this....my child ENJOYS it. He has FUN. He dances to the Wiggles and tries to sing along with Little Einsteins. It is fun for him. Not everything is about educating your child. Sometimes you just want to stimulate them or make them giggle for awhile.
AMEN!
my almost 20 month old says maybe 4 words but can find anything, do anything, locate anything i ask him to. what do studies say about that? i'd like to know...
he watched Mickey Mouse every morning that I have to wake him up JUST so he won't fight me or scream because I woke him up from a great sleep to leave the house. He dances to the Wiggles while I get dinner ready. I'm not sure what else I'm suppose to do while cooking?
He and I watch some "adult" shows (grey's, etc.) while we rock after reading. it calms him... but not more than like 15-20 minutes.
so am i making my child not smart? DH has the tv on for noise, but DS is soooo in love with playing with toys, that he DOES NOT stop to look unless he's tired.
I beat myself up daily that my kid's not talking. I know it's not a brain problem since I can tell him that something that he's holding is yucky or trash and he takes it in another room and throws it away. or if he was playing with my keys the night before and hid them somewhere, I can say "oh no, where's mommy's keys" and he will go and get them out of the seat of his firetruck or point in the direction if i'm holding him...
again, the point of the article is that videos for babies touted as "educational" and marketed to make you believe they will make your child smarter is not true.
Then every baby product needs to come in a plain brown box with only a picture of the item on front of it. It's called marketing and unfortunately, it works.
j+k+m+e | running with needles
hey... we need to not shoot the messenger. V isn't saying SHE thinks your stupid or your kid is... she's saying that TV won't make them smarter.
I confess... in the last two month's... Joe has started watching the wiggles and I LOVE the snuggle time to Mickey Mouse in the morning.