Parenting after a Loss
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why no tv
i heard from a few people that they dont have their baby around a tv. do you know why? my sister's kids loved watching baby einstein, etc is this bad for them?
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Re: why no tv
NO!! PLEASE don't listen to that crap. A little Baby Einstein is totally fine. There was a stupid study that came out linking tv to ADD but it has since been debunked. The issue is more as they get older, obviously you don't want to raise a couch potato. But I think some educational tv is a great thing. I watched Sesame Street, Electric Co and 321 Contact every day as a toddler and I started reading at 3 years old and was in accelerated classes from kindergarten on, so I think it definitely helped me.
Leo loves Baby Einstein and Classical Baby and Sesame Street. I think it's great- he hears different kinds of music, languages, and the images are stuimulating and not too jarring or rapid since there are no commercials.
I disagree with putting an infant in front of a tv and expecting them to "watch it" by themselves, little einstein or not. But when they are toddlers and can interact with TV - like Sesame street, or even the Little Einstein movies, I think a limit is no problem. (especially when they start learning shapes, colors, etc - but it should be an ACTIVITY, not a baby sitter)
But we also do not turn OFF the TV - to a baby, it's a stimulation machine... they have no idea what you're watching, it's just cool to them. It makes noise, it sings, it has bright colors, etc. Avery likes American Idol - the flashing lights, the weird music, the singing, but we "watch" it with her. We're interacting, we're playing.
TV is one of those taboo subjects I think. I think having a few "shows" or certain movies (Don't we all have that one movie that we all watched about 1000000000 times as a child???) but as long as there is active time too, that's great!
DD's exposure to TV is extremely limited. Really, it's just incidental when we have no control over it b/c we're in a restaurant w/one on or at someone's house who keeps it on.
I'm a speech-language specialist & although there are conflicting studies with results ranging from TV exposure being very harmful, to not making much of a difference, I am unaware of anything that proves or even suggests that TV is good for LO's development.
The problem w/saying TV is OK is that it's then left up to debate how much is not TOO MUCH? Watching TV may be stimulating visually, but it is not good for promoting learning of social or language skills. It's my own personal theory that the short clips in children's programming (and worse, the 30 second commercials) do contribute to children having ADD/ADHD.
Another concern I have from personal experience is that you never know early on if your child will have autism. It strikes about 1 in every 150 children. And while I won't say that TV exposure has anything to do w/that necessarily, I will say that the majority of children I've worked with who have autism (or other related disorders) seem to get hooked on things like "Baby Einstein" or "Thomas the Train" (for some reason these two more that others in my experience). I can honestly say I have never met w/parents in an evaluation meeting who have said "my child has never watched any TV". A lot of them do say "oh, he only watches those Einstein DVD's" though.
I generally feel like anything in moderation is OK, but this is one topic I feel pretty strongly about. I don't want to offend anyone & I would never bring up this topic as I wouldn't want to stir up drama. That said, I felt compelled to answer w/my honest opinion on this since you asked.
I think Christine makes some great points and she obviously knows her stuff here, so it's nice to hear a different, educated opinion!
I just think from personal experience that tv can be very educational- but again, I think it depends on your kid and your own lifestyle and opinions. I'm sure if I had Christine's experience with autistic kids/parents I would feel the same way... but all I know is MY experience with tv, you know? And as I said, I found it really educational- but I was only allowed those 3 PBS shows. I just think moderation is always key, and as parents, it's up to us to set boundaries. I would never let Leo sit in front of the tv all day, but he really like certain programs that I believe are ok for him to watch, and I don't see it being any different than the flashing lights on a mobile!
I agree with Christine. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that children under 2 not be exposed to TV. Whether or not it is actually damaging is still being researched, but at present, nobody can find much that's good about TV for children that young.Here's their statement:
" Any positive effect of television on infants and toddlers is still open to question, but the benefits of parent-child interactions are proven. Under age two, talking, singing, reading, listening to music or playing are far more important to a child's development than any TV show. For more information on your child's health, visit www.aap.org."
I agree with Sueball that TV for older kids can be a perfectly fine part of a well-rounded life, but shows like Sesame Street are really designed for toddlers (age 3) and older, not for very young babies.