The American Academy of Pediatrics says that children under 2 shouldn't watch any T.V.. They make a lot of recommendations based on science but this isn't really one of them. I went to their website and this is what it said:
Until more research is done about the effects of TV on very young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not recommend television for children younger than two years of age. For older children, the AAP recommends no more than one to two hours per day of quality screen time.
That indicates that they'd prefer to err on the side of caution because they don't really know if it is bad.
I'm not talking about sticking your kid in front of the tube and going about your day. I'm talking about an hour of quality children's programming like Sesame Street, Teletubbies and the like. Let us not forget the great videos like Baby Einstein and others. The programming offered by PBS, Nick Jr. and Disney are really good for little kids and even babies. I just don't believe that televsion is the root of all evil.
When Jake was about 2 months old, he would go on crying jags that lasted for what seemed like hours. Finally, one day I broke down and popped in a Barney video that my, then 3 year old, niece had given to him. He stopped crying. Immediately. He was facinated by the colors and the singing. Even though Dean and I swore we'd never let him watch T.V., let alone that horrible dino Barney, I caved to save my sanity. After that, I watched PBS, Nick Jr, and Disney to find shows that were educational and age appropriate. Of course, being the uppity snob that I am, age appropriate for me was higher than his actual age because my child was brilliant (still is). I watched the shows with him, most of the time, so I could interacted with him. He watched about 30 minutes in the morning and another 30 in the afternoon, so I could cook dinner. As he got older, he'd watch more. Jacob is 7 now and he is thriving in school, according to his teacher he works well above grade level in every subject. In reading, he reads and comprehends at a 5th grade level. He also watches about 2 hours of T.V. a day, and yes, we still let him watch pre-screened episodes of South Park.
I'm doing the same with Draco, with the odd exception of Monday (see post below), he watches only 1 show a day. I alternate him between Teletubbies, Jay Jay and the Jet Plane and Bob the Builder. The great thing with our cable is we have On Demand. They have a section called PBS Sprout for little kids, so I can choose when to give him his show. I also play the same episode 2 or 3 times before switching because I think that the repetition is good for his brain development.
Some of the reasons that I've heard that T.V. is bad are:
makes kids lazy
makes kids fat
makes them stupid
gives them attention deficit or behavioral problems
It is my opinion that, kids get lazy because their parents are lazy or because their parents let them. Kids get fat because of heredity, medical problems, bad diet, lack of exercise or a combination of the previously mentioned reasons. T.V. doesn't cause laziness or fatness, but bad parenting can. T.V. doesn't cause stupidity either, stupidity is genetic and can be further complicated by bad parenting/bad schools. Lots of kids that aren't stupid perform poorly in school, that isn't the fault of T.V., it is the fault of the parents and the school system.
Attention deficit is an over used diagnosis caused by lack of understanding. Sure some kids have it but many parents are told their kid has it because a teacher doesn't have coping skills. Boys are especially at risk of getting a bad diagnosis because young, childless teachers don't "get" little boys. Most behavioral problems can be traced back to Mom and Dad. Sorry. If your kid is an asshole, you are most likely to blame. Unless he/she has some medical/psychological problem, it is your fault they are bad. Poor discipline and inconsistent correction cause most behavior problems. Not the tele. The poor tele is the scapegoat because parents don't want to believe that they screwed up. "It's not my fault that my kid is a bully, he learned that behavior from T.V.", nope it's your fault for letting him/her get away with pre-bully behavior without correction back when they were 2 or 3. They don't call 'em terrible 2's for nothing.
So, if you've been told by some smarmy doctor that watching T.V., before age 2, will re-wire your kid's brain and give them ADHD or some crap like that. Just remember what the American academy of Pediatrics actually said:
Until more research is done about the effects of TV on very young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not recommend television for children younger than two years of age.
Got that? Your doctor doesn't know, he's guessing just like the rest of us.
What do y'all think?
