I watch too much TV. It wasn’t always this way. For years all I had was a small black-and-white set that wasn’t connected to cable. When I discovered Netflix, I upgraded to color, but still didn’t hook up to to the cable company.
About the time I moved to New York, cable broadband internet access was becoming commonplace, so Sally and I hooked up. Slowly, TV crept into my life. First it was just watching the shows we recorded on the DVR. Then, when the DVR was empty, I’d watch shows that looked interesting. Then it just kind of became background noise when we got home from work. Some nights, we’d start watching the news, and the TV would stay on until we went to bed.
When CJ was born that changed. We both were a little freaky about the TV being on if she was in the room. We mellowed over time, and started turning it on if she was asleep. Then we’d turn it on if she didn’t have a direct view. I think you know where this is going.
There were a few reasons why we were a little manic about the TV. First, the American Academy of Pediatrics “urge parents to avoid television viewing for children under the age of 2 years.” But the main reason was our own completely unscientific survey of children we knew.
Two couples we know each have two children of roughly the same ages. One couple uses the TV as a distraction for their kids, and the other limits their children’s viewing to one half-hour per day. The kids who watch a lot of TV seem unable to entertain themselves, constantly interrupting the adults, and screaming, “Pay attention to me!” The TV-restricted kids will sit and play by themselves for hours.
Though we understand there are a variety of reasons for this, the difference between the children is striking enough that we decided not to use TV as a babysitter or a distraction device.
There are times when it would be so much easier to just let her watch something. When the TV is on, we’ll catch CJ staring at it, completely rapt. I know we could plop her down in front of a kids’ show for an hour and she’d be content while I got some work done. Instead, sometimes the recycling doesn’t get done, or a post doesn’t get written.
But lately, the TV has been on for us. The election has me watching more TV than ever, and most of the time, CJ is in the room. We usually point her away from it, one of us reading to her or playing with her. But, we still catch her staring at it sometimes. Neither of us is overly concerned. After all, if those other videos claim to create baby physicists, maybe all of the news programs are making CJ a Baby Brokaw, or a Baby Cronkite.
Tomorrow, after the election is hopefully over, I’m going on a TV fast and won’t have to worry about the ill effects of too much news on my daughter’s sanity. But, all of this got me wondering, if the AAP recommends against infants watching TV, what about all of those infant genius DVD’s? Are they harmful? Do they work?
Next Post: Television and Infants
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{ 5 comments }
Sure, those infant genius DVDs work quite well at lining their creators’ pockets. Oh, that’s not what you meant, is it?
My thinking on those is that they may be better than no stimulation, but cannot begin to replace actual interaction with other humans, which is our primary means of teaching and learning new information.
Alas, I know what you mean about kids and the television. My own kids watch more television than I had preferred (although we do restrict it somewhat and will be restricting it more), and they have occasionally had some issues playing by themselves.
BAH.
At this point, I would LOVE to use my TV as a babysitter!!! But B will have none of it. He likes it just ok. He was not raised with TV, and he has never been a self-sufficient kid. He craves adult attention and interaction, and given a choice between the TV and a grownup, he will keep on interrupting the grownup. Especially if said grownup is on the phone.
Also, if I happen to leave the door unlocked while I’m washing dishes or something, he will be in the front yard before I know it!
*ahem* Sorry for venting– the kids are out of school for Election Day in our county, and it has been a long day.
I can’t wait to read your follow-up post! I’ve been really curious (read: skeptical) about the Baby Einstein DVDs. I hadn’t heard of them until a few years ago, when I did a little bit of babysitting for a friend of my aunt’s. She was very particular about who she let watch her child, and wanted to meet me for lunch, with her son in tow, before she officially “hired” me. He was 18 months old–you know, fully mobile and wanting to go exploring. He didn’t like having to be strapped into his highchair as we ate and starting fussing. Immediately his mom pulled out a portable DVD player with a Baby Somethingorother DVD and turned it on. He was enraptured. Nearly hypnotized. He sat there for the remainder of our lunch completely silent, never moving his eyes from the screen.
When it came time for the actual baby sitting his mom told me, obviously, just to pop in the DVDs to keep him occupied. At first I thought it was really neat–it sure made my job easier–and I really liked the way the videos attempted to introduce complex subjects like science, music composition, and even art history. But as I attempted to interact with the boy I found that he wasn’t learning anything. We had watched Baby Galileo video at least three times through, and I tried to get him to talk to me about the sky or stars or anything. He couldn’t even say “clouds” with me. His language skills were limited due to his age, but he really wasn’t getting anything. He was just watching–staring at the screen as the little puppets moved around. The shows were formatted to do nothing but hold attention. Every few seconds there is a bright flash of color, a moving object, or a change of scene.
It seems like a really cool idea to introduce major figures like Galileo and Van Gogh and concepts like astronomy and fine art to your baby, but I think it would be much more effective just to talk to them about them, to actually engage with them instead of just plopping them in front of the TV and letting them be mesmerized by colorful graphics, all the while convincing yourself that you’re helping them learn. I plan to teach my baby about Van Gogh, but I’m going to do it by pulling out my beautiful art history survey text with the large colored plates and pointing to sunflowers.
Number 1 son (5 y o) adores TV. Blood relations come a distant fourth in his list of attachments after it, his thumb (for sucking) and his favourite cuddle-toy.
Number 2 son (3 y o) is far less interested. It’s fascinating how kids differ in so many ways.
As for Bab¥ €in$tein DVDs … more unethical marketing to gullible parents I fear.
TV can’t replace human interaction. When kids, especially young kids, watch TV, they tend to be very memorized by the colours and sounds so they don’t really learn anything unless a parent (or, really, any other person, but I assume this would be a parent) is there interacting with them as well, drawing their attention to what’s on the screen, asking them questions on the information being presented, pointing out examples in the room (”look, a square. Can you see anything in the room that’s square?”).
The other major issue I have with those baby genius dvds is that they flash their scenes and colours to keep a baby’s attention, which, to me, will only encourage an inability to focus for long periods of time.
Just as a general rule, I’d say stay away from any educational shows for babies and toddlers unless a human is right there in the room watching it and interacting with them.
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