Do you allow your kids to watch TV

[Maddy]

Did you all see the FAQs on BrillBaby?

My DD watches YBCR, Signing Time, TweedleWink and Little Pim (a language program) - not every day. She sometimes watches 10-15 mins of Baby First on terrestrial, which is just for fun. It all adds up to half an hour to an hour a day.

I was originally going to stick to half an hour a day, but turns out I'm not that strict. As long as I see my DD is interested or enjoying herself, I'm happy for her to keep watching.

It depends on the age of the baby though. Actually it's pretty easy to gauge because when you show something like YBCR to a baby of 6 months or younger, their attention tends to wander after about 10 mins.

[kmum]

Tatianna - thanks for the info - I always knew a lot of tv wasn't good but I see I am going to have to do a little more reading! Karma to you.

[Tanikit]

My daughter does watch a few DVDs - would like to get YBCR for her, but for now the DVDs I am showing are available locally and reasonably educational. (I am happy with the content and it seems to follow what nhockaday said) She does not watch regular TV as I do not think any of the programmes shown in this country are suitable. I am always present when she watches the DVDs, but must admit that I do see this as a little time off for me - I am more likely to put them on when my daughter has woken at 05:00am and won't go back to sleep than I am to show them in the middle of the day when I have more energy.

Today after going to the beach I also put a DVD on as I figured we all deserved a bit of quiet time break after running around on the beach and expending a lot of energy, but my daughter is starting to ask for the DVDs a little more than I feel happy with and so I plan on decreasing her viewing further.

[tatianna]

here are some more studies
by posting this i am not trying to say that watching t.v will ruin your child
my best friend's son learned to read books before 2 by watching ybcr dvds
we don't let our little girl watch any t.v. but i think it is a personal choice


The average American child watches about four hours of television a day [Source: AAP], while 20 percent of children under 2 have televisions in their rooms. Among babies 3 months old and younger, 40 percent watch TV, with the percentage increasing significantly for children age 2 and younger [Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer]. A study in 2003 found that children 6 months to 6 years old spend an average of two hours a day dealing with "screen media" like televisions, computers and video games [Source: CBS News]. The study also revealed a correlation between time spent watching television and difficulty reading.

Many of these studies have led doctors, educators and other experts to recommend curbing a child's TV consumption. The campaign received another shot in the arm when a study released in early August 2007 showed that baby-oriented video programs like "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" may harm child development. These videos, which are widely available on VHS and DVD, contain little dialogue, instead relying on juxtaposed images that frequently aren't related to one another or are difficult to explain. (The study cites lava lamps as one example of an image or concept that's hard to explain to a baby.) But the videos are tremendously popular: The "Baby Einstein" series has earned more than $500 million in revenue [Source: Boston Globe] and Disney purchased the company in 2001 [Source: Denver Post].

Many parents say that they use these videos like babysitters, turning on a "Baby Einstein" DVD for their children so that mom and dad can clean up the house, prepare dinner or take care of other chores. But the problem, researchers say, is that these videos don't provide the benefits they claim, and they may even do harm.

The problem lies not only in the videos' content -- little dialogue or interactivity and rapidly changing images -- but also with how babies' brains develop. A child's brain is very sensitive before age 2. It's still developing neural connections and growing in size. Because of this sensitivity, it's important for babies to have a lot of interactive stimulation to learn and develop. The researchers contend that the videos don't provide this stimulation.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Pediatrics, looked at 1,000 families, examining children who were 8 months to 16 months old. Thirty-two percent of children surveyed watched the videos, 17 percent of them for at least an hour a day. To determine how programs like "Baby Einstein" affected development, they focused on vocabulary. On average, for every hour a day a child watched these programs he or she knew six to eight fewer words compared to children of the same age. Children who were 17 months to 24 months old didn't seem affected by the program in any way.

The head of the study, Frederick Zimmerman of the University of Washington, said that "there is no clear evidence of a benefit coming from baby DVDs and videos, and there is some suggestion of harm" [Source: Forbes].


PARIS - France's broadcast authority has banned French channels from airing TV shows aimed at children under 3 years old, to shield them from developmental risks it says television viewing poses at that age.

The High Audiovisual Council, in a ruling published Wednesday, said it wanted to "protect children under 3 from the effects of television."

Parents 'suckered in' to educational value: pediatrician

There is no evidence that infants enjoy or benefit from educational or entertainment programming, Shea said. "It's not credible, in my opinion, but it's really good marketing and parents have been suckered in."

For children under three, the best ways to help develop their brain is by talking, reading and playing with them — activities that are less passive than watching TV, she suggested.

Scott Rose of Halifax said he bought a Baby Einstein DVD for his 13-month-old daughter, Sienna, thinking it would be educational for her.

Rose said Sienna likes the colours and sounds on the DVD, and that he believes it is helping her make associations with objects around her. He also makes sure she enjoys lots of real-life play time to help her development as well.
Viewing tied to learning problems in teens

The detrimental effects of TV time on learning may be long lasting, a second study appearing in the same issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine suggests.

Jeffrey Johnson of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and his team found teens who watched three to four hours of TV a day were more likely to show attention or learning problems and were less likely to earn a degree.

At age 14, 33 per cent of teens from the 678 families surveyed reported watching three or more hours a day.

The researchers found TV time was linked to a higher risk of:

    * Frequent attention difficulties.
    * Frequent failure to complete homework.
    * Frequent boredom at school.
    * Failure to complete high school.
    * Poor grades.
    * Academic failure at the post-secondary level.

Results were the same regardless of socio-economic status.

The findings "suggest that by encouraging youths to spend less than three hours per day watching television, parents, teachers and health-care professionals may be able to help reduce the likelihood that at-risk adolescents will develop persistent attention and learning difficulties," the study's authors concluded.

It could be that TV shortens teens' attention spans, and future studies should look at whether promoting other activities like athletics, music or arts helps reduce the risk of learning problems, they added.

[nhockaday]

Here is some reading material for everyone
http://www.seattlechildrens.org/home/pdf/early_television_and_attentional_problems.pdf

[paolita]

I let my baby watch an educational video its about 20minutes but not everyday she likes the animals and songs at the time, I think it's a personal choice but we have to take care of what they are watching unfortunately most of the programs in open and close television are not allowed for the little ones, too much violence, adult films, insolent cartoons and other non apropriate stuff that influences children's behavior and makes the parent work useless, lets try to vary children's activities so you don't have to let them time to be sitting in front of the fool box.

[christinc21]

We do allow our son to watch TV. Mostly disney, educational or Noggin. Which is an educational tv station. Most time he doesn't watch but a few minutes of it and then gets down to play with toys. So I guess he isn't even "watching" it very much.

[lbergqvist74]

My 25 months old daughter has been allowed to watch TV, mostly PBS, and Backyardigans. After a lot of research and learning about the negative effects it can have on your child, I have minimized to weekends and only 30 minutes. By doing that I can see changes in her already. Before she could easily watch TV for 2 hours straight. Now she is bored after 10 minutes. Turning off the TV does not only helps your child, but also gives your family a opportunity to spend some quality time together. So turn off the TV everyone, and bring out the board games for some family fun!!!!

[iLusion]

I let my son watch tv for 30 min everyday except weekends..nothing on weekends
He usually watches noggin or any such educational channel

[trinity papa]

The post says watch tv ......

I let her watch educational programmes like YBCR. Initially once a day from 10mth i did not follow their schedule. I just let her watch starter for 2 weeks then add another 1 by the 3rd week and add another 1 by the 6th week and only 1 dvd a day .... at around evening time before dinner ...

Recently about 1-2 mth ago i started playing memory magic and recently wink to learn english during lunch. Some flashing words are quite repetitive since there wil be cross overs among the dvds. Now she learns quite fast she gets bored easily if its the same old dvd. SO i am forced to put up new dvds to keep her attention ....  i think she is tired of learning the same old things .....

The point about TV (as in regular broadcast TV programs) being bad is it tells you the story with lots of graphics.... so the child expects to want things fast, colourful, and read to him or her. They want it graphic and full of impact. What results is when they grow up they can only absorb materials only if it has the same intensity as a tv program, or a dvd movie. Unfortuantely in the real world its still the same old, books and writing, the slow approach .... to learning in school ..... so kids who watch lots of movies or tvs for that matter .... would lose attention quickly if the subject or lesson isn't taught as fast or colourful enough .... it lost that excitement .... hence why they classify as ADD and sometimes ADHD .... However for the same child if you play a superb impactful and highly educational DVD .... he would be able to absorb quickly than those compared to the traditional route .....

But because such programs are limited and teachers maybe make redundent and hence lots of unemloyment .... plus no proper guidance such approach is less encouraged ..... ... broadcast tv content also cannot be controlled and neither can you offset the advertisement which we know can sometimes be quite offensive in the name of art or marketing ....

qn is of course would education or documentray tv catch up ....... of course different baby's different ability best to observe first ... and decide which approach best suits your child

[tatianna]

trinity papa

karma to you for your well thought out post
you mentioned memory magic how do you like the program?
i have been thinking of buying it for a long time but wasn't sure if it was worth it
what is your opinion of the program?

thanks
tatianna

[trinity papa]

Hi tatianna ....

thx for the karma .... wish i know how to do the kara thing.

Memory magic is ok. Since i am doing alot of flashing already .... the memory magic does help, it could be helpful. Other than the flashing, i printed out alot of the encyclopedia cards and read out to her. This is helpful too, save me alot of time gathering the info ...

To gather 1000 cards and then having Boi is very very time consuming, with this i get say 360-380 cards .... so i will use this for the time being. Will add the rest later as we go along and depending on what attracts her interest.

As for the dot thingy, probably 2 yrs old would find it interesting. and for follow the story memory thing .... there are lots of words .... and to understand the story you need to know the words, and i would say a 3-4 yr old would understand it better ..... to be able to do what is required of them in any case can be used for 4++ older children so overall i would say good to have but treat it as one of those game  .....

you can go to their web and download some files to see what pictures etc they have ...... i think someone put up the link here too 

[tatianna]

thank a lot for the info

and have you tried readeez?
my two year old loves the free clips on there site so much that i think i will buy the dvd
it only $16 and she is making a lot of progress in reading with it

[Denise Joy]

Three years ago we got rid of our TV. So not only do the kids not watch TV but neither do we. It has been one of the best decisions we have made. Our oldest son was 2 1/2 at the time. Even though we controlled his watching, (or maybe because we did) he would fuss whenever we said no. Now that it is gone TV is no longer an option. George is 5 now and full of imagination and knows how to entertain himself. Once in a while for a treat we will watch a DVD on the computer. Our youngest son Josiah is 2 1/2 and has never watched TV. He really has no interest in it either when the TV is on at someone elses house. George on the other hand still loves TV and will be glued to it when we are at someones house with a TV on. I would guess that if he wasn't exposed at an early age this would not be the case.

As for me, I don't miss it at all. I wonder how I ever found time to watch it.

[ketty rain]

my daughter is 2 years old i let her watch telletubbies which i had record it b4.cuz most of kid shows have  violence scenes . by theway  there is a great channel for arabic songs (toyor al janah)

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