children, TV and right-brain videos

[nohayo]

I know I wouldn't like my child watching much (if any) TV in his/her early years...but where does that leave some right-brain DVDs such as Tweedlewink? Don't they teach a kid to sit in front of the TV?

I have read that lots of other poeple (in various posts), also have the same stance regarding TV, so I was wondering what would be your take on this?

[nhockaday]

Since it is educational TV, it's ok. The problem is when kids are watching things that are not beneficial to them. Programs like YBCR and Tweedlewink teach kids to read and other important things, so it's ok to watch them.

And I think as parents, we should control the TV. What I mean is don't let the kids "sit in front of the TV" when they get older. But I don't think they will get addicted to TV by watching short educational programs a couple of times a day (Tweedlewing is about 8 min and YBCR is 20 or so min).

[Katiejo]

I agree. I don't have a problem with William watching a short amount of TV, but it depends WHAT he is watching.
There are too many cartoons about aimed at small children which are incredibly overstimulating, loud, fast, and often unwholesome in content. I can't believe this is good for his attention span, or my sanity!!!
We have used your baby can read DVDs since Will was 4 months old (and little reader for as long as it has been available) and at 7 months he is starting to recognise his favourite words.
It's incredibly rewarding, and I think TV can be as much an educational tool as the laptop. We just need to be a little bit discerning as parents about what and how much we allow them to watch.

[KL]

I think there are 2 key issues, which I believe are also highlighted in the TV FAQ article on BrillBaby.

Firstly, it's a question of whether there is overstimulation.  With a lot of TV programs, there is a tendency for overstimulation where the child is just bombarded by stimulus all the way through (eg., Cartoon Network stuff).  I think that YBCR and Tweedlewink videos are no where near reaching this type of 'overstimulation'.  At the very least, the stimulation they provide is very educational and not just 'gratuitous.'

Secondly, it's a question of INTERACTIVITY.  The worst situation is where the child just sits there and it's a one-way streaming of information from TV to child.  Which is why we always recommend adult supervision, and not only that, for the adult to interact with the child as well and to try to get the child to respond back.

[Buckeroo]

I agree with the above posts. 

The content matters a great deal, as does the quality of the production (i.e., in terms of "age-appropriate-ness" and how overly stimulating it might be).  And, like what KL wrote, interactivity is very important.  It is imperative (in our household) that the kids do not sit and watch alone, even with educational programs.  An adult watches with them and we talk to them about what we see onscreen, engage them by asking questions, relating what they see onscreen back to things they know / are familiar with, etc.

[akgard]

I too was concerned about letting my little one watch TV at such an early age, but I also was willing to let him watch educational videos.  However, I've found that now he isn't interested in watching the TV at all.  We have the my baby can read videos and he will watch maybe 20 seconds and then start playing with something else.  I feel like I shouldn't encourage TV watching but I'd like to at least know that he's getting something out of the video being on... he does do the actions that they say on the video, but not until I repeat it.  He does love playing with the computer when we use it so I'm hoping that maybe this program will get him interested in learning to read.

[nohayo]

I read a research that said that if the TV is open in the background, even if the child has his back to it, he still picks up on it

[jonathan]

Hi I agree CONTENT, and also TIME are both factors that impact the value to (or detriment of) your childs learning or development - TV is a 1-way broadcast appliance, and learning DVD's turn that into a somewhat interactive mode, but only for short periods. You do need to be with your child to encourage and provide the interactivity of learning.
Attention span - right brain
As you mentioned 20 seconds is about the attention span they keep at this young age, and hence right-brain videos are streamed much faster - that is they cut from scene to scene in a few seconds. This is so the childs right brain can pick up the visual image (which bypasses the logic/left brain processing),  AND by making the images change quickly their attention is kept.
Neural networks
In children, a major purpose of right-brain videos for children is to build their neural networks and stimulate all sensory inputs (sound, sight, voice from mother).

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