Parents of Toddlers: Does you child watch TV? If so, how much and what type of programs? Do you think that it?

Question

Parents of Toddlers: Does you child watch TV? If so, how much and what type of programs? Do you think that it has a bad effect on them in any way? Please list your childs age....

Answer 1

My 4 and 3 year old watch some tv and the shows vary depending on the day. I limit the amount of time they are allowed to watch and it is usually in the morning so that I can get ready (aka shower, put away clothes, make beds and start a load of laundry). Then the tv is turned off and we listen to the radio or a CD. We go out to a park or the YMCA or the pool and just keep busy all day.

Answer 2

When my 2 year old was a 4 months and up, there was one show on video that I would put in so I could take a brief shower. It's "Baby Praise". It has very sssslllllloooooowwww changing images. I was ok with this b/c one of the big problems with babies/toddlers watching TV is all the rapidly moving images has a bad effect on them.

When he was about 12 months, we tried an ELMO video, but he wasn't too interested, he'd rather play, but he'd still watch "Baby Praise" some.

Now, for the last 4-5 months, he's been gaga over Elmo, but not usually the actual Sesame Street on PBS every day, b/c it lasts too long, and he doesn't like the other characters much, just Elmo. And then this last week, he caught a glimpse of Shrek when my 7-year-old sister was watching it and now he ADORES Shrek. I was absolutely shocked when 2 nights ago he actually sat through the entire movie!!! Course, he does have a cold and he's extra tired....but turns out he just really likes Shrek now. The Shrek 1 tape ran in our house almost constantly today (it's my son's bday) and he watched bits and pieces throughout the day. Any time I turned it off he freaked out, even if he wasn't watching it. And he threw a HUGE fit when it was time to go to bed. I can still hear his screams..."SHREK! SHREK!" LOL

I don't think it's badly affected him at this point, I've been very careful to not let him (until recently) watch show with fast moving images and lots of changing scenery. And I always try and make real life play more fun than the TV. I don't want him hooked on it, but I don't see anything wrong with some entertainment/educational stuff.

My big pet peeve is when babies/toddlers/children see violent, graphic images of shows their parents are watching. Or hear lots of dirty words. Kids don't need this stuff to desensitize them to what's bad and turn it into no big deal. We tape any show that's questionable and watch it during bed/naptime, and our Sanyo made DVD players and VCRs cut the bad language out of almost everything we watch.

Answer 3

I have a two year old daughter - I try to make sure when she watches TV it is something like PBS Sprout or an educational show. I limit her to about an hour or two a day (I try to break it up into 15 or 30 minute chunks). I don't think that watching TV for some time during the day if bad. As long as you are aware of the show and the content the child is seeing - as they get older you can discuss and even model turning off things that are inappropriate. I don't think watching tv all day is good - kids need exercise and time to read, etc. I also think that some shows are too violent, aggressive, etc. But I don't think all tv is bad.

Answer 4

This is definitely a hard one. I'm so against TV for babies and toddlers BUT, it's a necessary evil sometimes. Sometimes I need the time that the zone on the TV to get dinner done or have a moment of peace.

My daughter is almost 2 and a 1/2 and she watches about 2 hours a day. My son is 6 months old and he only looks at the TV when Elmo is on. We do NOT leave the TV on all day. My daughter watches her shows...Sesame Street, Calliou and Teletubbies and that's it. The TV goes off.

I think one of the big things now is child obesity. We have to teach our kids to be active and not zone out in front of the TV all day.

Answer 5

TV has a bad impact on a child's brain. TVs pulse light out of all those little holes, creating a strobe effect which has a huge impact on the brain. TV alters the brain states and puts the child in a brain state that is not healthy, for too long.

Another HUGE problem is that the images on tv shift rapidly. Sit and watch - count aloud, starting over at one every time the image changes - you will rarely get higher than 2. This is very damaging to attention.

Commercials. Ugh. Forget about it - you're signing your kid up for mind control?

There is also an extensive body of research that shows tv makes children more violent. One study includes a US and Canadian city, nearly identical, except the Canadian didn't have tv. US kids much more violent. Years later, that Canadian city got tv and guess what - now there kids are violent too!

Books, toys, music, crafts, nature, family. That's all the entertainment a toddler needs. Have the courage to let them entertain themselves and have the discipline to provide them the 15 minutes of attention every hour they need from you - 15 minutes on their toys, games, topics of converation.

Because of our perspective on the limited value of tv (and the danger of tv to young minds) our children, 8 and 13, have amazing mental capacities we never observe in tv-drenched kids.

Let your kids know you love them. Eliminate or severely restrict tv until they are at least 6, and even after, keep it an hour or less a day, no commercials. No nintendo, game boy, game cubes ever, either.

Answer 6

I have an 8 year old, a 4 1/2 year old and a 5 month old.

We set "screen time" limits on them - this includes tv, movies, computer time, etc... During the school year - they get 30 minutes a day if their homework, etc.. is done. On weekends up to 2 hours.

In the summer it is more relaxed, but for every minute of screen time they need to match it with outdoor time. They both also read a lot and are read to.

I find that they both get nasty attitudes if they have sat in front of the t.v. too long. I also don't want my kids to get laxy and overweight from lack of activity.

My younger one watches Dora the Explorer. They both love tom & jerry cartoons, Looney Toons and Pink Panther. My older one has discovered game shows and loves them.

We have also instituted movie night over the summer and once a week we rent a classic family movie and watch it together eating popcorn - great fun - just finished Mary Poppins - the kids loved it.

Answer 7

I have a nine month old who loves to watch noggin, and pbs. I can't say exactly how much t.v. she actually watches, because she enjoys the commercials more. No more than a couple hours a day is good. I also have two boys, 7 & 9. They pretty much watch the sames shows. They are allowed an hour each evening. Once a week, they are allowed to watch a movie. They usually watch nick., disney channel, cartoon network. Make sure you are aware of the programs they are watching. I actually watch alot of power rangers with my boys. And to tell you the truth, the show is great and not as I thought.

Answer 8

I have two children, 8 and 3 years of age. They watch various programs, mostly educational especially in their early years. Generally 3 hours at most a day. Both of my children benefited from Barney, Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer. I even went as far as to buy the dvd/tapes. They not only love it, but again learn. They even picked up spanish. All in all I would say that I'm not disatisfied with the childrens shows. As far as family shows goes, in todays times there is nothing as a collective that we can watch together because the majority have too much adult oriented themes.

Answer 9

My 4 month old loves watching TV but as she gets older I will limit her TV time. I think kids should be outside and learning by playing leap frog and such instead of watching TV all day or playing video games. I think that TV CAN have a negative effect IF they are allowed to watch the wrong stuff. Moderation is the key, even with the educational toys. :)

Answer 10

I have 7, 4 and 2 year olds and they watch TV. We watch a lot of PBS and DVDs like Dora and all that. I think all this "harms them" stuff is for the birds. I grew up on TV and learned to read and write by watching Sesame Street. My kids are smart as whips and they watch AND play video games. The only "harm" I see is that they want everything they see on commercials. However, they know they can't have it, so it doesn't last long! :)