Why shouldn't toddlers watch television?

Question

i have always limited the amount of television my 2 year old watches but recently when I was asked why I did this I didn't have a good answer. How much tv should a toddler be able to watch and how much is too much? Assuming that we are talking about cbeebies here - with no advertising, just good quality educational programmes - what is the problem with television? Does anyone know of any studies that have been carried out?

Answer 1

Television presents a few problems:
1) the screen picture changes rapidly - watch and count the seconds until what you're seeing changes. It's usually one to two seconds. This is very very damaging to children's attention span.
2) television produces an altered brain state in children, something akin to sleeping while awake. not good to spend too much time that way.
3)studies on tv show the more kids watch, the more violent they are and the stupider they are. that said, those kids who watched barney years ago were found to be more polite than other kids.
4)sesame street is constantly being reworked, but the research is clear that it doesn't help learning. it's fun and reinforces learning that's already happened.
5)too much tv crowds out interactions with humans. it's too easy for parents to let the kid just sit in front of the television, wasting their lives. parents need to interact with infants/toddlers for 15 minutes every hour the child is awake. TV obviously interferes with this.
6)tv use is a bad habit. why start young? limit it to an hour a day most days, let her watch a movie occasionally.

Answer 2

I work with toddlers and I don't watch tv with them because I think that children need to be stimulated and not just sat infront of the telly. Ok it's stimulating but if the child reacts to the tv there is no answer from the tv. The tv doesn't interact like an adult does. I think you are clever not to let your child watch too much tv. There are far too many things they can do rather than watch tv all day. I don't know of any studies about the affects of children watching tv too much. However there are magazines like Good parenting and Nursery World which have articles in there on a regular basis about different subject affecting children.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Answer 3

I think you're combating an extreme with an extreme. TV in itself is not the culprit. My granddaughter loved the Teletubbies when she was a toddler- and a half hour of tv a day is not going to hurt anyone. We had the Baby Einstein videos, too, that we play sometimes. For slightly older kids, there are some very good shows- Dora the Explorer, for example. We used to watch it with her and yell "Swiper, no swiping!" at the screen. The difference is that we weren't using tv as a way of avoiding interacting with her- it was just another way we shared things together. We also read to her, played with her toys, and gave her some time to play independently, which kids also need.

Answer 4

I don't think there's a problem with toddlers watching tv as long as it is well controlled and in moderation. My little girl loves cbeebies and has started to copy some of the moves like on boogies beebies and something special... surely that can only be a good thing?

Answer 5

The best way for a child to watch tv is to watch it with them, talking through things and pointing things out to them. This works best from 18 months plus (in my experience so far!), as they are starting to develop their language and communication skills more and their cognitive skills. My little girl is 2 and is starting to learn shapes and colours, so I can use programmes on cbeebies to reinforce her learning.

Plus I find it works best when I look through the tv guide and work out what time the programmes that she enjoys best are on and planning to have the tv on at that time, rather than leaving it on endlessly and she ends up not really getting anything from it.

You should definately continue to limit how much she watches. The more children watch tv, the more they crave the type of stimulus it provides, i.e. continous and high energy. Children do best when they have a balance of quiet times as well as the energetic times.

Answer 6

Recently there was a news piece or program that mentioned toddlers and television. This isn't particularly new to many mothers, but they said that while a child is spending time watching television (a two-dimensional thing) his brain is not developing skills/thinking that are being developed whenever a child is engaged in real life. As a result, he is losing brain development time. A little television isn't going to matter much, but too much television takes away from important real-life experience, socialization, playing, etc. that will develop his thinking skills.

I cannot tell you the name of the study, but it was clearly a legitimate one; and - really - common sense would tell us that the conclusion of this study is legitimate.

Answer 7

It's not a good idea to put a BABY in front of the tv I read that somewhere. My 4 year old loves to watch Dora Explora and Hi 5 on Nick Jr. but I always limit how much tv she watches. After her favourite shows are over we go outside and the tv goes off. They adapt to YOUR rules and they are learning, at the same time, to entertain themselves and not be couch potatoes. It is bad for any one at any age to watch too much tv. My kids get enough movie watching a nannie's house, so I have to limit the tv watching at home. And NO tv in the morning before school, it sets them up for a lazy day! ; )

Answer 8

They say that it can cause ADD and ADHD. The reason for this is their little brains can not process that much information at once. With the lights, movement and dialog all at once. Also the storyline moves too fast. They have to learn to keep up with all of this. If and when they do than normal life is too slow. They are used to fast information. So they can't sit still, it takes too long. They can't pay attention, it takes too long. I have been told you can start at 6 months. 15min then add 15 minutes for each 6 months. So a two year old should only watch 1 hour of TV a day.

Here is some info on it.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thecheckout/2006/05/watching_children_watch_tv.html
http://www.pedsforparents.com/articles/2995.shtml

Answer 9

The main fears from television watching, is the obvious health risks (obesity, mainly) from not getting enough physical activity...plus not being able to learn how the real world works.

As we all know, not everything we see on TV is real...but a baby doesn't know that!!!

My kids are 9 and 10, and they get 1 hour a day unless we're watching a family movie...the rest of the time, if they don't have homework, they're expected to do chores, and be outside playing basketball (they're practicing for their teams).

I am heavy from hormonal imbalances, not from eating problems...however, I know how it feels to be heavy now, so I refuse to let this happen to my babies.

Answer 10

It's a very PASSIVE form of entertainment -- children of that age should be running and playing and exploring and INTERACTING with their world -- not sitting there like a zombie.

That having been said, I wouldn't see much harm in some OCCASIONAL viewing -- maybe a half hour or so, a couple times a week. But be sure you watch with them, and make it a more active experience by talking with your child during and after the show ("Let's sing along with Cookie Monster!" or "What do you think Thomas the Tank Engine should do next?")