Should children under 2 years be allowed to watch TV?

Question

The American Academy of Pediatrics says no, but 43% of America's children under 12 months do. Now there are networks specifically designed for babies. What do you think - good or bad? and why?

Answer 1

there is nothing wrong with babies watching tv. as long as you interact with them regularly, such as playing with them and reading to them. i really feel sorry for kids these days. they are not allowed to be carefree and innocent. they're babies, leave them alone!

Answer 2

I have a 12 month old and she doesn't really watch tv... we play, but I do put on child like movies in the background because I would rather her hear things like Elmo and The Little Mermain instead of most of the crap that is on TV... as for the networks that are specifically designed for babies... I think that everything that those shows try to teach them, should be learned from a parent... like all of the shows that I see for sell in Walmart and Target that show kids how they should eat in their high chair and such, I really think that I should be the one teaching her that, not some furry hand puppet. I must confess though, there's been a few times when my daughter has just been unruly and I've put on Elmo in Grouchland and set her down with her blanket and tickle me elmo and it's calmed her right down so I can't say that's it's all bad, I think everything in moderation.

Answer 3

The formation of a long attention span in a baby takes work, parents. My husband told me to watch the baby's eyes. Don't disrupt his attention and concentration. That means wait until he looks away from whatever he is looking at fixedly before you call his attention to something or move him or give him another bite of food. That is how you develop a long attention span in a baby--you give it a chance to form by experiences of staring for long periods at colorful things, etc. A long att. span means he will later on be able to focus on a subject in school for a decent length of time. This is a good thing.
Then you have tv, which has gotten a reputation for interfering with the development of a long attention span. There is research that the tv flickers every few seconds and the child now sees something new, not the same thing he was watching before. The tv just disrupted his attention span, and it does this over and over. I for one would resent the damage to my child's attention span by tv watching that I took such pains to develop in him. A short attention means a child cannot concentrate for very long on anything before he gets bored and looks away. That affects learning. If you are not looking at it, and engaging your mind, how can you learn about it?

The average .kid watches an average of 5 hrs of tv a day.

So the smart parent should keep his young child away from tv, and his child will then have an edge over all of the young tv watchers, because his attention span won't be disrupted and it can develop normally. So it is conceivable that your child will seem smarter in school compared to those kids with short attention spans due to tv watching.

In years to come we will have more research about whether you can recover from all the tv exposure as a young child, but if it were me having kids, I would just not let a problem develop--I would keep my child from tv (and I did just that with my own kids, as a matter of fact). There's nothing good on anyway, reading is just so much more fun and beneficial.

Answer 4

I have 4 children. None of our children watched TV before 3 years of age. The ones who are old enough to watch TV get 2 TV tickets per day- that equals 2 30 minute programs. There is so much more for children to do! They have tons of toys, crafts, etc.. and this is why we limit their TV exposure. I think there are a lot of great quality programs for children, but it honestly disgusts me that people are out there making a ton of money at the expense of infants and toddlers! Instead of allowing children under 3 to watch TV, just let them play! So many children have never learned, or have forgotten how to be creative because they sit infront of a box that does all the thinking and creating for them! I just know that my 2 oldest who are in school now and did not watch TV until 3, were both reading books by age 4. Its everyone's personal decision to allow or not allow it. For us, it was the best thing we ever did for our children. I still get all the cooking, cleaning, etc.. done. My children each get one on one time with me as well. Its all about priorities. You have to really plan and schedule your day in order to make it work, and in our home, it seems to be working.

Answer 5

It's not something I want my kids to watch TV and they don't. There are better things to do that also spark imagination like coloring, playing with toys, and all of the "normal" kid stuff. I feel many people use the TV as a babysitter. I can understand maybe 15 minutes every once in a while but TVs, Internet, and gaming consoles are taking over the US. Whatever happened to a nice family dinner? Whatever happened to taking walks? Whatever happened to spending time with kids? I don't know but in my family we do all of those things. In the end it really doesn't bother me what people their with THEIR kids but for MY kids I choose not to allow them to watch TV.

[I do find it extremely funny that the AAP says strap a child in a car seat and everyone follows. The AAP saying breastfeeding is best and you see a spark in breastfeeding. The AAP says lay babies on their back instead of tummy for sleep and everyone does it. BUT then everyone chooses to ignore that the AAP says no TV under two years. It shows how people pick and choose what they want to hear.]

Answer 6

I limited my 3 but yes they watched tv. They watched PBS or other education things though. I think the Pediatrics are more of a wishful thinking bunch than a practical one. It didn't damage my children in any way. It show them concepts that they deal with now. Sharing, working on projects for school, working alone, following rules, colors, numbers, letters.

Answer 7

I think that when a baby is playing on the floor in front of the TV and the TV is on because an older sibling is watching it or something, and the baby begins to watch it that their is nothing wrong with it. It's not that big a deal because they will lose interest pretty fast anyway.

Answer 8

if you mean just sit the kid in front of the TV so you can do you own thing for a long time no but for a short bit i see nothing wrong with it as long as its some child appropriate

Answer 9

This is dedicated to

Those Born In America !1935-1975!
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the19 40's, 50's,
60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born
to mothers who smoked and/or drank
while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin,
ate blue cheese dressing,
tuna from a can, and didn't
get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma,
we were put to sleep
on our tummies in baby cribs
covered with bright colored
lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids
on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets
and when we rode our bikes,
we had no helmets, not to mention,
the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children,
we would ride in cars
with no car seats, booster seats,
seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up
on a warm day was always
a special treat.


We drank water from the garden hose
and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink
with four friends, from one bottle
and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes,
white bread and real butter
and drank koolade made
with sugar, but we weren't
overweight because.

WE WERE ALWAYS
OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning
and play all day, as long as we were back
when the streetlights came on.


No one was able to reach us all day.
And we were O.K.


We would spend hours building our go-carts
out of scraps and then ride down the hill,
only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into the bushes a few times,
we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations,
Nintendo's, X-boxes,
no video games at all,
no 150 channels on cable,
no video movies or DVD's,
no surround-sound, CD's or Ipods,

no cell! phones!

no personal computers,

no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS
and we went outside
and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut,
broke bones and teeth
and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies
made from dirt, and the worms
did not live in us forever.


We were given BB guns
for our 10th birthdays,

made up games with sticks and tennis balls
and, although we were told it would happen,
we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house
and knocked on the door or rang the bell,
or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone
made the team. Those who didn't had to learn
to deal with disappointment.
Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out
if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced
some of the best risk-takers,
problem solvers and inventors ever!



The past 50 years have been
an explosion of innovation and new ideas.


We had freedom, failure, success
and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them . CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this
with others who have had the luck
to grow up as kids,
before the lawyers
and the government regulated
so much of our lives for our
own good

And while you are at it,
forward it to your kids
so they will know how brave
(and lucky) their parents were.


Kind of makes you want to run
through the house with scissors,
doesn't it?!

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control,
mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms
tearing up the country from one end to another,
and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks,
"Are we sure this is a good time to take God out
of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

For those that prefer
to think that God
is not watching over us....
go ahead and delete this.

For the rest of us.....
We're passing this on..

Answer 10

I let them in a ltd way all their lives...they are smart and really have great interest in tv a few fav shows but that is it