Is Watching TV Really More Harmful Than Beneficial For Your Baby?
With more and more videos for babies being produced and the sudden influx of new TV channels aimed at preschoolers, parents are once again asking "should I really let my child watch television?"
My baby Samson started watching TV at 6 months old with incredibly long attention span (an awesome hour!). I bet many of you would have screamed at me "YOU TERRIBLE MOTHER"! I can't help it. He is an active baby and when I played the babysongs, that's the only time I can get some quiet moment for myself while he enjoys.
Is watching TV really more harmful than beneficial for your baby?
There are two school of thoughts.
One says that babies under two years of age should not be allowed to watch any TV; the other says that limited amounts of high-quality educational TV accompanied by adult interaction are fine - and may even be beneficial. When DVDs are used correctly, the repetition and familiarity they provide can actually aid learning.
Doctors say that parents can better spend the time their baby is awake by engaging in interactive activities that TV can't provide. Physical and social interaction allows babies to pick up subtle cues that help brain development more than any television show can.
However, no TV at all is better than unsupervised watching. No TV at all is also better than any watching of entertainment-based programs - and that includes shows such as cartoons, which may be designed for kids, but are really not suitable for babies.
Consistent exposure to two or more hours of TV per day, was correlated with a greater incidence of sleep and behavioral problems, as well as less developed social skills.
Many parents and teachers find, however, that high-quality educational TV programs complement interactions with their babies can facilitate learning. I find that true too. To start off with, you might like to keep it to 15 minutes at a time - your baby will probably find it hard to pay attention for any longer. You can increase the duration later, when your baby starts to recognize and understand the program - and especially, when interactions become a two-way affair.
My Samson started mimicing the dance step he watched on TV at 7 months. I was amused and yet worried. When he turned 14 months his daily routine includes at least one favourite TV program (Barney, Little Robots or Babysongs), that prepares him for a peaceful restful night. Now he watches an average of 2 TV programs daily, sometimes more, at his own request. But I make sure that he is not left sitting in front of the TV alone.
He also demands for me to switch on my computer for him to learn Japanese. He holds the computer mouse proficiently and will tab on the keyboards. Thanks to a net addict mummy!
When I put Samson before the TV, I make sure he is at a safe distance but as for computer, the distance is much nearer. I worried about compromising his eye sight but is kind of encouraged by the amount of educational resources (free and paid) available on the net.
If you already watched the video above, you will know why I am impulsed to subscribing to Brillkids. Baby Felicia is so adorable and amazing! She was trained using the Brillkids program. Go to FREE DOWNLOAD page for Brillkids teaching tool.
Brillkids little reader is developed based on the same teaching principals of Shicida and Glenn Domain. If you have no time to do manual flashcards, then Brillkids little reader is the best alternative.
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I find that picture books
I find that picture books and drawing are good substitute to weatching TV programmes... that's what we provided for the children. The children do not ask to watch but loves reading and drawing now! We watch on average 2 hours TV per week!
All looks great
Great recommendation. But my boy don't like train stuff. Perhaps I need to buy him a VCD on train to entice his interest first. He takes out the train for 1 minute then will put them all back in the box.
He can't do the zoob stuff yet. Although he has a couple of similar toys. I will fix and he happily take them apart.
Plan toys are great. He likes pushing toys but not the pull type unless someone challenge him to it. He has a toy excavator, hardly touch.
Samson have lots of books too. My little lamb, my little fishy all got torn up. Pop ups books are got torn up. All favourite books get torn up. So I stopped buying pop up books. If I buy flip flap books, I make sure I scotch tape them firmly before handing to him, if not, all flaps will be gone.
He loves opening boxes, containers, helping around the house. He loves the nature, always picking up wigs when we are out of house. But daddy hate him doing that. Each time I bring him downstairs he will stand outside the school locked gate (just next to my block), looking hopefully inside.
He already have a mind of his own. Always making request. And when he said please, stretching out his hand with the VCD that he selected, my heart melts. I need more creative ideas, HELP!
To learn more about me, go to Baby Samson or SAHMs
FTWM woes
I'm also a FTWM.
Because I cannot be with them in the daytime (which they had to be in the full-day childcare), I compensate 2 hours everyday just to bathe and eat and read and do work with them. And I need to balance my remaining time left to be with my husband for couple dates/alone time/bed-talk time etc.
That's why we no longer have time left for TV.
Hi
Hi Lifestylelink,
Personally my boys don't have many toys to play with. The toys that we buy are ONLY for pure fun time together. We own badminton, baseball sets, dominos, board games, building blocks etc.
Instead, we buy loads of fun books for them. There are Kumon books, sticker books, art/craft books, whiteboard books (which allows children to write on them x times), mazes, EQ/IQ books around and these are really nice and colourful to have. You can hunt them down in the bigger popular bookstores and the chinese section should have those nice books there. We will get stuck in the bookstore for about 2 hours everytime we go there and spend hundreds on books. My last Melaka trip, we loaded ourselves with 1 basket full of books for the family and we spent RM300 there, after discount somemore.
But like what Tamarind emphasized, whatever toys you buy, the child actually needs you to spend time with them.
Great Toys
The Lego Duplo toys are for 2 - 5 years old, but the blocks are big and perfectly safe even for babies. We have tons of these blocks, including complete sets like the farm house and castles. The Lego blocks are excellent for developing fine motor skills, as well as creativity. I bought the first set for my girl when she was 12 months old, and she still likes to play with that set now that she is 6 years old. My kids build new designs every day. We have enough blocks for them to build anything they want.
Check here for the Lego Duplo toys.
http://www.bricksworld.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=2
We also have the GeoTrax Transportation system.
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=10&e=geotrax
It is quite challenging for a child to learn how to design and build train tracks. Both my kids enjoy playing with this set.
I also have Plan Toys for them :
http://www.plantoys.com/catalog/catalog_show.php?id=1
Their preschool toys are excellent for developing fine motor skills.
Another great toy is ZOOB :
http://www.infinitoy.com/zoob/index.shtml
I think ZOOB is even better than Lego, but kids will need to have good motor skills in order to play with ZOOB, probably 4 years old or older.
Note that with any toys, adults may need to spend some time to play with the child first. The child may not show interest at first, but he or she will slowly learn to love the toys.
Besides toys, my kids also have lots of books which they can "play" with, like pop up and lift the flap books :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2008/03/books-they-love.html
thanks for all the tips
Thanks for sharing. It was really invaluable. Anyone out there has any suggestion for 18 months toddler who behaves like a 3 year old? I have run out of ideas on toys for him. I got him three board puzzle, those remove and replace with a knob to hold on. He only likes the safari animal ones. The other two, he hardly touches (one on farm animal and the other on handy mandy tools).
Any great suggestions out there? I am sure if he has challenging toys, he will shift his focus from the TV. However, I am out of ideas, for most things he takes only 10 minutes to learn. so he gets bored really fast then glued to the TV.
To learn more about me, go to Baby Samson or SAHMs
Just to add
There is also a TV in our living room, where our kids play. But so long as we don't turn it on, the kids don't know how to ask for it when they were babies.
I fully understand that it is very tough for FTWM to take care of kids after work. But investing on good educational toys which help to develop the kids' fine motor skills, are definitely much more beneficial for kids. My kids needed adults to play with them before the age of 3. But as mommies, we must give them the attention that they need. Even without expensive toys, giving kids empty boxes, pieces of papers etc, are better than letting them watch TV.
Most mommies believe that they need to spend many hours to teach their kids. This is not true. I only taught my kids for about 15 to 20 mins a day, and that is sufficient for them to read very well before the age of 5.
FTWMs do not need to depend on TV
I am also an FTWM. I also don't have much time to spend with my kids. But it is possible for FTWM to raise kids without the need to depend on TV.
Before the age of 3, most kids do not benefit from watching TV. I never turn on the TV for my kids to watch any kids' programs before my kids were 3 years old. My hubby and I watch TV in our room after the kids are asleep.
From birth to the age of 3, I believe that it is much more important to develop fine motor skills. My kids play with their toys whenever they are awake, and I try to read books to them when I returned home from work.
After the age of 3, I bought the 5 Leapfrog DVDs and Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video for them. These 6 DVDs are all that they need. They watch for about 30 minutes a day, and they learned all the phonics letter sounds and how to count up to 20.
I believe that most kids can learn something from TV, only after the age of 3. Even then the amount of TV should be strictly limited, as well as the variety of programs. There is no need to buy as many programs as possible, just stick to a few good programs will do.
Before the age of 3, kids do not need to watch TV at all. In fact, my kids find reading books much more interesting than any TV programs. As an FTWM, I am able to teach them to read amazingly well, mainly by teaching them phonics and using the Ladybird key word series. Check out my methods here :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/12/key-words-with-ladybird.html
TV vs. PC
Apologies, this article was not completed yet. To me, TV and PC are similar. If we say that kids should not be exposed to TV, then the same should be to PC. Brillkids software (incorporating the sound effect on flashcards) does have some beneficial effect and the same is good TV educational program like Barney. I am also not denying that it makes my boy hyperactive perhaps due to over simulation. However, these days, how to keep them away from TV unless he has a separate playroom. Moreover, my boy's playground is right before the TV.
I wish I can do manual flashcard too, he loves it but I am a FTWM. I need tools to fully utilise the little time I have with him.
To learn more about me, go to Baby Samson or SAHMs
Thanks for sharing..
I've always been a hands-on parent.
And i do find children display better
and faster developments with more
hands-on approach to learning
regardless of the subject.