Television and Toddlers
How much television should a toddler be allowed to watch? Honestly, I am hesitant to even write about this. I’m feeling a little guilty lately. I’ve been turning on Noggin during breakfast and lunch. We had a few rainy days, what else is there to do besides watch a little Dora? The other day I really wanted to jump in the shower so I turned on the boob tube again.
Television is a touchy subject. When I realize I’ve let a half hour of TV turn into an hour, I feel like a bad mother. Some of my mommy friends leave the TV on all day. Some act as though TV is the source of all evil. My personal issue is with advertising. A lot of the advertisements that are shown during children’s programming are highly inappropriate.
I decided to look into what the experts have to say about TV and toddlers. I figured it’d either reassure me that what I am doing is okay or scare me into canceling cable.
Dr. Dimitri Christakis, the George Adkins professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Research Institute stated in an article last year: “There have been a lot of studies that explored this, and early television is associated with delayed language, delayed cognitive developments, shorter attention span.”
Uh, oh. Here comes that Mommy guilt…But wait!
A new study by the researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School negates the “TV is bad for your toddler” argument, finding that hours in front of the television, while not beneficial, doesn’t seem to harm young kids, either.
“In this study, TV viewing in itself did not have measurable effects on cognition,” said Dr. Elsie Taveras, senior author of the study and pediatrician at Children’s. “TV viewing is perhaps best viewed as a marker for a host of other environmental and familial influences, which may themselves be detrimental to cognitive development.”
When asked about television and toddlers, Dr. Sears said: “I think it is a good show if the child is interacting with it, singing along, or dancing along. If the child just “zones-out” and stares at the tube, then you should probably find a different show.”
As of now, it seems as though the general consensus is that while television is not helping your child at all, it’s probably not hurting them either. Carefully choosing what they watch and limiting how much they are watching is important. Filling up the rest of the day with one on one time and enriching activities seems to be the key.
Tomorrow: No TV at lunchtime. Mark my words!
Images: ABC news, wkyc.com
