apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i do let my toddler watch a few cartoons here and there that i record on dvr, a couple kids channels only do commercials before and after the shows so my son doesn't have to see those with my dvr settings. this way i know what he's watching... and i'm not gonna lie- as a stay at home mom it helps me out with getting my chores done if he is uncooperative, and being able to shower! he's at a stage where i cannot trust him in the house while im showering- he climbs and gets into everything! i try to do those things during naptime... but sometimes its not all possible.

Those interested in child TV viewing might want to watch the lecture (about an hour) by Dimitri Christakis, a leading expert in the field. It was presented to MDs but is easy to follow. http://www.seattlechildrens.org/health_care_professionals/education/grand_rounds_online/2008/10/003887.asp

recent study:
Audible Television and Decreased Adult Words, Infant Vocalizations, and Conversational Turns: A Population-Based Study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, Jun 2009; 163: 554 - 558.
Conclusions: Audible television is associated with decreased
exposure to discernible human adult speech and decreased child vocalizations. These results may explain the association between infant television exposure and delayed language development.

this was also a good article: http://www.parents.com/baby/development/intellectual/kids-and-television/

The AAP said "screen time," so they meant all 2D screen time including computer monitors for online content (not just videos), video games via computer/console, etc. etc. etc.

I don't remember which book it was that I read (Guernsey's?) where the author stated that the AAP had no scientific data when it made the "no screen time before two" edict; they were erring on the side of caution due to all the unknowns. Someone remind me which exact book it was.

But anyway, there have been more studies published since those books on TV and very young children.

I personally avoid the TV, but I have used starfall.com with my son. He got bored with that even and doesn't use it much.

"Audible television is associated with decreased
exposure to discernible human adult speech and decreased child vocalizations. "

That's interesting. Has anyone looked at whether radio has the same effect?

The book I think you're referring to is Into the Minds of Babes: How Screen Time Affects Children from Birth to Age Five.

Excellent read. I think that if you're avoiding TV before two, then internet videos definitely count. Especially if you're being sanctimonious about it. :)

We try to avoid TV for the most part, but felt much more relaxed about it after reading the above book. We have opted to let our 18 month old daughter watch Sesame Street in the mornings now. We're having a ton of construction done at the house with a bunch of strange men tromping through the house at her breakfast time. Having 'Melmo' on makes it easier.

And yes, Swordspoint, the author mentioned that talk radio had the same effect.

Yup, it was Guernsey's book! She still has a blog on ongoing research, I think. If anyone is interested, just google "Lisa Guernsey."

I read Lise Eliot's book around 2.5 years ago, and I distinctly remember the chapter on visual development in which she summarized synaptic pruning in our visual center that starts at age two, so perhaps that is the reason or underlying reason the AAP and other researchers are wary of TV time before two.

I read an article about that recent finding about television and decreased child vocalizations. It was my impression that the theory about why it's a problem is that having the television on cut into the amount of time the parent and child interact. The study involved recording what the kids heard throughout the day. If there was audible television, they found that the adult word count went down considerably.
In our own life, we rarely park her in front of the tv. We have run foreign language videos. She loves when we play video games for her. She does play with my laptop. However, I think that as long as we keep talking to her, a little exposure isn't going to harm her in the long run.

I can see the arguments for no screen time/limited screen time. That means no/limited DVDs, and YouTube too. Claiming that computer or DVDs about commercial characters are better than cable educational television like Noggin because of "commercials" shows a severe lack of knowledge about children's television. It's key in any of those media what the content and tone are, not what kind of screen they play on!

My kids watch TV, not a lot, but literally everything my kids watch runs on Noggin, PBS Kids, or recently some Disney Channel has crept in on weekend mornings. NONE of those channels have commercials. None of the things they watch are fast-paced, toddler-inappropriate, or mean-spirited. And I don't worry that they'll stumble upon the "adult" parody of the kids thing they intend to watch, nor a wildlife video gone bad.