Babies and TV - Page 2

[red and lulu]

Originally Posted by spitbath

in a "so many people throw away the chance to have a rich and wonderful life with their children" way. please don't flame me for that, it's just how i feel.

I don't think it's an all or nothing thing. I think there's a huge difference between occassionally watching something on the tv or computer while you're nursing a sleeping baby let's say, and plopping your infant in front of a screen for hours everyday. I agree that watching tv is detrimental to young children's development, that it hinders imagination, and that it is misused as a babysitter in an alarming number of American households... but I don't think that the richness of my daughter's life will be compromised because I (a single stay at home mother who spends all day loving my baby) watch a movie in the evening while she nurses.

My intention is not to flame you-- I just feel like it's important to acknowledge that a tv in the house doesn't necessarily mean there's a kid parked in front of it, or that it's even on every day. It doesn't necessarily mean that baby isn't getting read to and played with and worn and nurtured.

[mambera]

I think logistically it will be pretty hard to keep your child from watching TV if you have one in the house. It is a little bit hypocritical and little children are very fast to pick up on "no fair!"-ness of this type.

I think the only way to have the kids be TV-free without engendering a lot of resentment and conflict is for the parents to be TV-free as well. Of course this is a problem if your DH is not on board.

If it's any consolation I'm in the same boat - was always TV-free myself when I was single and would love to continue to be so; unfortunately DH loves his big black box and there's not a lot I can do about it. I have threatened to sell it on eBay one day when he's not around but I must admit the threat is idle.

[Blueone]

Originally Posted by CJsMama

I don't think it's an all or nothing thing. I think there's a huge difference between occassionally watching something on the tv or computer while you're nursing a sleeping baby let's say, and plopping your infant in front of a screen for hours everyday. I agree that watching tv is detrimental to young children's development, that it hinders imagination, and that it is misused as a babysitter in an alarming number of American households... but I don't think that the richness of my daughter's life will be compromised because I (a single stay at home mother who spends all day loving my baby) watch a movie in the evening while she nurses.

My intention is not to flame you-- I just feel like it's important to acknowledge that a tv in the house doesn't necessarily mean there's a kid parked in front of it, or that it's even on every day. It doesn't necessarily mean that baby isn't getting read to and played with and worn and nurtured.

So true, you said that well! I spend a lot of time with my son, but on occasion when I know he's going to take a long time to fall asleep I will watch a show on low volume because I know that if I talk to him or read to him he will just fight sleep even more. I don't do it every time, nor every day, but on occasion I will do that. Once he's asleep I may watch a show or 2 as well, but it's not like it's on all day. In fact we don't even get TV channels so if he turned it on all he'd get is a black screen with "Video" on it or complete fuzz.

[lach]

I'm reading a book about this now! I'm only about halfway through, so I can't tell you everything, but so far I've learned that it's not the watching that's a problem, it's really the listening. TV as background noise is distracting and can inhibit language development. It also lessens the quality of a child's play (there was some really complicated experiment where play was rated on a scale of 1-14), and lessens the quality of the adult/child interaction.

Anyway, the book is called "Into the Mind of Babes" and I'm enjoying it so far. It's a pretty quick read. It also seems to be very balanced: since I'm pretty anti-TV sometimes it's been grating at me

But that's something to think about, anyway.

[motherbirth]

This is a dilemma we have, because DH and I like to watch movies, and the older kids like to watch movies/TV, but LO is almost always around/awake. In a perfect world we would never have the TV on, but it's not fair to anyone else.

[Kelly1101]

I think at that age, anything with flashing lights / sounds is attractive to a baby. I don't think that he's "watching" it like an adult would, it just looks pretty and the sounds catch attention.

Some people go completely TV-free, but if that's not going to work for your family, I'd say just make sure there are plenty of times that the TV IS off and the baby is getting quiet play-time, and lots of human interaction time.