Is NO television harmful?

[lyra2007]

Can NOT watching TV be bad for kids?

I very rarely watch TV. It's not a snob thing; I just have never been into it. We really made a point not to let DD watch for her first 2 years, and now at 26 months she still hasn't watched anything. It's a combination of limited time (with her in daycare fulltime, I want to spend real time with her when we're together), my personal boredom with kids' shows and the fact that I would have no idea what she should watch, other than maybe "Sesame Street."

She obviously doesn't know better so she doesn't care, but I am starting to worry that she will be socially backward and culturally (preschool culture) illiterate. She doesn't know any characters (except Ernie and Elmo--they're on her diapers--but she doesn't know they exist outside her bottom). Is this going to be hard on her, or should I let her watch some TV so she can fit in? My parents didn't let us watch TV when I was in grade school, and I always felt like an outsider because I couldn't participate in conversations about shows.

What do you all think? Thanks in advance.

[EzzysMom]

If you want her to learn the characters to 'fit in', they make plenty of books to fill that need. I agree that later on some TV is rather key for fitting in (elementary school and later), I even felt out of it as a kid just because we didn't have cable. I think for now no TV is the best thing though!

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

my lo's do watch tv though i really don't see how not watching would do any harm jmo

[Llyra]

My DD1 never watched TV much as a toddler. She was the only kid we knew who didn't know Blue's Clue's and Elmo and all that stuff. Even now, if she sees one show a week it's a LOT. She's almost 6 now, and in school, and seems to have no trouble at all "fitting in." I do see in her an ability to entertain herself with her own imagination that her peers don't seem to have as much, and I consider that a benefit. I can't think of any downsides. I wouldn't worry about it. My personal theory has been that if the time arrives when she feels like there are things she wants to watch because her friends are watching them, I would allow it, but I'm going to wait until she asks-- I'm not going to introduce her to them ahead of time.

[crunchy_mommy]

I didn't watch much TV growing up (not because I wasn't allowed to, just because I wasn't interested in it).

Yes, I had some trouble fitting in. I was confused by conversations people had, especially in middle school and then again later when I had graduated college & started working full-time (for some reason those are the 2 times that stand out for me). But I was also culturally unaware in other regards too... I didn't (still don't) know anything about music groups, sports stars, etc. People often ask me if I grew up in a box.

However, I'm very comfortable with being... different. It doesn't bother me that I can't participate in discussions about what happened in last night's show. In fact, even now, when I watch TV occasionally (we still don't have cable but I do watch a show or two at night), I still don't feel compelled to talk about it the next day. I could care less.

Soooo... that's been my experience.

DS is 15mos and doesn't 'watch TV' but because he goes to be so late (~11pm), it's often on in the background while he plays. He's not interested in it. I don't really want him watching 'kids' shows but maybe when he's older I'll allow a few if he really wants to, though I'd rather he didn't... but I will definitely want to pre-screen them and NO SPONGEBOB (it freaks me out when we go to hockey games & they play the sponge bob song and the entire audience screams SPONGGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!) I'd prefer he spend his time doing other things, but I could see myself letting him maybe watch a show when he's older if it's 10pm and I just need a break...

Anyway so I don't think this is something you really need to worry about quite yet! I think it's totally fine to not let her watch TV and if you really want her to know characters (which I personally wouldn't but I can see why you might) then most of them are in books and on backpacks and cups and pretty much everywhere...

[JessieBird]

The only thing that I can think of as a drawback is fear when your DD is exposed someday. I saw this happen with my BFF's two girls. They were raised in a home without a tv and most kids in their super crunchy town didn't watch tv either. By the time they were 6 and 9 my DH, who is a total movie buff/adict, really wanted to take them to movies from time to time as something special to do when they visit us. They were excited at first but were totally freaked out once the movie started and couldn't sit through more than 1/2 an hour for quite a while, even the most benign cartoons (probably mostly pixar stuff).

I don't know if this is really a problem but just something to be aware of - it is possible that kids who aren't exposed to tv and movies may be slower to understand fantasy vs reality than other kids their own age.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

I was going to say bookd to. AND books on tape. They have these things at your local library for ALL popular cartoon characters. Mickey, Dora and Diego, Blues Clues....The list goes on!

[sapphire_chan]

There are sooo many more shows for kids these days that there's no way to guarantee you'd even be showing her the same stuff another kid is watching.

If she comes home asking who a character is, you can look the character up online and read her the blurb.

You should hope that the other kids aren't watching too much TV because there's been research that shows that "educational television" (e.g. Arthur, Dora the Explorer) leads to more relational aggression in preschoolers. They see the characters insulting each other, excluding children from play, and those behaviors stick and they don't get the point of the resolution of the conflicts in the same way older kids do.

[BeanyMama]

Nay! I don't think an absence of TV is harmful, especially for toddlers. Your child won't be the norm, but not worse-off for it. My 27 month old does watch (and LOVE) Dora on the PC sometimes, but I think she'd be just fine without it.

[Ravensong13]

I don't remember tv characters being a hot topic of conversation when I was in grade school. We were all book snobs though, lol. I only let dd watch pbs a little in the morning so she doesn't know any of the 'nick' characters or supposedly more commonly known tv shows. There have been a few playdates where her friends bring up sponge bob or Dora and she doesn't know what they are talking about. BUT I have noticed her ability to branch out into other imaginary play situations seemed more developed than the kids who only wanted to play with a certain character situation. I can't say whether or not her limited tv exposure is the reason, but I figure there is no harm in not exposing your little one to cartoons.
I do agree with the pp's point about movies though. I am too a big movie fan and have started exposing dd to movies so we can enjoy them as a family. She freaked out a little at first, but by the end she was cheering and clapping for the characters.

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

There are sooo many more shows for kids these days that there's no way to guarantee you'd even be showing her the same stuff another kid is watching.

Exactly. Especially with satellite and the ability to get 154654164764 channels.

[DaughterOfKali]

I think it's great if you can go tv free for as long as possible. Kids (mine included) can get hooked on it so quickly.

[gagin37]

we're tv-free, ds is 21 months. He occasionally sees tv at the gym daycare but when I check on him, he's never actually watching it, he's too busy playing. I'm not really worried about it, although I occasionally wonder if he's missing out on education benefits. We read soooo much though. my family was tv free when I was his age too, then again later on as a teen. I don't remember it every bothering me that I didn't watch all the shows my friends did.

[odenata]

My dd had watched some TV before going to preschool, but not a lot. Not Dora, or Spongebob, or any superheroes, or Disney princess movies. She didn't seem to have any problems learning about them all at school from her friends.

She's still never seen many of those, but she will play Batman and Spider-man b/c she learned about them from her friends. I never got the sense that not knowing them before was troubling to her.

[ellemenope]

I don't let DD(23 months) watch TV at all.

I know for a fact she is missing out on things. I know she would enjoy and learn a lot from some of the stuff out there.

But, for reasons I won't go into, I still will not let her watch TV at this point.

Originally Posted by lyra2007

She obviously doesn't know better so she doesn't care, but I am starting to worry that she will be socially backward and culturally (preschool culture) illiterate.

I would not worry about this now, but...I remember it being a huge problem for me in late grade school and middle school. We had no cable or internet. I didn't know what nickelodean or MTV was. My freinds were always talking about something that I had no idea about. Always. It really created a divide. I just took to shutting up and acting like I knew what they were talking about.

[rightkindofme]

We are tv free and no, I don't think it will be harmful.

[mrsfrenchy]

can't figure out how to delete and this was posted with a friend's login!

[physmom]

Originally Posted by EzzysMom

If you want her to learn the characters to 'fit in', they make plenty of books to fill that need. I agree that later on some TV is rather key for fitting in (elementary school and later), I even felt out of it as a kid just because we didn't have cable. I think for now no TV is the best thing though!

We've cut back a lot on DD's tv time. She might still get to watch 1-2 Dora episodes a day (many days none at all!) so to help her cut back we got her some books and a doll that looks similar to dora (but is not the Dora brand). She loves them and I pretty much got all of them from $1 each at a garage sale! Honestly, I think she prefers some of the books because they are those lift the flap ones/coloring ones and she can interact with them more.

[prancie]

lack of tv will not harm anyone, adults included! We've been tv free for a year and it's a dream come true.

[lyra1977]

I agree with a PP that it might make her more sensitive, which can present some challenges but is not the end of the world to say the least! I was only allowed 1/2 hour of TV as a kid, until I was in middle school or so, and pretty much all I watched was Mr. Rogers, cartoons and sitcoms like Cosby. I also watched lots of musicals on VHS with my mom. So when I started getting old enough to watch movies they FREAKED me out and I had horrible nightmares about the scary parts. I still remember how terrified I was of the torture scene in The Princess Bride. I still have a hard time sitting through scary movies and I think it's because I wasn't desensitized to TV violence as a kid. Good and bad.