I recently had friends visiting for the weekend and was asked, “What does Katherine like to watch on TV?” I answered that she didn’t watch TV. They were shocked. None? How is that possible? I explained that she wasn’t allowed to watch TV until she was two. This was again viewed with utter disbelief. I’m not sure why this shocks people, the American Academy of Pediatrics discourages TV viewing in the first two years of life, but only six per cent of parents are aware of this advice despite ongoing publicity.
No TV watching seems normal to me. I grew up in a household with very little television watching. We were not allowed to watch TV after school and we were allowed thirty minutes to one hour in the evening. My parents were both educators and TV was always referred to as the “boob tube.” I can remember being forced to read thirty minutes a day for enjoyment and there was always a “word of the week” taped to the refrigerator to help boost our vocabulary and verbal scores on standardized test. I’ll probably do these same things, and I am fully aware it isn’t the norm.
I want my daughter to have a myriad of words to choose from to express herself (myriad was taped to the fridge in 8th grade). And if banning Baby Einstein video is my first step, then so be it. A study by the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital Research institute said that rather than helping babies, the over-use of such productions (Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby) may slow down infants eight to sixteen months of age when it comes to acquiring vocabulary. Yikes!
In parenthood, there are just certain things you will do that others view as weird or straight up crazy. I think this might be my thing. Some parents are all about organic food or baby wearing and Lord knows I have opinions about those things, but I am learning to keep those opinions to myself. Because we all have our thing. It’s ok; it’s what makes us unique.
23 comments
I know this may be annoying coming from me (I am sans kids yet) but I plan to do the same. So many of my friend's kids are addicted to TV. I personally don't see it as a huge harm and can tell you right now that my husband will watch Football whether or not they are in the room so they won't be completely banned from it, but I hate the idea that kids can't entertain themselves without noggin or other shows. I'm thinking sporting events dad is watching and maybe 30 minutes a day once they get to an age where they can be left while I shower but thats about it. Don't feel like you're alone! There are more of you than you would believe out there!!
Glad I am not alone. And the cool thing is since I have never put any kids programming on, we can have the TV on to sports or news and she doesn't even watch because it doesn't interest her. The TV is on in our house at times, I'm not that crazy!
Good luck on that one. Just not realistic in my opinion.
fyi, to the first person who responded to this blog… we ALL said the same thing until we actually had kids – especially more than one kid.
I think putting off tv watching as long as possible is a great thing. They will be addicted soon enough, despite our best efforts. I will say that I am so thankful for pbs in general and curious george specifically. They make my life sooo much easier when I need to exercise or cook dinner.
When you are a working mom, this is not too difficult to enforce. Your child is in an enriching schedule for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. When you're a stay at home mom, you are with your children 24/7. So a little 30 minute movie or tv show once or twice a day is your savior to get a shower or some work done around the house. PBS is great. Not a bad show on there. And Dora, your child will be speaking spanish in no time.
Lisa,You're crazy if you think she's not paying attention to what you're watching. She may not be looking @ the TV, but she's listening. I had a friend that thought the same thing until her little girl went to day care saying words like "killed, raped, stabbed, etc". Would you rather her watch/listen the eveing news or Dora? Would you rather her watch the Panthers play or learn how to jump up & down while watching little einstein? I do think that your cause is very noble, but don't ASSUME that she's not paying attention to what you are watching.
I totally acknoledge the fact that this goal of mine is easier because I am a working mom and my daughter is in school where there is no tv. It was just one of my kooky mom goals that I felt like sharing. I have 13 months down and a long 11 months to go. Like everything else in this crazy thing called motherhood, it's just a goal and only time will tell if I can do it. Hey I said I was going to breastfeed for 6 months and that didn't happen. We all just have to do what we think is right whether the rest of the world agrees or thinks you are crazy (and I have had multiple friends call me today and tell me I am crazy). Hey, I have a four hour flight with my daughter next month that may be my biggest test yet!
Maybe you could let her read the dictionary. Just be sure to start with the word "judgmental".
My thing is Manners, and as he grows Respect. Must have them.
I'm a working mom of three (5 & under) littles who are allowed to watch a limited amount of TV each week. We recently bought a minivan with built-in DVD player, and have instituted the "highway only" rule for when we watch movies or shows in the car. Driving around town, sometimes it seems like I may be the only Mom out there that doesn't keep the car theater system on for every ride… I mean, does anyone talk or sing songs in the car with their kids anymore??!?! Just wondering…
Lisa, everyone has their "thing" and if yours is TV, then stick to it, girlfriend! I know you can do it. So mine was tv too in the early days and I'm emphasizing the word "was". When my first was born 9 1/2 years ago, I certainly wasn't going to let her watch tv. I was a new SAHM and this was my JOB. Everything was bliss until that zillionaire brought Baby Einstein into my life. It was genius. I could now get a shower! But she was to watch only one video no more than 3x a week. That worked without a hitch. Until her baby sister was born two years later. Now I had two children under two. Maybe I should revisit that tv gig? We now had a dvd player in the car and a portable one that could go anywhere in the house, but I resisted the temptation. Until Ansley decided that she was going to lose her nap at the age of 3. What? Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to get ANYTHING done without nap time? My life is O-V-E-R. The only thing that would work to keep my headstrong child in her room for quiet time was a dvd princess movie. Gasp, horror! I know, I failed! But hey, I didn't care. I still had 1 1/2 hours of naptime bliss b/c as soon as she laid on her bed to watch her movie, her eyes would close out of pure exhaustion. Mission accomplished, only a few minutes of movie and still time for me to shower. My world revolved around getting a shower in the early days. Life was good until two years later.Two identical twin crazy brothers entered the mix. Now there are four Plyms under four and all bets are off. We are now in survival mode and it wasn't pretty. If you saw my Smarty sled in any carpool line, that dvd player was smoking it had been playing so long. My rule of no dvd's in the car except on road trips was tossed out the window. Dora didn't count did it – she taught my children Spanish?So here we are a five years later and I don't really enforce tv. We are pretty active, but I'm not gonna lie, my boys are men at heart. Give them a tv, a lovey and a lazy boy, and they are in heaven. Scooby Doo is on my car on any given day – these boys are in carpool hell all the time toting their big sisters here there and everywhere. They lost their nap too early. And I'm ok with some downtime even if it's a movie. I'm tired. These guys are high energy. And tv is not so bad. But we're still at 1/2 hour in the am (they love the Cat in the Hat), 1/2 hour in the pm (so I can cook dinner) and a few minutes in the car (b/c it's nice to not listen to bickering). That's not too bad, is it?You should stick to your rule. It may bend a little, maybe not. But it's YOUR thing, and that's what's important:-) Love ya, Jen Plym
I'm a first time mom and the first thing my pediatrician told me at my first check-up was "no tv until 2 years old". My son is now 19 months and so far I have followed his advice. I am a working mom so this is way easier to follow for me since the weekends are the only full days with my son and I have my husband there if I need a break to do something. But, like every other motherhood topic (breast feeding, bed time, nutrition, etc) we all have our own way that works.
My thing is a healthy meal & exercise. I think it's so important for kids to learn by example!!! My kids already talk about wanting to be healthy & I love it!! I have also learned as a parent to never say never!
I say everything in moderation…use your best judgment. It's interesting how this topic has spurred debate. The fact is that we're all doing what we have to do to get by. Some moms say "no TV", other moms say "that's easy for you because you work and don't have to buy yourself 1/2 hr to get a shower." (and simultaneously judge working moms for sticking a child in daycare). We're all doing the best we can. If your 1 yr old takes in a snipit if their older sib's "Dora" episode, or God forbid even watches a 1/2 hour of videos, should we assume that this means the child has no shot at college? It's all so silly. we overengineer this job. Anyone with common sense knows that NO ONE, especially a child, should sit in front of the tv for extended periods of time.
"that's easy for you because you work and don't have to buy yourself 1/2 hr to get a shower." Umm…working moms have to take a shower too. And have a much smaller window of time to take one (preferably before they leave for work)!
As a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist I disagree with the "no TV" theory. In fact, I encourage my patient's parents to have their children watch TV because of how great the shows are for encouraging speech, language, and social development. Shows such as Dora, Handy Manny, and even Baby Einstein vidoes all stimulate the areas of the brain that are responsible for development of these skills. I agree that they don't need to sit around and watch Ghost Hunters or The First 48, however letting a child and encouraging him/her to watch and participate in educational TV shows is important. Not to mention, when they get older and go over to friends houses they'll watch the things you DON'T want them to watch because they've been forbidden for son long! It may be my opinion, but it comes from experience as a mommy and as a professional with 7 years of education related to child development.
Lisa, I'm with you. No TV for the first two years is my goal… that's what my pediatrician said and stresses with every well visit. 11 months down! As a working mom, I cherish every single minute I get with my son. All I can say is you are NOT crazy and keep up the GOOD work!Oh, and besides the no TV thing, my "thing" is trying all of the foods I give my son, which has driven me to making my own baby foods as often as possible. My (somewhat) realistic goal being making more homemade meals than jars he gets everyday. The sheer difference in color between peas from a jar and peas steamed and pureed is unbelievable. And the taste doesn't compare… but I'll be honest, sometimes he'd just prefer the jar variety and sometimes it's just easier on me. We all do the best we can with what we have… We're all looking out for the little people in our lives that mean the whole world to us. We moms need to stick together no matter if we're holding the remote (or hiding it)!
The first one gets all the strictness. Mine are teens now, and not for much longer. We had the TV on all the time – for us. The first one never paid it any mind. Later – in his late-two's – and into his three's we got a couple of videos for him and he wore those suckers out! That's one of the dangers, btw, and this was in the heyday of the purple dinosaur (!!!)That's when his sister arrived and well…it was more about not letting anyone get injured. And not losing our minds. What's important? You know…kindness…thinking of others…manners…not giving up…not hurting and the power of love when you're hurting.
Jen, I love your take on this. Thanks 🙂
My thing is sleep which also helps with my minimal tv goal. I am a stickler on making sure our kids get the recommended allotment on sleep. It keeps them sane and us sane. Sometimes, I think the measurement might lean more toward keeping my husband and I sane.On the tv topic, our tv is really not watched by our elementary aged children during the week (not really a rule just not really time) but Sat morning cartoons are a tradition and I will say sports are on most weekend days.I always worked full time and would concur that helped in those early years but I will say there were many a night when I truly wanted to turn on the TV to fix dinner and I fought the urge. Who knows if it helped or not but now that the children have homework responsibilities they certainly did not have to change routines in the evenings.Commenting on the one comment about the news…it is true we don't turn the news on in the evenings which makes me sad as I remember at a young age watching the evening news with my parents and discussing over dinner!Oh and despite our limited tv watching, I think how much a child will "get addicted" is genes. I have one that would sit there and watch all day if we would let her and another that gets bored after one 30 min Sat morning cartoon!
My thing is sleep which also helps with my minimal tv goal. I am a stickler on making sure our kids get the recommended allotment on sleep. It keeps them sane and us sane. Sometimes, I think the measurement might lean more toward keeping my husband and I sane.On the tv topic, our tv is really not watched by our elementary aged children during the week (not really a rule just not really time) but Sat morning cartoons are a tradition and I will say sports are on most weekend days.I always worked full time and would concur that helped in those early years but I will say there were many a night when I truly wanted to turn on the TV to fix dinner and I fought the urge. Who knows if it helped or not but now that the children have homework responsibilities they certainly did not have to change routines in the evenings.Commenting on the one comment about the news…it is true we don't turn the news on in the evenings which makes me sad as I remember at a young age watching the evening news with my parents and discussing over dinner!Oh and despite our limited tv watching, I think how much a child will "get addicted" is genes. I have one that would sit there and watch all day if we would let her and another that gets bored after one 30 min Sat morning cartoon!
When we lived in VA, my middle daughter participated in a study at the Univ of VA to test Baby Einstein videos and their effectiveness in learning vocabulary. She was assigned to the "watch the video every day, once a day for 30 mins with Mom engaged and commenting on the movie" section. What did they find? Exactly what you said…that watching TV actually slows the acquistion of new language.My kids do watch some tv, but my youngest is 3. My oldest didn't watch TV until after 2, but with #2 and #3 it becomes very difficult to enforce. Besides, I really don't think that the occasional Scooby Doo video hurts anyone…most of the time my little one is not interested and walks away, anyway.