The Purple Dinosaur Strikes Back

Kate loves Barney. I’m not sure when or how this love affair began but it exists. We have one episode recorded on our tv and she will sit for 30 minutes, eyes glued to the screen and watch that same episode, even though she just watched it the day before (and before and before). Lately she wants to “touch” Barney so she tries to pull up on the tv cabinet so she can get as close as possible to the purple dinosaur. Her eyes light up when she hears the music coming on and she flaps her arms because she is so excited. It has become our “stall” tool. We use it to fill up that time when it’s not quite bedtime, but she is tired and restless. It always works. She stops whining, smiles and watches Barney. In some ways this is a good thing, but on the other hand, she’s only 9 months old!!

I have been wondering more and more just what affect tv has on her and whether it is ok or not for her to be watching it. I picked up Into the Minds of Babes: How Screentime Affects Children from Birth to age 5 and was amazed at what I read. The author takes a "real world" approach and puts all the available research in lay-mans terms. Here are a few highlights from the book and points I found most interesting:

-The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NO television for children under age 2, yet they give no scientific basis, just the thought that eliminating screen time is bound to increase beneficial interactive time between parents/caregivers and children.

-No research has been done on baby Einstein to determine if it really helps babies brain development. They only go on testimonials. The only company that does research is the Sesame workshop.

-Background television noise has been shown to slow language development because babies sometimes have a hard time differentiating the words on television with their parents words. The people on the tv speak too fast and the babies have a hard time focusing on their words. Also studies show it decreased the length of play episodes or the amount of time the child would spend with each toy. The baby would become distracted and may glance up at the tv or not, but they don’t retain focus on a toy for as long if the tv is on.

-Many Disney movies are marketed to much younger audiences than the films are recommended for, thus confusing parents. For example, many sippy cups have Finding Nemo on them while the movie is intended for children age 6 and up.

-Babies do not comprehend images the way adults do, they are still trying to work out the connections between symbols and objects, between pictures and the real thing. Babies and toddlers are not yet ready to absorb much more than the here-and-now, not typically comprehending sequential narratives until after age 2. After age 2, children have been shown to learn from tv programs when they are well designed (sequential plot, lots of repetition).

-Studies cannot determine any cause and effect relationship between television and autism & ADHD, contrary to popular belief.

I found this all to be really interesting. We’ve since changed the way we use the tv in our home. We are trying to cut out any background tv that she is exposed to (with the exception of some sports on the weekends). I used to enjoy watching the Today show in the morning while we were getting ready and Kate would play on the floor with her toys. We decided to stop doing this and get our news other ways (Internet mainly). We’ve done this for a week now and it’s worked out fine. We wait until Kate goes to bed to watch other tv shows we like. Also, Kate only watches 1 Barney episode per day, and sometimes none. We save it until the end of the day and sometimes it seems like a lifesaver.

So far this is working for us. I’m sure as she gets older it will all change. We are still new at this parenting thing. I’m curious, what are the tv policies at your house and are you happy with them?