Some pediatricians south of the border seem to be adopting a "harm reduction" approach when it comes to what American babies are doing for entertainment.
Just look at the reaction to the launch last month of BabyFirstTV, "the nation's first channel for babies." It's a round-the-clock provider of commercial-free shows aimed at those too young to sit up, chew their food or tell anyone to turn the damn thing off.
Yes, it's television aimed at the barely born, and it's available to Americans by satellite for a mere $9.99 a month. A small price for a few hours of peace and quiet, non?
Okay, I exaggerate. Not a few hours - only an hour and 20 minutes. Because according to a new study by the media research group the Kaiser Foundation, that's how much television 61 per cent of babies in the U.S. are watching each day. I kid you not. Though it's unclear whether that includes the CNN reports from war zones and episodes of All My Children that the grownups have on while baby sits on the bouncy chair pretending to be oblivious.
And guess what else? Nineteen per cent of these mites - who likely don't even own their first pair of shoes - already have a TV in their bedroom!
This is very disturbing to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which, while an advocate of breastfeeding, is not at all keen on the boob tube. It's recommendation: No TV for kids under age 2.
But now, some doctors beg to differ. Reality check, they say. If parents are using the TV to keep tots occupied while they throw in the laundry or because they think it will make them smarter, why not at least help them do it in a healthy way? With good clean age-appropriate fare instead of Simpsons reruns and or ex-spouses lunging at each other on Jerry Springer.
FYI, the baby channel isn't available here.
I know what you're thinking, and you're right. Only in America.
Does your baby watch TV?
I put the Tellytubbies on every day for insurance and even then, only with her kick gym and/or exersaucer working too. In that 22 minutes of program time, I can eat breakfast, shower and get dressed.
Posted by: Kate | June 11, 2006 at 08:21 AM
My child didn't watch a video until 2-1\2 and TV until age 6. Now at age 11, she's a total TV head. Go figure.
Posted by: Tearfree | June 12, 2006 at 10:55 AM
When my 13-year-old was about 6 months, I was cleaning and watching an ancient rerun of the Planet of the Apes television series. (Hey, I support public television, too, but really bad TV can be irresistible.) That's when I discovered that she didn't like things that sort of looked like humans but were not humans, acting like humans. She got very agitated in her baby chair. With a sigh, I turned it off. This was confirmed to me at Christmas about two months later when she got a Talking Big Bird. What a great idea, my husband and I thought. We love Sesame Street. When the cassette played, the eyes rolled and the beak flapped. I think that's when my eight-month-old learned to crawl --anything to get away from the monster bird that her insane parents were shoving at her. Anyway, five years later, she had recovered sufficiently to become an enormous fan of Teletubbies (things that sort of looked like humans...). A year after that, it was the Spice Girls, thanks to friends at school. (It *is* true what they say about peer influence.) Now, as a 13-year-old, she loves horror films -- and I have no idea where that came from because I can't stand them. Unless she developed a taste for horror films from watching Snow White.
Posted by: Laura | June 12, 2006 at 08:14 PM
We don't have the TV on when our two-year-old and four-year-old are around. I feel strongly that they should be playing, looking at books etc and not sitting in front of the tube -- because it is so hypnotizing.
They get to choose a half-hour video when they wake up from their naps and that's when I make dinner. They know the routine, so I don't have them begging for a video/TV all day long.
Posted by: Dianne Scott | June 13, 2006 at 04:03 PM
*shuffles feet, looks at the floor*
Oh, who, me? TV? Um, yah, my preschooler might watch a bit of TV. What's a bit, you say? Um, ya know, couple hours a day at most.
If it were me at home, I swear, the TV would be on less. But my husband thinks that since we survived a steady diet of the stuff, so will the boys. I am hypocritically proud of the fact that they don't watch commercial TV, but they're voracious consumers of DVDs, from Baby Einstein to Blues Clues to Scooby Doo to um, the old Batman TV series (more husband influence, I swear).
I could lay down the law, but it may in fact drive my husband over the edge. In this case, if Daddy ain't happy, ain't nobody happy, and he's the one at home during the day, holding on to the remotes like a talisman. I just don't have the heart to cut them off...
Posted by: DaniGirl | June 15, 2006 at 02:34 PM
I admit it.
My child was watching Einstein movies, the tree channel, the whole bit.
Sometimes for an hour.
We also read to her and played with her.
NOW she turns off the TV when she has had enough. How weird is that. AND she seems very alert and talks.
Posted by: danee | June 18, 2006 at 11:22 PM