Under 2's and TV

jellyhead

Parents have screens for themselves now too - whereas they used to sit on the bus chatting to their children about the dogs etc. the bus was passing, nowadays a lot of parents are glued to facebook on their smart phones and rarely utter a word to their children. I probably live in quite a deprived area though.

Listerbelle

angelil wrote: »

I've heard there is to be NO screen time for under 2s full stop. This not only includes TVs but also smartphones, Nintendo DSs etc. It equally extends to even being in the same room as a parent using one of these devices.

Sounds extreme, but I've also attended seminars on the subject and given the effects that screen time can have on children that I've heard about during these, I'd be inclined to follow this advice.

It's a tough choice. I'm a medical doctor, didn't want my kid to be exposed to ANY TV before 2 or 3 years old.

Here's our story....we are a transatlantic family...

My husband won the battle. My compromise was children's programs and DVDs of programs like "signing times" - the alphabet episode was her favourite.

Our daughter was thirteen months when she first recognised/said aloud the letter "w" while signing it - she saw a huge "warning" sign on a tv program.

She learned to sing and dance to Nick Junior's "Fresh Beat Band" and The Backyardigans. She's learned all kinds of "things" from some of the other programs aimed at toddlers and young children....morals, "sharing is caring", being a good citizen etc....

As long as the child has a good balance of activities and people in their life, I don't have a problem with under Twos watching the idiot box.

(Me? I watch about one hour a month!)

Listerbelle

I guess I could also comment on the iPad. Again, I was against this. Husband for it. Our daughter was 16 months old when he bought it for himself/her.

There are sooooo many amazing applications on the iPad. At 25 months she learned the upper case alphabet vs lower case alphabet on there ("look Mummy - upper case G, upper case B. GB."), practices her fine motor skills with some of the drawing/art apps, and also speaks/has been learning Spanish via the Dora the Explorer applications.

angelil

Don't get me wrong - I don't deny that kids can learn plenty from interactions with various screens. For instance, I had an educational game on the computer called Math Blaster which I loved and which definitely improved my skills in mental arithmetic - a valuable resource for a child who disliked maths and found it difficult.

HOWEVER, it's the other effects of excessive screen time that I find to be a worry. The way we 'read' screens is different to the way we 'read' paper and one of the effects of this is an impaired ability to skim read and scan texts (due to the way your eyes 'track' and 'jump around' more between items on a screen, even if we don't realise this is happening while we do it). To me, this at least partly explains why one of my ablest, brightest, most articulate students in Year 8 almost failed one of the English exams I set her a couple of months ago. Why? Because she failed to read the instructions on the paper correctly.

I am very grateful to the reception teacher who posted who is also seeing the effects of excessive screen time in her classroom. Depending on how much time you are physically able to spend with your children due to work commitments etc, it is possible that your child's teachers are more likely to see these effects on a daily basis.

patchwork_cat

My 2 watched children's TV, we didn't actively limit it. They would limit themselves. If they were interested in Tots TV or Come Outside they would sit and watch, if not they would ignore it and play with their toys.

When you consider that almost 4m children in Britain do not own a book, then TV in a home with lots of other stimulation is fine. I find that you see some parents not interacting with their children at all. CBeebies and CITV were great resources and IMO better than DVD/videos as they are not watching the same thing over and over. Videos and favourite books have their place, how many times have you been asked to read the same book and think, but you have hundreds of others (yes my kids did have!), but it was familiar and comforting and good for sleepy time.

My DS is currently studying Pharmacy at Uni and my DD is at grammar school .

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

My sister and my Brother in Law had the TV upstairs so the TV wasn't the focal point.
I agree about limiting exposure in early months and concentrating on person to person interaction so they get orienated to people rather than things. ( I am a massive Techie who loves the Net but needs her privacy).
The little darling has a focus on PEOPLE to meet her needs rather than TV, a good thing.
That does'n't mean she hasn't had enormous fun playing games on a family members IPad and or seen or watched TV.
We are also using it to teach her the extreme value of books so she is read too all the time and taught the value of language.
She can even speak the odd French word! and know what it means!!!

patchwork_cat

A lot of the favourite TV shows have books and magazines as well and it is a comfortable introduction to another medium.

fawd1

I'm really surprised no one has mentioned the Baby Einstein DVD's. My two were always absolutely fascinated by them (just the music ones mind you, wouldnt even look at the others). I have to say, I found them to be invaluable, especially if they were tired and whiny but it wasn't quite their bedtime, and I needed to make the dinner for example. They absolutely loved Baby Mozart and Baby Bach, and would sometimes laugh their heads off (lord knows what at though, it's just music, colours and shapes!)

delain

jellyhead wrote: »

Eagle? I have no idea what your post is about We record what we want to watch, then forward through the ads. I got into the habit when he wanted to watch 'Dora' and 'Go Diego Go' after a day out or a log walk, just to flop onto the sofa for a rest. If I'm tired too, and gasping for a cup of tea then I'm happy to put the TV on for a bit Those cable channels have so many adverts, it drove me crazy.

What's Dominic the Donkey? I remember singing a song from a catfood advert to my teenager when he was tiny :rotfl:

Eagle

Dominic the donkey

Hope that clears it up

onlyroz

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Most Reception teachers of any experience, will be able to describe the increasing number of children who enter Reception classes with a poorer vocabulary than that of a generation ago.

I am fairly sure that TVs have been around for longer than a generation.