Thursday, May 25, 2006
The sun always shines on TV
I'm a little irritated by this AP article about young children watching TV, not so much for its content as its tone. Another lament of the decline of civilization at the hands of selfish, lazy mothers, its basis is that toddlers are watching TV not because they want to, but because their incompetent mommies make them, just so these self-absorbed abdicators can engage in such frivolous activities as: showering, and making dinner. The torture! The horror!
A quote:
Those specialists sigh at the notion that parents could not get by without TV.
“People have made dinner for millenia, but we’ve only had television for 50 years,” said Dr. Dimitri Christakas of the University of Washington.
Yeah. So what you're saying is, before TV, these dinner-making supermommies were having high quality teaching-learning moments with their toddlers while cooking? They were teaching them to play the lute or recite "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" without ever once burning the risotto? The question here isn't whether there are times when you must attend to something other than your child(ren), because obviously there are. The question is how you choose to fill those times, particularly when your child is too young to read on their own or self-entertain. So how is having them sitting in a playpen staring at the wall or poking around the corner eating lint more developmentally advantageous than Elmo?
As I said, there is plenty of content here I agree with. I believe in moderating TV appropriately to leave ample time for other more engaging activities, and I wouldn't let a toddler watch CSI just because I wanted to see it. I kept the TV off when my daughter was a baby because I thought the ADD research had merit. Now that she's older she watches 1-2 hours of TV every day, and most days a lot closer to 2 than 1 (not when I'm making dinner though - that's dance around the kitchen time). That number is within the APA guidelines but, yes, I fully admit it seems pretty high. In a perfect world, I'd rather have her watching maybe 30-60 minutes with me by her side the whole time (I know lots of peeps would say none but I've never been one of those TV-is-the-devil people and I find value in the things I choose for her to watch).
But once in a while the guilt train needs to make a stop in Realitytown and you know what? The day Dr. Dimitri Christakas gave that quote, I bet he got to shower. And pee.
*Post title ripped off from the A-Ha song by the same name
A quote:
Those specialists sigh at the notion that parents could not get by without TV.
“People have made dinner for millenia, but we’ve only had television for 50 years,” said Dr. Dimitri Christakas of the University of Washington.
Yeah. So what you're saying is, before TV, these dinner-making supermommies were having high quality teaching-learning moments with their toddlers while cooking? They were teaching them to play the lute or recite "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" without ever once burning the risotto? The question here isn't whether there are times when you must attend to something other than your child(ren), because obviously there are. The question is how you choose to fill those times, particularly when your child is too young to read on their own or self-entertain. So how is having them sitting in a playpen staring at the wall or poking around the corner eating lint more developmentally advantageous than Elmo?
As I said, there is plenty of content here I agree with. I believe in moderating TV appropriately to leave ample time for other more engaging activities, and I wouldn't let a toddler watch CSI just because I wanted to see it. I kept the TV off when my daughter was a baby because I thought the ADD research had merit. Now that she's older she watches 1-2 hours of TV every day, and most days a lot closer to 2 than 1 (not when I'm making dinner though - that's dance around the kitchen time). That number is within the APA guidelines but, yes, I fully admit it seems pretty high. In a perfect world, I'd rather have her watching maybe 30-60 minutes with me by her side the whole time (I know lots of peeps would say none but I've never been one of those TV-is-the-devil people and I find value in the things I choose for her to watch).
But once in a while the guilt train needs to make a stop in Realitytown and you know what? The day Dr. Dimitri Christakas gave that quote, I bet he got to shower. And pee.
*Post title ripped off from the A-Ha song by the same name
|| Nobody, 2:10 PM
17 Comments:
Oh, it's a bunch of poop. My girls watched LOADS of TV (and still do) and are fit, healthy and get top grades.
Oh good. I'm upping her limit to 3!
I think there's this weird obsession with that little sponge theory (not that it's a new obsession, but I guess it's come back in vogue), so peeps think every second of their toddler's day needs to be the maximum amount of engaging and educational. I think that's a bunch of hooey. Let the kid play with a toy that teaches them nothing once in a while, just for, you know, FUN. And for heaven's sake, let them relax.
But that article is right about this: at this point the TV is more for me than her. She loves The Little Einsteins, but not as much as I love a guaranteed shower every day.
I think there's this weird obsession with that little sponge theory (not that it's a new obsession, but I guess it's come back in vogue), so peeps think every second of their toddler's day needs to be the maximum amount of engaging and educational. I think that's a bunch of hooey. Let the kid play with a toy that teaches them nothing once in a while, just for, you know, FUN. And for heaven's sake, let them relax.
But that article is right about this: at this point the TV is more for me than her. She loves The Little Einsteins, but not as much as I love a guaranteed shower every day.
When my son was little we had lots of really good family time watching shows together--a lot of Sesame St. Shining Times Station, Bill Nye, etc., and this continued on until he was maybe 6th grade. He did watch some TV on his own, while his mother was doing other things not in the livingroom. Other than that, he didn't watch too much, and now watches hardly any at all. Of course that's because he's I.M.ing everybody in the northern hemisphere while listening to Gnarles Barkley MP3s.
Yeah, TV has given way to AIM, MySpace and World of Warcraft.
I loved Bill Nye. I really really really want to go back and do it again and not be going to school this time.
I loved Bill Nye. I really really really want to go back and do it again and not be going to school this time.
and not be going to school this time.
Don't get me started. What in the world makes us think we can entrust our children to these state employees? Do it over, I'd go either Catholic all the way, (and be very "involved,")or home schooling.
Don't get me started. What in the world makes us think we can entrust our children to these state employees? Do it over, I'd go either Catholic all the way, (and be very "involved,")or home schooling.
I read an article once about some local good citizen or other who'd grown up orphaned in La Paz picking garbage and eating rats and stuff. Once kids are old enough to handle a slingshot, they probably don't need us at all.
Of course I'm the kind of parent who bothers teachers about grades; but it's something to think about.
Of course I'm the kind of parent who bothers teachers about grades; but it's something to think about.
and not be going to school this time
I meant *me* not going to school. I missed a shitload of my kids' childhood on account of my quest for a M.S. that I don't use.
Public schools are fine, if you find the right ones. They'd get a lot better if yer old lefties like archer would get out of the way so we could bust up the unions.
I meant *me* not going to school. I missed a shitload of my kids' childhood on account of my quest for a M.S. that I don't use.
Public schools are fine, if you find the right ones. They'd get a lot better if yer old lefties like archer would get out of the way so we could bust up the unions.
What in the world makes us think we can entrust our children to these state employees?
Okay, for me, I guess the answer would be that I'm married to one of these state employees, and because of that I know a shitload of these state employees, and I would entrust my chidren to them over and over again. They're highly dedicated professionals who care deeply about the education of their students. Are there "bad" teachers out there? Of course. You think there aren't bad teachers in Catholic school? Of course there are. Public schools may not be right for your children, or maybe they weren't right for you, based on whatever belief system you have, and that's cool. But the blanket "state employee" insult is crap.
Oh, and to the actual topic of this post (sorry for the rant, Jen!), they ran that article in the Denver Post too, and I thought the same exact thing you did. If you've got your toddler watching Tarentino movies, that's probably a bit irresponsible. But putting on Baby Einstein or Sesame Street for a while so you can actually bathe isn't going to harm the kid!
Okay, for me, I guess the answer would be that I'm married to one of these state employees, and because of that I know a shitload of these state employees, and I would entrust my chidren to them over and over again. They're highly dedicated professionals who care deeply about the education of their students. Are there "bad" teachers out there? Of course. You think there aren't bad teachers in Catholic school? Of course there are. Public schools may not be right for your children, or maybe they weren't right for you, based on whatever belief system you have, and that's cool. But the blanket "state employee" insult is crap.
Oh, and to the actual topic of this post (sorry for the rant, Jen!), they ran that article in the Denver Post too, and I thought the same exact thing you did. If you've got your toddler watching Tarentino movies, that's probably a bit irresponsible. But putting on Baby Einstein or Sesame Street for a while so you can actually bathe isn't going to harm the kid!
Sorry, Jeff. I didn't mean your wife.
No worries, Roy. I have a 3-week old son at home, so sleep deprivation has brought out the oversensitive in me!
3-week old son! That means you only have about nineteen, twenty years of sleep deprivation left to go.
Light at the end of the tunnel and all that!
Light at the end of the tunnel and all that!
Also, meant to say, I'll watch the sweeping generalizations. I'm bad about that.
Interesting. I'm so confused by the whole TV thing.
Until I was twelve, I grew up way the heck out in the sticks. We had one channel. That was it. I just didn't watch a lot.
Now my kids watch a ton. We try and limit it, but it's hard. It doesn't seem to affect their grades, but I do worry about it stifling their creativity--even though so far there's no evidence that it has.
My neighbor doesn't let his kids watch TV. They watch movies once in a while, and he forces them to watch things like presidential debates (gee thanks Dad), but that's it. Sounds horrible, but of course all his kids are wonderful 4.0 students.
Until I was twelve, I grew up way the heck out in the sticks. We had one channel. That was it. I just didn't watch a lot.
Now my kids watch a ton. We try and limit it, but it's hard. It doesn't seem to affect their grades, but I do worry about it stifling their creativity--even though so far there's no evidence that it has.
My neighbor doesn't let his kids watch TV. They watch movies once in a while, and he forces them to watch things like presidential debates (gee thanks Dad), but that's it. Sounds horrible, but of course all his kids are wonderful 4.0 students.
>sigh<... this whole TV thing is, for me (as opposed to "for my husband") one of the biggest issues of my marriage. I have DD, 18 (today!) and a DS (12 1/2) who I wanted to keep away from TV, use it only in the judicious manner advocated in this post, but. I have a DH. He's a TV addict. He adamently uses TV as his relaxation. He's the quintessential couch potato. He's a sports fan. The reality in our house is, if he's awake and home, the TV is on. Period. Regardless of the amount of discussion, argument, rational reasoning, yelling, whatever, that has taken place over the 28+ years of our marriage. I gave up long ago... >sigh<
On the bright side, if that's what the Big Issues look like, I'm guessing the marriage is pretty good.
Once my kid is teenager "judicious" is over with and all bets are off. :)
Thanks for dropping by!
Once my kid is teenager "judicious" is over with and all bets are off. :)
Thanks for dropping by!
ADD, hmmm, If too much TV for the littlest kiddies is bad, then I've got it, and my kids are gonna have it too. No doubts. :p
Well, I'm a child whose mom worked (as a public school teacher) and I was raised by a surrogate mother to whom I dedicated my first book. She, bless her, let me watch TV all day long and made me little trays so I never had to look away from Ding-Dong School or Lassie. My mother was totally evil for coming home and marching over my pleading, wailing self to turn off Pinky Lee because she couldn't stand the sound of it. I am who I am, but I don't have ADD.
And my son also watched 10 tons of TV, although I only let him watch Seseme Street and such when he was really little. Instead he watched Disney cartoons over and over and over and over while I showered and interviewed people for free lance articles and ate bon-bons and did not cook dinner.
He does not have ADD. He goes to a really good public school taught by dedicated professionals who I have the utmost admiration for. And I think he's pretty smart, interesting and individualistic.
My theory has always been that no matter what we do we fuck our kids up and no matter how badly we fuck them up, they manage to survive (though I'm glad in this case it doesn't involve ingesting rodents).
And my son also watched 10 tons of TV, although I only let him watch Seseme Street and such when he was really little. Instead he watched Disney cartoons over and over and over and over while I showered and interviewed people for free lance articles and ate bon-bons and did not cook dinner.
He does not have ADD. He goes to a really good public school taught by dedicated professionals who I have the utmost admiration for. And I think he's pretty smart, interesting and individualistic.
My theory has always been that no matter what we do we fuck our kids up and no matter how badly we fuck them up, they manage to survive (though I'm glad in this case it doesn't involve ingesting rodents).
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