We all do it, let our kids watch TV. Well, accept you Amish, with your luxurious quilts, delicious fried chicken and inability to read these very words. Sure, we limit the kids to Noggin and Sprout, but I think most parents still wonder what effect that television watching is having. Yeah, the value of Baby Einstein, for instance, is not quite as advertised. But is it all really bad for baby? Well now the results are in… I do like how this article begins, “Here's an issue your parents never had to consider: the great babies-and-TV debate.” Was I born during the depression? Did my parents have to curb my “radio fever” as I glued my ear to the crystal set for new episodes of “The Shadow”? Maybe the author means parents didn’t have to debate it back then because in the seventies parents were just jerks. The particulars of this piece, and whether or not TV will rot your child, boil down to this: Kids under 2 won’t learn a thing. If you’re pumping them full of “educational” shows, you’re just spinning your wheels. TV won’t hurt them either. Granted, all things in moderation, but there is no evidence that TV will cook your child’s brain. It’s for you, not for them. You are not doing the kids a big favor by popping in a DVD while you pop a tranquilizer. Pacifying the kids on Dora is all about you, so be honest with yourself. The part I found most interesting was the section on background TV and how it may affect attention spans. Throughout my entire childhood there was always a TV on. Even now when I go to my dad’s house for dinner the TV is playing right over my shoulder. When I have chores around the house, I often turn on the TV like other people put on music. Now and then I catch myself in the act and feel and it’s rather sad. I have what I consider a low ability to concentrate, and though this anecdotal evidence isn’t a smoking gun, I wonder what effect all that ambient TV had on me. At the very least, I think a constantly blaring TV could be distracting a child from more imaginative play. What do you think? Is your TV on morning, noon and night? Are your kids addicted?
About Cole Gamble
Cole Gamble’s writings on the crimes of Willy Wonka, man-eating beds and tales from his cringe-worthy life appear here on Babble, the humor site Cracked, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post and Salon. He is working on a book entitled, Conquer Everything! A Self Help Book to Destroy All Other Self Help Books and Grant You Mastery in Everything.
