thomas watches an average of 1 hour per day. before 2008 i would limit it to about 30 min per day. it starts in the morning at 9am with SuperWHY!. it is a new PBS show that features 4 main characters that problem solve using letters, spelling and reworkings of classic children's stories. the focus of the show is teaching preschoolers that reading is the key that opens everything. thomas LOVES this show. he can serious watch 2 or 3 of them in a row. they also have 4 really cool games online that thomas is getting really good at. he truly excels at computer games. SCARY! other shows i let him watch are curious george, sesame street, teletubbies, mommy & me (sing-along-songs), thomas & friends christmas time, and a couple korean & mandarin language DVD's for preschoolers. all shows that don't have anything really scary or dark or mean.i got mad at william the other day because he taught thomas that dark closets are scary. do NOT let your toddlers watch thomas & friends until they understand the concept of scary. thomas had no idea what scary was until he watched the thomas train show. they have tons of references to scary shadows and noises in the dark, as well as being naughty. there is even a song called "boo choo choo" where the main line is "don't be afraid of the dark. it's just your imagination." now whenever he sees a dark hallway/closet or shadows he says "boo choo choo." bad daddy!!!
anyways, put in your vote! how much TV does your kid watch? inquiring minds want to know...
oh wait, i forgot to mention - it doesn't count when the little ones are sick. we let thomas watch lots of tv when he is sick. lots... :p
9 comments:
you don't want to know how much the TV is on in th background in our place. All the time! they don't pay attention to it unless is some singing commercial. Mornings I'll start them off with the Disney channel. I don't advise any of my bad parenting to anybody though. :]
I think (technically) they aren't supposed to watch TV until they are 2. But I think that's unrealistic. As long as you don't use the TV as a babysitter, you're fine.
BTW, he is too cute. I love to see his little quirks!
when i pick ethan up from daycare, sometimes i'll turn on the news, other times we'll just sit quietly while i feed him dinner. i think one time john was flipping channels and kept one channel (with a movie) on too long. now, ethan would wake up in the middle of the night crying. i don't know if he had a nightmare, scared of the dark, or just wants to be held, but i think it started when john was watching the movie.
I also can't tell you how much tv is played at daycare. the tv (with a video) could be on all day or it may be on a couple of hours.
sorry, my comments aren't much help!
The TV is ALWAYS on in our house. At 4.5 months, Isabel is already super attached to the tv. Unfortunately she likes what we watch instead of Disney. I actually think that it's contributing to her night wakings now. She is retaining more and more so I think she's dreaming about what she saw. Ben and I need to really try hard and cut off the tv when she's in the living room. We're getting more music but you know, it's hard when I LOVE the tv way too much. However, on the weekends, we wake up early and she hangs out with us and we all watch something on PBS or Disney which I think is ok.... I'm definetely going to let her watch tv but wow..it's a hard habit to curb.
yes, the Am Academy of Pediatrics (and most educators) advises no TV under 2, and no more than an hour, max 2 per day of TV for kids over 2. they also said that TV in the background causes them to be less focused on the task at hand, b/c their brain is still processing it in the background. so we do try not to have the TV on for no reason. but there are def days when he watches more like 3 hours of tv. eikes! it is hard sometimes, it is the easiest thing when i am trying to get food ready or make a call. plus he has his second set of molars coming in and has been much less willing to play by himself b/c of that. double ugh!
oh and regina - i agree with you now about the fact that all it takes is watching 1 scary situation. you know, i have been reading up and child dev experts say that 2-3 yrs is the time toddlers start really waking up crying/screaming from bad dreams, but liz says all it took was one bad movie to kick start ethan's nghtmares. and i am starting to think thomas' nightmares were also turbo charged by that stupid spooky Thomas Train episode. so maybe veggie tales did it for sara!
HI Catherine! Well, for our part (and I think we're a bit out of the norm here) we don't watch TV. We have a TV, but no cable and not even an antenna. Eric uses it to watch videos on VHS (so old school, I know!) We inherited both the TV and the VCR from Perry when we got married. The TV is a little 13" dealie.
Anyway, we limit Eric to one video every 3 days. He knows the rule and he's ok with it. He used to watch Pooh and the Wiggles; nowawdays he prefers to watch movies, so his viewing periods are longer. Most recently, he saw the Jungle Book.
Elissa and I watch virtually no television. We listen to a lot of NPR and get our news from the internet. We (especially Elissa) read a good deal. We'll watch a DVD from time to time using one of our computers (usually my laptop)
There are some things I like on TV - Battlestar Galactica, Grey's and Heroes. But those can all be had online or on DVD. On the whole, we're very happy without a TV.
very interesting stuff here. i feel like i don't have time for tv, but johnny has the golf channel on practically 24/7, but mostly w/o the volume on when Jeremiah's in the room. it still catches Jeremiah's attention & he'll stare at it for a little bit.
I just recently saw an article in Parenting magazine about this issue! If you get Parenting, it's in there!
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