What's wrong with letting kids watch kids TV?

C

clairesthestar

New member
I know, I know...... TV is evil - it inhibits learning and delays social skills (apparently). Well, not to put too fine a point on it, I think that's a load of old rubbish! My daughter is 20 months old and she knows every letter of the alphabet and every primary colour and can count to ten on her own. She has a vocabulary of about 100 words and she speaks in full sentences. Trust me, there is no problem with her learning skills, lol!

She also LOVES CBeebies. She asks for it to be put on every morning while she eats her breakfast and she probably watches about an hour and a half per day if you add it all up. Also, my partner and I have the TV on in the evening - although it is turned off at seven pm just to allow her to wind down before bedtime. Quite frankly, if it wasn't for CBeebies in the morning we probably wouldn't make it out of the house in time for me to get to work, lol!

Now, I can understand that TV is not great if kids really do nothing but watch it all day (and don't go to the park or for walks etc) but in my view there is absolutely nothing wrong with it in moderation. In fact my daughter has learnt quite a bit from watching her programmes, especially Something Special.

What do you think? Is TV OK or not?
Just to make it clear - I have taught my daughter her letters, numbers and colours, she didn't learn that from TV. I'm just saying that watching TV obviously hasn't affected her ability to learn things.
 
My son who is 15 months isn't allowed to watch TV every day, but I am a stay at home mom so I really have all the time in the world to get stuff done and don't have to worry about getting out the door in time. On the weekends when the hubby and I want to take a shower or something we stick him in the porta crib with a movie on. (we dont have cable) They say babies cant really learn from Electronics before there about 3. I would guess that someone else besides the TV is also working with your daughter on her colors, letters and counting. (she sounds VERY smart for her age!!!) With the whole, babies cant learn from the tv thing in mind, is a little bit of TV every day going to hurt them, make them stupid? NO! not at all. she may not be using her full learning potential during this time but she is obviously still on track and learning at other times.

I know a mom who LITERALLY lets her son watch tv ALL day. he is almost 4. Not potty trained, will NOT play with other kids, or adults. ONLY repeats things he hears on tv not actually "learning" the information.

The lesson here is that TV in moderation is perfectly okay. Dont expect your kids to become geniuses from baby einstein, and dont expect it to do the teaching for you.
 
my son watched tv. mostly noggin. he is 20 months and doesn't really talk though. i think he know about 17 words. but only like 4 are used on a daily basis. he knows all his body parts. but i dont see anything with a little bit of tv, but not an all day thing.
 
As long as your child is watching age appropriate shows then in my opinion there is nothing wrong with it. I must be Super Mom because my daughter (25 months) is not the slightest bit interested in the television.

The things like Baby Einstein and the Wiggles that she does watch she has picked up on colors, letters, shapes, numbers, etc. She is no expert and a lot of it also comes from me and her father, but they have helped a lot. TV is not evil.
 
I've watched television since before I could remember. I always tell people that anything someone does or 'wants' to do is up to the individual. You could teach your child how to do something and they could grow up and start doing the total opposite. What we do for our children does not determine their fate. Watching television (especially educational shows - I grew up on Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers but also Knight Rider and The A-Team) can teach many things about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are not controlled by the television or it's shows but the other way around. In essence, watching TV is fine.
 
I think it has alot to do with what they watch. If she is watching age appropriate shows great. Some parents just sit their kids in front of the tv and make them watch it so they can get things done. As long as you are not making her watch it and she is watching the appropriate shows its fine.
 
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