This is your brain. This is your brain on Elmo.
Posted
January 23, 2009 at
3:39 am by
Marge
The folks over at Cognitive Daily have posted an article featuring yet another batch of studies that tell us that kids under two shouldn’t be watching TV.
The studies they cite show that toddlers who are given clues to find hidden objects via TV are less successful at finding the objects than the children who are given the clues in person. They summarize by saying:
“So while toddlers can understand what’s going on on TV, they don’t think about what they see on TV the same way older kids and adults do. They don’t connect it back to the real things they encounter in their world, so they can’t learn from TV. Whatever it is your toddler gets from watching TV, these researchers say, it’s not learning.”
I see this phenomenon in my kids clearly. They can both watch an episode of Play with me Sesame and have very different experiences. When my 5 year-old daughter watches the program, she gets up, sings along, dances, and responds to the character’s questions. When my nearly two-year-old son watched the same program alone the other day, he sat mesmerized by the 20-minute program - the lights, the colors, the sounds, but he clearly didn’t appreciate the humor and didn’t understand when to sing and dance with the monstery muppets. When the two of them watch together, I used to think that my son mimicked the program, but now I’m realizing that he was modeling his response after his sister.
So, why do we park our toddler’s in front of the boob tube if it’s not really enhancing their cognitive development? Why are products like Baby Einstein still a staple in nearly every baby shower across the country? Well, while I don’t expect my toddler’s brain to get bigger with Elmo’s help, he is entertained and out of my hair for about 20 minutes while I can change my clothes and start dinner.
After all, it’s not as if I’m telling him to play with my steak knives, right?
Tags: Baby Einstein, Cognitive Daily, cognitive development, Elmo, Play with me Sesame, Sesame Street, toddler, tv |
6 Responses to “This is your brain. This is your brain on Elmo.”
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1. Stinky
January 23, 2009 @ 9:53 am
I do agree that there’s very little, developmentally speaking, to be gained from television for a child under two, and I’m pretty strict about how much my 2 1/2 year old watches, and what. That said, I freely admit that as an infant, I plopped him in front of Baby Beethoven on a not infrequent basis as soon as I realized it would keep him quiet and happy for 20 or 30 minutes and possibly help me retain my sanity for one more day. I don’t necessarily think there’s anything wrong with that, either for him or for me.
2. lora
January 23, 2009 @ 11:21 am
I’m a big fan of getting showers, so I too sat the boy down in front of something to keep him occupied for short bursts a few times a week.
Some people gasp, but the gaspers are usually weirdos, so I totally am okay with it. I don’t want my kid turning out like their kids anyway.
3. cin
January 23, 2009 @ 11:34 am
Come on. While electronics cannot be a substitute for your attention, Who has time to entertain their kid every second of the day?! My kids are older now and thank goodness for Wii. At least I feel like they are getting some exercise when I give them a free video game pass so that I can focus to meet a deadline when I am running late or do my workouts. I can SAY “kids Mom’s going to do her workout, I’d like you to enjoy your reading and craft time now for 30 minutes. Thanks Punkins.” But three minutes into Turbo Jam they will be fighting because Sari’s lips move when she reads and that gets under Drew’s skin.” (Just an example)
4. Allison G-MOD
January 23, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
5. momof3_ipmod
January 25, 2009 @ 2:22 pm
My kids watch tv but I try to make sure they don’t watch too much tv. My youngest who is almost 2 shows zero interest in the tv and is constantly attached to my hip. There are many times during my day that I wished she would sit just for a couple minutes and watch but I don’t see that happening. They tried to link ADD/ADHD to children watching too much tv but in my experience that’s not the case. My oldest has ADD/ADHD and has never had the attention span long enough to sit and watch a 30 minute show without getting up and doing something. Plus, like I said, I don’t allow them to sit in front of the tv all day long to become professional couch potatos.
I like the shows that get the kids to get up and move; dance, sing and play. And the ones that actually teach them something. Like Dora and Diego who teach them Spanish. Or the ones that teach colors and shapes. The other ones I just don’t get. No, I don’t think that sitting your kid in front of the tv is educational but I also don’t see any harm in letting them sit and relax for a while in front of one. Sometimes moms just need to be doing something besides reading about which cat is blue and which dog has the longest ears. If not then we’ll all start talking like that mom on that commercial a couple years ago when she starts talking to her husband in a baby voice, “Does daddy like his carrots? Oh yes he does! What a good daddy!” THAT’S what not getting sanity time will do to a mother!
6. Dave Munger
January 26, 2009 @ 9:57 am
I agree with the consensus in the comments and in the post — a little TV is probably not a big deal, even for toddlers. But the more you let them watch, the more adverse affects pile up, from attentional problems to aggressive behavior. The correlations aren’t always strong, but erring on the side of caution is probably a good thing.