Babies & TV

[MrsPete]

While I see your point, your reasoning is flawed. It isn't the show that is bad, it is the parenting that is bad in these cases. If SS gave these disadvantaged kids a leg up to start school, GREAT. What was then missing in their lives was something to follow up on that early learning. If SS did a show for intermediate grades 3-5, then one for 6-8th grades, these kids would have followed the same learning curve they did for the early grades. The point is, these kids DID learn things from the show and since they were not getting it elsewhere, that is GREAT!!!! Source, real life (and my education major in college too).

I hear what you're saying, but the Sesame Street concept is based on rote memorization, which is not enough for older kids. I don't think follow-up shows would be possible.

I don't think a moderate amount of TV is bad for children -- key word being moderate -- but there are much better choices than Sesame Street.

 

[Maleficent13]

As long as you're not hovering.

Well, obviously! But if your kids are at the stage where you have to distract them to pee, you're too tired to hover anyway...

 

[Bob Slydell]

It's the worst show for kids because of the short segments -- the attention span thing. Other cartoons encourage kids to follow the plotline for more than 60 seconds.

I got that part. I just didn't understand how the study you posted along with that proved your case?

 

[golfgal]

I hear what you're saying, but the Sesame Street concept is based on rote memorization, which is not enough for older kids. I don't think follow-up shows would be possible.

I don't think a moderate amount of TV is bad for children -- key word being moderate -- but there are much better choices than Sesame Street.

I still think you are totally wrong. Kids have short attention spans and thus the short clips of information. ALL children's shows are like this, Barney, Blue's Clues, all of them.

Again, you can skew statistics to prove any point you want to make, it doesn't mean they are right. Rote memorization has it's place in learning and if that is the starting point for new knowledge, there is nothing wrong with that. Follow up shows are very possible and have been done over and over again. I bet anyone over the age of 35 or so can recite what they learned through the School House Rock clips that were shown when we were kids but I bet they can't recite what they learned in 8th grade grammar class!

 

[shortbun]

My son didn't watch until he was about 18 mos. Even then, Sesame Street was too advanced. There are some "Baby Einsten" dvds that I've seen babies watching. But to use the TV as a babysitter is a tad extreme for a 4.5 month old. Parents come in all shapes and sizes as do babies. Maybe her child will reject TV as an adult. My sister has taken all TVs out of her home. We watched like fiends when we were growing up. My parents were too busy with their own thing to spend much time with us and were happy for the TV as a distraction. I have moved from one monitor to another-pc. sigh

 

[va32h]

I still think you are totally wrong. Kids have short attention spans and thus the short clips of information. ALL children's shows are like this, Barney, Blue's Clues, all of them.

I read a similar study about Sesame Street - unfortunately I lent that book to a friend so I can't reference it now.

Barney and Blues Clues are much more low-key and slower-paced than Sesame Street. The segments are longer, the individual camera shots are longer. Blues Clues very seldom cuts from one scene to another, if you notice. It's all panning Joe/Steve walking over here, over there, etc. I grew up watching Sesame Street, and I am certainly not scarred by it but when I first watched it with my children I was surprised at the frenetic pace of the show.

When Blues Clues and Dora first debuted, they showed the same episode every day for a week. Parents complained about this, but the producers of those shows explained that it was a valuable part of the teaching process. Gentle repetition of the same sequence of events.

Sesame Street recognized this and even copied it - that's where Elmo's World came from. Elmo stayed on one set, with one camera, and the same segment aired every day for a week.

I don't know when they quit doing that - it's too bad really, because my oldest loved that format, and learned a lot from those shows.

 

[mrsv98]

Good grief, if I hadn't put DD in front of the tv on occasion, I would STILL be waiting to take a shower!

Everything in moderation. Today DD is 6yo, smart and funny, with a great imagination so I don't think small doses of the Disney Channel did her lasting harm.

 

[katerkat]

Wait, I have Blue's Clues to blame for Elmo's World?? Blue, how could you do this to me!?!?

My son already has a toddler's 10-second attention span, so... While the TV is on, he really only watches when there's singing, and he gets up and dances. (His Backyardigans' dance is hysterical.)

But then, his Gymboree class is set up the same way - from 10-16 months, we spent less than a minute moving through each short activity, over and over. They were never required to sit longer than a minute before doing something else. Art classes and music classes where they were expected to sit somewhat still don't start for another few months.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Wait, I have Blue's Clues to blame for Elmo's World?? Blue, how could you do this to me!?!?

 

[schmoopypoo]

Nope, I don't see a thing wrong with it. What I do find irritating is mothers that have nothing better to do than criticize and critique other mother's parenting.

WOW...you go girl And I will agree that in moderation it is ok, not for hours at a time. My daughter would watch TV here and there for short periods of time when she was a baby (not that she completely understood everything) and she is now 4 and is perfectly normal and fine.

 

[schnerk]

Good grief, if I hadn't put DD in front of the tv on occasion, I would STILL be waiting to take a shower!

So True!

 

[momof3disneyholics]

My oldest son learned his ABC's from watching Wheel of Fortune almost everyday.
Funny story though, when my twins were about 4 months old, my babysitter had them propped up in their bouncy seats with teletubbies on while she was getting them and my oldest one ready to leave my house and go over to hers. Well, she got my oldest son and my twin boy out of the house, but accidently locked the door before realizing that my daughter was still in there. She called me at work. I drove home like a mad woman thinking my baby would be screaming her head off not knowing where everyone was or worse yet, she would have fallen out of her bouncy seat and gotten hurt. Well, I got home, flung the door open, ran into the living room, and found my daughter sitting in her bouncy seat, happy as she could be, kicking her little legs and watching Teletubbies. She had no idea that anything had happened.

 

[MrsKreamer]

It's the worst show for kids because of the short segments -- the attention span thing. Other cartoons encourage kids to follow the plotline for more than 60 seconds.

Have you seen SS recently? The segments are much longer now. It starts with the muppet characters doing something for at least 15 minutes. Then it goes into the short educational films. Each one is about 5 minutes long. The show ends with Elmo's World which is at least 15 minutes long.