How could anyone have ever known that there’s a connection between early exposure to TV and later problems with attention span?
Call it the perfect storm of parenting. Who doesn’t want to believe that there is a magical, wondrous, no-parental-guidance-required product that will turn their kids into Mensa members? The combination of our lack of time, our paranoia over our kids performance, and our faith in technology primed this generation of parents to accept the clever advertising around “Baby Einstein” as truth…
I’ve never seen any of the Baby Einstein DVDs, and as far as I know, our kids haven’t, either.
We did buy one of the Holy Baby DVDs a few years ago when our two oldest girls (now ages 5 and 6) were younger, but they only watched them a few times—largely, as I recall, because they weren’t much interested in it.
Just as well.
I’d be curious to hear from other Catholic Dads: How much, if any, time do you allow your little ones to watch videos of this ilk?
[Cross-posted at Lunch Break]
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We don't allow too much TV, but we don't ban it either. My 2 year old (soon to be 3) watches it maybe an hour a day. For a while she liked the Little Einsteins cartoons. She started to throw fits because she wasn't allowed to watch them all the time. That was when the TV went off for a good long while.
We borrowed the Baby Einstein DVDs from the library and showed it to our baby. She seems to like it.
I encourage my kids to watch VeggieTales as much as they like because of the lessons of faith and morals. Once my son was in a spider crawl race. Since he was doing it right, he was trailing. It became so bad that everyone else had crossed the finish line. But he kept on. The other parents were so impressed that they gave him a standing ovation as he struggled to the very end. I asked him later what made he hang on. He said that he recalled the video about perseverance.
I think this is one of those, "Use your heads, people" kinds of thing. We all have the same reasons to limit the kids' use of TV, though I know sometimes it is an easy fix when we're juggling too much. We only have videos and DVD's, no cable in our house.
As for those Einstein videos, I've never seen them, but I'd bet they don't hurt. I just wouldn't believe the label that says it will make my kid a genius… and I'm a little embarrassed by those who are shocked, shocked! that it didn't make their kids smarter, more patient and attentive.
No Cable or Satellite in our house either. My kids seemed to enjoy the Baby Einstein videos but they were rarely the first pick of what to watch. Veggie Tales and the great CCC videos are some of our favorites and we also rent shows like Dora, Wiggles, from the local video store from time to time. We do have family movie nights and all watch something together, and that's alot of fun as well. My wife and I try to limit all screen time during the school week with Friday being a day where they can play video games or watch a longer movie. Like Mike in CT said though, just be smart about it.
How 'bout we all use some common sense. Anyone who thought Little Einstens would make their child a genius is an absolute fool. There are studies that link early exposure to classical music to intellectual development. True or not, I think exposure to the classics is good — all things being equal. Little Einsteins teaches classical music, composers, instruments, ballet, etc. There are no negative messages at all. Now, I don't mind my kids watching some TV, but we monitor what they're watching and not too much.
I have 2 kids and they generally watch some childrens programming on ABC (Australian TV station) each day. Now that we have EWTN I record some of the kids shows and find they LOVE the Friar, We Are Catholic and The Rosary for Kids. They can watch the same show 50 times. They have watched the Donut Man countless times too. Often we pray the Rosary For Kids with them because they requested it, instead of with Fr Mitch in the Holy Land. I believe we have a healthy balance of TV watching mixed in with creative stuff (jigsaws, drawing etc) plus getting them hard at work digging holes in my veggie garden. TV may be approx 2-4 hours on any given day but that includes the religous programs too that they watch over and over. Through this they have a great appreciation of the Scapular, The Rosary etc.
Zero TV / Videos.. Our oldest of 4 is currently 5. There is no need for TV during this age range. There are so many other things in the world to explore. They don't know about TV so they don't miss it either. This is not to say there will never be a TV in our house .. there is really just no need at this time.