This week's Bad Parent column on Babble is written by Jeanne Sager, whose daughter sometimes watches six or more hours a day of television. Jeanne confesses: The truth is, I'm not crazy about all the TV watching in my house - whether it's Jillian or my husband in front of the screen. But I sacrifice to the TV gods in exchange for a work-from-home job, one that lets me spend more time with my daughter but requires me to offer her a smaller piece of my attention during the day.
Also on Babble this week: a comprehensive and quite funny dispatch about toddler TV. The author, L.J. Williamson, even manages to get a doctor at the AAP to clarify their famous "no TV under two" recommendation. Those of us whose kids watch an hour or so of "Big Bird in China" each day may find the doctor's response akin to religious absolution:
"We don't condemn many things in life. We don't hate television. We even gave Sesame Street an award. But what we're here to do is make recommendations for optimal health, and for infants, TV is not optimal. No two-dimensional screen can equal a three-dimensional caretaker. But we're not going to tell people 'You can't watch TV' - that's silly poo-poo. We are not the nation's nannies. TV is here to stay. But we have to learn to manage it and not let it manage us."
Read "Bad Parent: Screen Queen" here.Read "TV or No TV" here.
So, how much TV do your kids watch, and what do you think it's doing to them?
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 5)
61. les - I meant well, did you? I DID see alot of backpatting and peeing around here which prompted me to post MY opinion, just like everyone else, because that's what blogs are for. I know. Where you got sensitivity, backbone, and corporate America from out of my post is beyond me. Wow. Hmm. I just looked at your other postings here, I shouldn't have bothered replying. You don't play well with others do you? You sound very unhappy. I'm sorry.
Angie at 8:10AM on Apr 1st 2008
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tomtrifik at 5:32PM on Apr 1st 2008
63. Tara,
Ignore the judgmental posts of some of the people on here. I have two children, ages 12 & 16. When I was an idealistic young mother, I thought I was going to do everything right, and judged others that made different choices than I (i.e. choosing not to breastfeed) but time & experience taught me that it's impossible to be "perfect". You just
do the best you can with the circumstances you're in and keep your child's best interests at heart. Perhaps, in an ideal world, young children would watch no TV, but I honestly believe 2 hours per day of age-appropriate programming is NOT going to scar your child for life!
hlaredzz at 12:38PM on Apr 2nd 2008
64. my kids watch television; so what, you probably watch porn flicks.
dcmeyer55 at 2:24AM on Oct 21st 2009