T.v for babies.

Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch tv alot? My
baby is 9.5 mo old and he watches teletubbies alot. he doesnt acually
sit there and stre at the tv, but i put it on in his bedroom and he
just crawls around and climbs and plays while its on. is this a bad
thing to do? i play with him and spend time with him alot, i read to
him alot and sing to him.

Chelsy

newmama wrote:
Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch tv alot? My
baby is 9.5 mo old and he watches teletubbies alot. he doesnt acually
sit there and stre at the tv, but i put it on in his bedroom and he
just crawls around and climbs and plays while its on. is this a bad
thing to do? i play with him and spend time with him alot, i read to
him alot and sing to him.

Chelsy

I don't agree with babies/children/toddlers/tweens/teens having a tv in
their room. I think it sets up bad habits. Two of my neighbors, whose
kids have been in daycare as infants and leave very early in the am
with their parents (and commute to a large city), have DVD players in
the car so that their kids are entertained for the commute.
Personally, I think it's important that children learn to rely on their
own resources rather than on movies, tv, etc. I also see them turn on
the tv for them to fall asleep, the two brothers (age 2 and 4) have
each had a tv with a dvd player in their rooms since birth. It's so
easy to use the tv/dvd as a babysitter and again, I think it can set up
the child for some bad habits.

My dd11 has wanted a tv in her room for several years, claiming that
"all of her friends have one" and as I've noticed...many of them do.
For my daughter and her somewhat addictive personality, I think it's a
disaster waiting to happen if I put one in her room.

MsLiz wrote:
newmama wrote:
Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch tv alot? My
baby is 9.5 mo old and he watches teletubbies alot. he doesnt acually
sit there and stre at the tv, but i put it on in his bedroom and he
just crawls around and climbs and plays while its on. is this a bad
thing to do? i play with him and spend time with him alot, i read to
him alot and sing to him.

Chelsy

I don't agree with babies/children/toddlers/tweens/teens having a tv in
their room. I think it sets up bad habits. Two of my neighbors, whose
kids have been in daycare as infants and leave very early in the am
with their parents (and commute to a large city), have DVD players in
the car so that their kids are entertained for the commute.
Personally, I think it's important that children learn to rely on their
own resources rather than on movies, tv, etc. I also see them turn on
the tv for them to fall asleep, the two brothers (age 2 and 4) have
each had a tv with a dvd player in their rooms since birth. It's so
easy to use the tv/dvd as a babysitter and again, I think it can set up
the child for some bad habits.

My dd11 has wanted a tv in her room for several years, claiming that
"all of her friends have one" and as I've noticed...many of them do.
For my daughter and her somewhat addictive personality, I think it's a
disaster waiting to happen if I put one in her room.




I do agree that TV is not a babysitter and thats what i am afraid that
I am using it for... He never watches it to go to sleep or anything
like that, but i just put movies on while he's playing...and he still
plays very well and doesnt really pay attention to it but sometimes
he will watch it...i guess the reason is so he can have something to
look at.....ugh i dont know.....thanks!

In article . com,
"newmama" wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch tv alot?

The AAP -- a levelheaded bunch -- recommends against it:
http://www.aap.org/family/tv1.htm
"Until more research is done about the effects of TV on very young
children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not recommend
television for children age 2 or younger."

Watching TV at a young age might lead to attention problems later in
childhood.
http://www.aap.org/pressroom/aappr-apr04mailing.htm
--
Sara
accompanied by TK, number two, due in April of 2006

In article . com,
"newmama" wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch tv alot? My
baby is 9.5 mo old and he watches teletubbies alot. he doesnt acually
sit there and stre at the tv, but i put it on in his bedroom and he
just crawls around and climbs and plays while its on. is this a bad
thing to do? i play with him and spend time with him alot, i read to
him alot and sing to him.

Chelsy


I don't know if "harmful" is the word I'd use.

However, I see no positive point to it, either. There is certainly no
benefit, and their MIGHT be harm.

And I agree with the other poster who said that kids shouldn't have TV's
in their rooms. As far as I'm concerned, TV's should be in public areas
of the house, and kids shouldn't have them in their rooms until they are
considerably older -- high school, at least.

Though we did get a small TVCR, and let the kids take that into their
rooms when they had company over and wanted to watch a movie that I
didn't want to share with them -- that wasn't until they were close to
their teens.

Since he doesn't really "watch", and since you have misgivings about it
anyway, I'd just take the TV set out of his room, and stop turning it on.
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"MsLiz" wrote in
oups.com:


newmama wrote:
Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch
tv alot? My baby is 9.5 mo old and he watches teletubbies
alot. he doesnt acually sit there and stre at the tv, but
i put it on in his bedroom and he just crawls around
and climbs and plays while its on. is this a bad thing to
do? i play with him and spend time with him alot, i read
to him alot and sing to him.

Chelsy

I don't agree with babies/children/toddlers/tweens/teens
having a tv in their room. I think it sets up bad habits.
Two of my neighbors, whose kids have been in daycare as
infants and leave very early in the am with their parents
(and commute to a large city), have DVD players in the car
so that their kids are entertained for the commute.

that's two *entirely* different things.
i don't like tv. i grew up with a tv in a time when there
weren't tvs in every home, nevermind every room. my parents
were judicious about which programs they chose to watch & i
think i became somewhat discriminating because of that.
tv was NEVER allowed on during meals either.

Boo watches some tv. he also has some DVDs & a DVD player
which is portable and used in the car when we travel to
relatives (7 hours on a good day). i think there's a limit of
how much self-amusement a toddler can come up with strapped in
a car seat. Boo watches the DVDs less now that he's 5, but the
trips were pure hell until we got the DVD player when he was
2.5.

Personally, I think it's important that children learn to
rely on their own resources rather than on movies, tv, etc.

what resources are available to a toddler tied down in the
back seat?

I also see them turn on the tv for them to fall asleep,
the two brothers (age 2 and 4) have each had a tv with a
dvd player in their rooms since birth. It's so easy to use
the tv/dvd as a babysitter and again, I think it can set up
the child for some bad habits.

that's true about the babysitting, but sometimes having that
option is not a bad thing. using the tv as a sitter is more a
parental bad habit though.
i'd never allow a tv in the bedroom. it's unnecessary & makes
it hard to control what the kid is watching. obviously not a
concern with a 9 month old, but it will be when the kid is 9
years.
lee
--
war is peace
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength
1984-George Orwell

newmama wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch tv alot? My
baby is 9.5 mo old and he watches teletubbies alot. he doesnt acually
sit there and stre at the tv, but i put it on in his bedroom and he
just crawls around and climbs and plays while its on. is this a bad
thing to do? i play with him and spend time with him alot, i read to
him alot and sing to him.

I've heard that it can cause problems learning to speak. When it is
background noise, it means that the kid doesn't get to hear the seperate
sounds of people talking to them, and hence it can delay speech. The
speech from the TV is not interactive in the same way as normal talking
to babies, and hence not really useful for younger children.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

In article ,
enigma wrote:

"MsLiz" wrote in
oups.com:


newmama wrote:
Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch
tv alot? My baby is 9.5 mo old and he watches teletubbies
alot. he doesnt acually sit there and stre at the tv, but
i put it on in his bedroom and he just crawls around
and climbs and plays while its on. is this a bad thing to
do? i play with him and spend time with him alot, i read
to him alot and sing to him.

Chelsy

I don't agree with babies/children/toddlers/tweens/teens
having a tv in their room. I think it sets up bad habits.
Two of my neighbors, whose kids have been in daycare as
infants and leave very early in the am with their parents
(and commute to a large city), have DVD players in the car
so that their kids are entertained for the commute.

that's two *entirely* different things.
i don't like tv. i grew up with a tv in a time when there
weren't tvs in every home, nevermind every room. my parents
were judicious about which programs they chose to watch & i
think i became somewhat discriminating because of that.
tv was NEVER allowed on during meals either.

Boo watches some tv. he also has some DVDs & a DVD player
which is portable and used in the car when we travel to
relatives (7 hours on a good day). i think there's a limit of
how much self-amusement a toddler can come up with strapped in
a car seat. Boo watches the DVDs less now that he's 5, but the
trips were pure hell until we got the DVD player when he was
2.5.

I tend to agree with this. I wish portable things like this had been
available when my kids were younger. We did our best to keep them
entertained in the car -- I played verbal games, we sang, we had
books-on-tape, plus a great collection of music that kids enjoyed, etc.

And we did some VERY long drives (we drove back and forth from Mass. to
northern Minn. every summer -- camping through the Ontario Provincial
Parks, which are wonderful).

But there were times when being in the car with the kids was just awful.
Two of them couldn't read in the car without getting sick (nor can I),
and I think if we'd been able to get a portable TV with a VCR that
worked in the car, there are things we might have done that we did not
do, just because we couldn't face another long car ride with kids who
were cranky.

TV and movies are not, inherently, bad things. Relying on them to
entertain kids ALL the time would not be good -- but for kids who hate
being in the car, and for long trips (which would include a daily
commute that was longish), I can't see the harm at all.

Heck, my sister, who watches VERY little TV (I'm not sure her son even
knows they HAVE a TV inside that cabinet -- they just don't watch TV at
home) rented a DVD player for a long plane trip. She said it was some
of the best money she ever spent. When you have to keep a toddler
immobile for many hours, DVD's are a GREAT invention!


Personally, I think it's important that children learn to
rely on their own resources rather than on movies, tv, etc.

what resources are available to a toddler tied down in the
back seat?

I also see them turn on the tv for them to fall asleep,
the two brothers (age 2 and 4) have each had a tv with a
dvd player in their rooms since birth. It's so easy to use
the tv/dvd as a babysitter and again, I think it can set up
the child for some bad habits.

that's true about the babysitting, but sometimes having that
option is not a bad thing. using the tv as a sitter is more a
parental bad habit though.
i'd never allow a tv in the bedroom. it's unnecessary & makes
it hard to control what the kid is watching. obviously not a
concern with a 9 month old, but it will be when the kid is 9
years.
lee
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

On 3 Dec 2005 04:48:30 -0800, "newmama"
wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch tv alot? My
baby is 9.5 mo old and he watches teletubbies alot. he doesnt acually
sit there and stre at the tv, but i put it on in his bedroom and he
just crawls around and climbs and plays while its on. is this a bad
thing to do? i play with him and spend time with him alot, i read to
him alot and sing to him.

Nah, I don't think it's a bad thing as long as he's getting
stimulation from other sources, and it sounds like you provide that
:-)

Nan

dragonlady wrote:

In article . com,
"newmama" wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it is harmful for babies to watch tv alot? My
baby is 9.5 mo old and he watches teletubbies alot. he doesnt acually
sit there and stre at the tv, but i put it on in his bedroom and he
just crawls around and climbs and plays while its on. is this a bad
thing to do? i play with him and spend time with him alot, i read to
him alot and sing to him.

Chelsy

If he's not actually watching it, you could probably put on a tape or
a record and not have the picture on with the same effect. It's kind
of like a background of white noise but visual.

The question of whether it is harmful to sit and actually watch a TV
is a slightly different question. People used to say that children
shouldn't sit in the W posture (because that had some bad effect) or
be too close to the TV (because of harmful radiation of some kind). I
don't know what current thinking about either of those things is.


I don't know if "harmful" is the word I'd use.

However, I see no positive point to it, either. There is certainly no
benefit, and their MIGHT be harm.

And I agree with the other poster who said that kids shouldn't have TV's
in their rooms. As far as I'm concerned, TV's should be in public areas
of the house, and kids shouldn't have them in their rooms until they are
considerably older -- high school, at least.

I have one set of grandchildren where each of them has a TV in their
rooms, and it is used for playing video tapes or for playing games
(the TVs are not connected to the cable and don't get current
programming). I thought that this wasn't a terrific idea, but it
doesn't seem to have hurt the children any - they don't really watch
much TV.

I would be less sanguine about the children having computers attached
to the internet in their own rooms. But I don't see any real harm in
a TV any more than a Gameboy or something like that unless you get
some X rated cable channels or something.

Though we did get a small TVCR, and let the kids take that into their
rooms when they had company over and wanted to watch a movie that I
didn't want to share with them -- that wasn't until they were close to
their teens.

Since he doesn't really "watch", and since you have misgivings about it
anyway, I'd just take the TV set out of his room, and stop turning it on.

grandma Rosalie