T.V. Toddlers

I hold my hands up with shame, I am guilty and there’s no amount of reasoning or explaining on my part. The parental crime committed is the occasional subjecting of my children to the world of T.V so that I can get a few minutes of respite to either write this column, cook the dinner or do some awful household chore. I do it out of necessity rather than choice. But as I do the research for this article, my heart sinks with what the experts say and what damage I might be doing, especially to the younger ones. According to the experts, children under the age of two should not be allowed to watch T.V since it impedes their mental growth and speech development. Watching hours of constant flashing images do not help to enhance a child’s mind, since they require a more intense mental stimulation at that age. Quite sadly, I do have to accept the fact that this is so. Copious amounts of T.V is bad for anyone, and fortunately my older children with the amount of school activity and homework, hardly have time for T.V, but the younger two , mostly as a distraction, do get left in front of the T.V, to the point that my four year old is quite an expert in flipping among channels. But the reality is harsh and here are some of the serious damages that you could be unknowingly exposing your toddler to:

Experts say that children under two should not be exposed to T.V at all. Mainly, because during the first twelve months of an infant’s life, the brain gets kick started into activation. You might think that by putting the child infront of the T.V with an educational program is beneficial, but according to the experts the constant flashing of images, educational or not, makes the child’s brain go into autopilot. When you read a book with your toddler, you are constantly asking them questions, getting their feedback, but with the T.V, it is only a one-way interaction, and children do not get into the habit of thinking.
If you have to resort to your child watching T.V, then try and sit with them when they do. Rather than spending several hours at the foot of the television, select one program to watch and whilst they are watching, either fold the laundry or check your e-mails etc, but sit with them and ask them questions now and again. Then they do not fall into the mindless loop of constantly changing images. This tends to affect their attention span and in the long run, this can affect them adversely.
Always choose kid friendly shows, and sometimes as adults we have got immune to a certain amount of violence we see on the T.V. But just because it’s on the family channel, that does not mean that all movies are suitable for all ages.

It’s best NOT to watch just T.V but rather a program. Afterwards you can follow up the program with some activity books or puzzles based on what your toddler has watched.
Statistics show that a parent talks about 940 words to a child, within an hour, but when the T.V is switched on, it is reduced to 770, and if you carry that forward for a number of hours, a toddler on the verge of talking gets exposed to less language and this tends to impede their speech.

Watching T.V can become a habit and all habits become addictive. Thus, breaking the endless hours of mindless T.V watching is another parenting hurdle to face. It might be best to not create problems for yourself by starting as you mean to go on. If the T.V has to be put on, ensure that it is only for an hour and possibly tuned to an interactive show that everyone can watch, otherwise strive to introduce activities such as drawing, colouring, playing with clay etc as part of your child’s afternoon routine. After all, in monetary terms we invest heavily in our children’s education and upbringing, why not invest our time and instead of letting them watch T.V, spend some time with them instead. Happy Thoughts!
 

Text by Mayuri Jayasinghe