I was beside myself after reading this diatribe about one family’s self-righteous, journey to a media free childhood. “Families Ditch TV” was an article I stumbled across when doing my daily search seeking a temperature check on things causing stress in my life and that of other moms. Today’s theme was how do my husband and I do a date night with friends and only one of us having a babysitter. This should be easy right? Pay the sitter a little more $$ and keep them all together at my house. All three kids are friends, the same age and get along great. Still, it’s three 5 year olds and one sitter and they’ve got to have tools. The main two being a bowl of popcorn and “Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.” Now, to my way of thinking, this is not only a great date night, but a great night of entertainment for the kids as well. Everybody wins, right?
Right, until I read about the Deen’s from Queens, New York who are obviously raising the next President of the United States or at the very least the next Martha Stewart. After all, at 3 she can read, color and help in the kitchen. And what’s amazing is that all this amazingly accelerated ability comes from the fact that she has had NO exposure to television. Now, there are all kinds of statistics I could quote to tell you how entirely inane it is to think that exposure to media makes your child have lower grades (ie: makes them stupid) or become incredibly obese (ie: fat.) No my friends, that is due to sugary snacks and a lack of engaging teachers to help children love learning. I find that parents who buy into the “Myth of the Perfect Mother” and father for that matter will never have a child who performs well–enough. They will always see the way they educate their child as giving them a leg up-not simply helping them learn. Imagine if a child is never good enough for you, think of how he will be made to think of himself?
I’m not saying that 2 hours or more a day, every day, of media isn’t going to affect your child in an adverse way—common sense would tell you that it would. But in my world we strive for a sense of balance. Nothing is completely off limits unless it’s unsafe but everything comes with boundaries and limitations. Maybe I’m clueless—am I killing their chances for Stanford with old episodes of “Sesame Street?” I know my friend Allison (class of ’95) would say, “I doubt it!”
Posted on June 17th, 2006 by Sam
Filed under: Uncategorized
Einstein and Mozart turned out okay and their parents didn’t have Baby Einstein and Baby Mozart for them. ; )
(if this hits you twice, it’s my network’s fault)
My opinion on TV and kids is that it’s mostly about moderation, education, and discussion. Without those three things, TV can be the beast people make it out to be. But then, that’s a parenting decision, non?
Moderation: however much or little works for your family and their needs, moods, etc. TV plays a role (minor) in obesity, but then, so do computers, and everything else we do on our butts.
Education: it has to be a mix of entertainment and learning, and done with the notion of things that help grow your head a bit. There *is* a difference between Barney and Spongebob. One is pure candy, and the other (much as I hate the big purple bastid) still tries to teach lessons.
Discussion: TV without discussion is kind of Satan, I think. If you’re not talking with your kids about what they’re seeing, showing them ways to engage and experience things they see on TV in a real-world application, perhaps mixing the lessons on the screen with life lessons, then it’s not especially useful, in my not nearly humble opinion.
I love your site. If I haven’t already begged you to get involved with my new project, Career Mom Radio, please reply to the email I provided and make yourself heard. I love your voice and want to add it to the mix of thoughtful, discerning people who are helping shape this audio program and website into something useful to busy moms.
–Chris…
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chris at careermomradio dot com (site launch soon!)
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