Medically is it said that children under 2 should watch no TV and children above two should watch no more than 1-2 hours of TV. It is also strongly reiterated that TV should never be a replacement for other activities and some researches seem to indicate that children exposed to prolonged TV viewership tend to be more obese and aggressive. Yet while the recommendations may be ideal, many if not all persons find these recommendations hard to live by. In the same vein, some recommend that for young children, all viewership be limited to educational programmes.
So am I the only bad parent who occasionally leaves my lil one watching a cartoon (she loves the Chinese one named Kai-lan)so I can get a shower or do dishes without a clingy baby holding on to my feet? What do you do? Do you allow your children to watch TV? If so how much? Do you have bigger kids? How much TV do they watch? Is it affecting their behaviour and lifestyles? Obesity? Aggressiveness? Weigh in on the discussion and let us know.
Hey
my darling precious is only 1 year and 9 months old..but already completely hooked on "Thomas the tank engine" 'which i think it rather early indeed.so far i managed to allow him to stare at it for 1-2 hours a day and i still have lots of guilt ..although he doesn't watch it on TV its on the computer…still i tend to feel not very comfortable about it all but then again it seems like theres nothing much that can be done about it..any suggestions?
cheers
I too allow my little 8 month older to have occasional glances at the TV. She seems captivated sometimes. She just walks up and touches the screen, but then she goes right back to playing with her toys. I personally don't think she is overexposed to TV.. But I do try to keep it at a minimum.
I do not have children, but I did have a classmate that did not have a TV in her house until her children were school age and started talking about their friends with TVs. Even after she decided to get a TV they were limited to 1 hr per day.
Not sure how she did it, but she did.