May 25, 2006

"At 1 year old, he was putting his own DVDs in, skipping scenes."

Your child is a genius. Be sure to tell everyone. I'm sure they won't take your statements the wrong way.

5 comments:

High Desert Wanderer said...

By one I could almost walk, and I drooled a lot. Now in my late 30s I walk well... The drooling I'm working on.

Freeman Hunt said...

When I was nine, my parents offered to buy me a computer if I would give up all television for one year. I did it, and I've been on the computer ever since.

Joan said...

Dick, I'm not sure where you read that anyone is advocating more tv for kids. The article talked about individual parents who let their kids watch tv, but they weren't cited as experts. More like, they were cited as idiots who don't know what the pediatric muckety-mucks think is best for kids, or they just don't care.

My (former) pediatrician once hassled me for the amount of TV my kids watch. I listened politely but kept right on doing what I'm doing, which is the best I can. My kids are active, healthy, and fun to be around. If they get more than 2 hours a day of screen-time, it's not going to kill them.

One thing I do is strictly control what they can watch (or play, on the computer). Most Disney Channel and Nick cartoons are banned (SpongeBob being the main exception. I love SpongeBob.) The typical "kids" show is one in which all parents and adults are idiots, and all the kids are disrespectful punks. I won't even get into how downright ugly a lot of animated series are these days. (My eyes, they bleed.) I noticed long ago many more attitude problems if my kids watched that crap... so now I don't let them watch it.

I've also noticed my oldest has a tendency to become abruptly hostile if he spends much more than half hour on the computer, so I try to limit his time playing the more action/adventure games appropriately. But I bless the computer daily because he can do his math drills (AAA Math) online, so the rest of us are spared having to do 15 minutes of flashcards every freakin' day. Bonus for me: he has to do his flashcards even on non-school days if he wants to use the computer for anything else.

KCFleming said...

The primary problem with excessive TV watching is the brain development it engenders. The decline in rational linear thought wrought by Friends and Oprah was well-discussed by Neil Postman in years past.

TV is for the most part junk food for the brain. Mental flabbiness is its most common effect. Does anyone truly believe otherwise?

Bruce Hayden said...

Part of the problem is that TV is an opiate. Parents, et al. use it to distract their kids so that they, the parents, can have lives. But then, it probably isn't any worse than video games.

I have just seen too many parents do just that, instead of working with the kids, one on one, they just pop a tape in the TV or put on a favorite show, to drug the kids for 20 minutes to a couple of hours.

To some extent, this ties into our ealier discussion about supervision. Back when I was growing up, we ran the neighborhood. The kids are no longer allowed to do that. So, what do you do to keep them occupied all day that they aren't in school (at whatever age you start them)?