Is it true that television is bad for children? Parents gaze at me hoping beyond hope that I will say… no, television is not bad for your baby. However, as an expert in the field of early childhood education, I know better and I recommend to parents to do better than sit their child in front of the television.
“Ohhhh but my baby loves to watch the animals and the pictures on the screen. She just giggles and gazes… nothing can interrupt her attention while watching the educational shows,” my friend says to me. My reactions, first horror, second a tongue-lashing because I think she should know better. She said it herself… “Nothing can interrupt her (the baby’s) attention while watching these ‘educational’ shows.” This is a huge part of the problem.
While babies, toddlers, preschoolers and older children are watching television they are passively engaged in learning. Some would argue television offers a natural way for a child to develop better listening skills. I would argue it is decreasing brain connections and overall use while also encouraging a child to use selective hearing. It is true, new studies are beginning to link ADHD with excessive exposure (a.k.a, addiction) to watching television.
There are plenty of other reasons not to let your younger kids watch a lot of TV though. Kids who watch too much TV are less likely to read well, and more likely to become overweight and display aggressive tendencies.
We often hear the phrase “learn by doing”. What does this mean? Some parents and teachers seem to think this means children spending hours “doing” worksheets. In addition, what have you ever learned from completing a worksheet? To “learn by doing” means the child is exhibiting “active learning” – engaging all of his senses and attention into discovering something new. When children listen to teachers lecturing or when they watch TV, we call this “passive learning”.
Story time can often turn into a passive activity for your child if you don’t work to keep your child alert while reading to him by asking him to questions like what do you think will happen next. Encourage your child to act out the stories you read and make up his own versions of the story. To make television more active, act out what you are watching together and ask many questions that go beyond the color or shape of something you see. Deep questioning like, “why is she crying?” Even if a child can’t talk yet, it is important to model higher-order questioning.
It is a wonderful new world we live in but very young children still need active stimulation to grow their brains so their brains will be ready to comprehend complex thought processes needed to read and do math when they enter kindergarten.
Posted by tracey bryant stuckey 
