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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Is anyone planning on raising their kid...
... in a tv free household? It's something I've been thinking about lately. Several of my friends didn't have tv while they were growing up and are such creative, inspiring people that I wonder if there's a correlation between the two. (I should add the caveat that they had a tv, but used it only for the occasional rental movie.)
I'm not saying the rest of us tv kids aren't, but these people are especially resourceful, and I'm beginning to think it's because they had to distract themselves through other, more active means.
Thoughts?
Re: Is anyone planning on raising their kid...
Nope, not us. That's just too extreme. Everything in moderation.
SP started "watching" TV when he was about 3-months-old when we would have Classical Baby (the HBO series) on while he was in his swing. Now at 14-months, it's the only TV program that he'll actually sit and watch for the entire 25 minutes. I think it's a part of his soothing system at this point because it instantly calms him down (we have it TIVO-ed in our bedroom too and when he's teething or upset in the middle of the night, it gets him calm and back to sleep). I also bought the actual DVDs and use them for when we are out (i.e. when he gets his hair cut or we're flying and confined for a number of hours).
I know a couple families that are TV-free and frankly don't see any great improvement in their kids' development. In fact, I think it's back-firing with one family because when one of the kids, who is 7, goes to a friend's house, all he wants to do is watch TV. I think sometimes the more parents keep things away from their kid, the more the kid will want it - the same goes for sweets.
It also really depends on the kid. I had a TV in my bedroom since I was 8 but reading was my favorite hobby. I used the TV more like the radio, just something to have on in the background while I played. I'm also biased because I basicaly learned English watching Sesame Street (I came to the US when I was 6) so I don't see TV as this big evil thing.
Just the other night, John jokingly said, "I guess we'll have to get rid of our tv soon!" We won't actually do that but we do plan to cut back on our own tv time so that the baby isn't always stuck in front of the tv because of our bad habits. While I don't think that tv for kids is particularly harmful, I also don't think that tv for really young babies is a good idea.
Like Nicole said though, everything in moderation. Our friends don't allow their twin boys to play video games at home so whenever they go over to a friends' house with video games, that's the only thing they want to play with. When I was in elementary school, I had a Nintendo but could only play for half an hour each night.
One thing both John and I do have an issue with is how many young kids (under the age of 5) seem to have their own personal entertainment system now. We've seen kids with their own portable dvd players and PSPs. One of our nephews got his own portable dvd player when he was barely 5 years old. I mean, seriously, when did stuff like that become necessities for kids?
Growing up, we were only allowed to watch tv for 2 hours per week. We had to go through the tv guide on Saturdays and plan our weekly viewing (the only exception was we all watched the evening news together). TV was a treat, definately not a daily affair. I think it fostered a love of reading for me...winters are long in upstate NY with no tv! I also learned to read really early (2 1/2) but my mom read to us constantly (seriously, like 1/2 the day was spent reading to us), so who knows if the limited tv played a role in that or not.
We didn't let Marino watch tv at all until he was 14.5 months old. We hadn't really planned on it, but when he had those horrible 2nd degree burns, we started letting him watch tv as a distraction when we had to rebandage his hands twice a day. With tv he was calm; without it he fought us and it made the whole thing more painful for him. We also started letting him watch during his nebulizer treatments, which stopped those from being a battle. But now he is hooked! We've only let him watch 2 shows (Wonder Pets and Yo Gabba Gabba) but he is obsessed. He has at least one temper tantrum a day over me not turning on the tv when he asks. Its definately more of a struggle now that its cold outside (his asthma is triggered by the cold, so I can't even let him run around there just in short intervals, b/c its more trouble than its worth for his breathing). TV is an easy way to keep him entertained and happy so its a struggle for me to not give in!
Anyway, my 2 cents on the topic is that I think at least delaying tv watching has its benefits, since once they start watching, they really enjoy it and it becomes a battle. I can tell my 17 month old "all done tv" but its useless trying to explain why. In some ways I wish I held out longer, but we were in a tough situation and if I had to do it all over again, I'd probably do anything to keep him from screaming bloody murder at the sight of his burned hands.
Interesting! I'm just musing aloud here - I've been worried about my own tv consumption as of late (and I've been teaching my grade 8 students a media studies unit)! Heck, I still play video games, so even considering this would be a huge lifestyle change for me.
I guess I worry about things like how so much of children's cartoons seem to be tied into the toy market and the culture of instant gratification that goes along with all that marketing. And what benefit does watching tv provide a developing brain? (That's a genuine question, not a rhetorical one) Or, does it only offer entertainment? I don't want to sound like I'm downplaying the importance of the latter - especially when you've got a cranky child!
I think it's important to clarify that I'm not under the belief that kids won't watch tv at other people's houses - you can only control what goes on in your own house. It would be pretty pushy of me to try and control what happens in other people's, right?
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I hope we are able to limit our kids' tv time but I'm such a tv junkie! I think tv is okay and can actually be kind of educational, to a point. And video games are actually good for hand eye coordination. But there should definitely be a limit and I think I definitely want to make sure she likes reading and books as much as tv. We definitely won't put tvs in our kids' rooms - I didn't grow up with one, just a radio/cd player.
I agree with pp...everything in moderation.
I didn't have a TV until I went to college. We lived in a rural area and couldn't get reception without a massive, expensive dish, so we went without. We did watch movies at home, but no regular TV.
Honestly...I don't think it necessarily made me more resourceful or creative. It did instill a great love of reading in me, but I think there are other (less extreme) ways of doing that.
And this may sound odd, but in a way it actually made me feel like an outsider. I didn't have the same cultural references as other people my age - I didn't get what they were referring to when they would say catchphrases (I still have no idea what the big deal is with "What you talkin' bout, Willis?") or discuss ideas that came from watching a show. In many situations, I actually felt quite embarrassed and ignorant, even if that is silly considering it's just entertainment. I also really suck at the entertainment section of Trivial Pursuit lol.
Truthfully, I think it's a case of everything in moderation. I have no intention of letting our kids watch hours of TV every day, but I also don't intend on raising them the way I was. I don't see anything wrong with an hour or two of shows you've vetted for content - there are still many more hours in the day to fill with outdoor activities, reading, etc. This said, they also won't have TVs in their rooms - I see no use in that - and I'd like to delay introducing it until they're about 2 or so, if possible.
We'll limit TV time, but won't ban it. TV is fun and as long as the programming is appropriate, I think it's fine. However, we won't allow TVs in kids' bedrooms or overuse of electronic devices that enable kids to "tune out" to the world -- I absolutely can't stand seeing kids at dinner tables and family outings totally oblivious to anything other than their Ipods or video games.
As an undergrad, I did a lot of research on kids' learning from TV. Infants and toddlers can learn and repeat a surprising amount of the information they view on TV, although not nearly as well as they do when its presented live in 3D. That's not always a good thing, but there are a number of educational TV programs that do a lot of research on the effects of their programming (e.g., Sesame Street and some Nick Jr. stuff) before putting it on the air, so I'm more likely to choose those options when exposing my little ones.
We'd like to but with my mom living with us, it's just not feasible. She's got the boob tube on 24/7 (she likes it for "back ground noise"). We've started playing the cable radio stations on the TV and she's caught on to that and will at least do it in the mornings when we're home.
So, our compromise is that we'll not have Libby in the same room with the TV on...and have set up her nursery/DH's study in a way that we can all hang out in there, TV-free. When she is in the front room, we'll have the TV off. I don't want her watching TV at all until she's at least 2. And from there, in very strict moderation or just certain DVDs that we show her. And certainly never a TV in her room or personal video game thing or DVD player. And no DVD player in the car either. I can stand to see kids "plugged in and tuned out." My niece literally will throw a fit in the car if the DVD player is not on...even for a 10 minute ride to the grocery store. It's ridiculous.
I also grew up with kids who didn't watch much TV (their family had a TV/VCR and they did watch movies about once a week) and they were so brilliant and creative. But like Lisa noted, I don't want them to be so "out of the loop" when it comes to cultural references, etc. So as the kids get older we'll carve out some family TV time (knowing J it will be the Discovery and History channels, LOL!)
We plan to have lots of music playing in the house for the baby (mostly classical, but I am sure we'll have some jazz, world music, etc. on from time-to-time too) but really want to limit the TV viewing as much as possible.
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We keep Ben away from the TV anyway, since he's so young. It's recommended that there is no TV for any child under the age of two. We're following that rule, but we'll introduce it slowly when he's older. We have no excuse, since we live across the street from a park, literally fifteen steps away. I'm from the school of "play outside as much as you can" thinking. But when the weather gets crappy, playdates are always welcomed.