|
recent posts
----------
Mother's Day Distraction
Class Class Classy
Going Home Again
When You Become the Obstacle
Windows to the Soul
Lessons
Scattered Tidbits (In the News)
What Does Looking Back Get You?
Go Not to the Toddlers for Counsel
Smarts
|
 |
You've got questions, she's got answers. Be among the first to read Elise Mac Adam's new etiquette guide.
Pre-order from:
- Simon & Schuster
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
The Tube and the Immature Brain
All spring there have been waves of back and forth reporting about the relative wisdom of exposing very young children (the two and under set) to lots of television. I find this an interesting problem not because of my own inclinations but because the urge to harness TV and make it work as an education devise seems especially urgent.
My kid doesn't watch TV. He was given a Baby Einstein DVD (Bach!) that I dutifully popped in a couple of times and since he barely glanced at it and the electronic classical tunes were unusually annoying, I shelved it, and never made the effort to screen other things for him. Selfishly, I'm not wildly interested in researching television programming for my toddler and will hold onto my curatorial cards until the day I can plop him in front of some Buster Keaton shorts.
But lots of toddlers do watch plenty of shows (Teletubbies, the Wiggles, Blue's Clues) and there are a couple of whole channels dedicated to preschool programming, Noggin (from Nickelodeon) and the satellite-only BabyFirst TV.
The controversy about toddler TV exposure seems to have been triggered by Sesame Beginnings, a new set of DVDs by the Sesame Street people for kids too young for Sesame Street. Adults are supposed to watch the show along with babies and interact with them.
Cynically, I wonder of course if the point of Sesame Beginnings is more about attaching more kids to the Sesame Street brand than anything else. There is also something a bit odd about creating a DVD system that little babies COULD watch unsupervised but putting it on the market with a set of unlikely-to-be-followed instructions that parents need to participate in this audio-visual experience. People are not used to interacting with programming.
And here I just have to say, that I have visited the Sesame Beginnings site, watched some clips and read all the mission statements. I have also looked at the BabyFirst TV website and read all of their literature. It's worth a glance, but it does feel like a bunch of marketing gobeldygook. It is all a little sinister to me, though I can't quite tell if my distaste comes from a certain mistrust of corporate-speak when applied to toddlers or if I'm just not getting the point of these shows. I just don't care for
What is interesting about this TV debate (written up in the Washington Post and in the New York Times) is how it taps the same anxieties that parents have when faced with horrible preschool admissions issues or playgroup scheduling. Who doesn't want to give kids advantages? Why not try to make your children as intelligent and receptive as possible? The TV is right there- how could it be wrong to show kids educational programs? Anxious parents are what every business needs to succeed.
What is the best thing to do? I don't have a plan, and happily don't need one because my kid doesn't like TV and I have yet to see a single frame of toddler programming that doesn't give me migraine aura and waves of inappropriate rage.
Is the jury really still out on this? I can't really see how some shows would be utterly corrupting, and everyone weighing in seems to hold such extreme opinions- yay TV and nay TV- that it is hard to trust anyone.
But I can tell you that my kid won't ever have an in-room television.
posted by Elise at 1:06 PM
........................................................
Elise said...
For those who can't get enough, Metafilter has a few more articles and mobs of opinions on the TV / Tot debate.
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/51748
5/21/2006 12:09 PM
........................................................
<< Home
........................................................
|
Elise said...