TV and Toddlers

I think that some of the educational tv is okay, and my son sees a little bit of it. We have kept him away from most television, though, mostly because of my husband's wishes. I personally love to watch television and watch it with headphones while my son sleeps. The true problem with television for kids is when a parent or caregiver tries to use the tv as a babysitter and just plant the kids there indefinitely. That is wrong no matter the child's age. I think a little bit can be good, but be careful of the commercials. Commercials made for young children's programs are evil in my opinion!

TV can be an excellent educator to our children. They can learn a lot from the learning channels. Now a days what they show on the learning shows is the same thing a child will learn in school. I think TV time should be monitored of course. I always watch TV with my kids. I only get to watch my shows once they are in bed. SO when the TV is on, it's the learning station or some kind of cartoon. But my kids are active and we are always out and about moving around, so I don't see a problem with TV time during the time they are relaxing. They play hard all day, so a little TV calms them down. As long as I know what they are watching, I don't mind.

I let all three of my kids watch some TV.I mean I need to get stuff done around the house,and chasing 3 kids under the age of 6 is hard! I With my older 2 I try to let them watch educational stuff from time to time (my oldest some loves animal planet,and discovery kids)but often they choose to watch the mindless crap. I dont mind because they dont watch all the time. Now my 1 year old loves Barney,Baby genius songs and stuff with lots of music. He can now count to three. I dont think TV in moderation is a bad thing,I think its a lifesaver for some parents.

I let my daughter watch tv all the time and she will be 2 in July. Its not like she is sitting there glued to the tv. Every once in a while while she is playing she will look at it. When a song comes on she will dance to it so I don't see anything wrong with it. I don't understand how it can be so bad when they hear stuff they learn how to say things. My daughter is very smart and until I see that watching tv is becoming a problem I will let her watch it.

My new born loves the baby explorer dvds. I think it is ok as long as they are learning while doing it. I do not believe in just watching tv to watch at an age that young, but as long as they learing something hey why not?

I feel that toddlers can watch TV but they shouldnt watch too much of it because i have noticed that when i used to let my daughter watch alot of TV she would be so focused on what was on that she wouldnt pay attention to what i was telling her. I would have to repeat myself over & over but now i only let her watch TV for maybe 2 hours throughout the day and i noticed a big difference..me & her play more games and she doesnt need to watch those dam cartoons anymore becuz spongebob & jimmy nuetron dont teach her anything.

well it depends on the kind of station he watches. I believe education stations, like kiddies programmes are a must for him to see in through his learning phrase.

I do not see a problem with it at all either. As long as their day is not packed full of television programs and still consists of everything that they emotionally & physically need there is nothing wrong with it. There are quite a few programs out there that are nothing but educational and actually do a toddler good. All the above you mentioned are a few to mention. These programs teach morals, values, education such as colour, letters numbers.... A little bit of television will do a toddler good, as long as it is the appropiate show!!!!!

my kids have always watched TV basiclly because i liked to. when they got to the age of 1 i started to let them watch more of what they could watch then what i wanted to watch. now its all about Nick Jr, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel. of course i like the shows on cartoon network as well. I've always needed the TV on even if i wasn't paying much attention. i'm home all day and its sort of like background noise for me. if its not on, its way to quite sometimes.

I have a 15 month old, and he watches quite a bit of TV. The thing is, he's up dancing and moving around while he's watching, so I don't really think it hurts him. I'm also with him the whole time the TV is on, so I can talk to him about it, and monitor what he's watching. I've never just put him in front of the TV and left him alone. Sometimes I'm cleaning or something, but I'm always in the same room. Another thing is that he doesn't ever watch the entire program, except Between the Lions. I'm not sure why he is so interested in that one, since it's aimed at older kids, but he LOVES it. He gets up and dances and plays while it is on, though. But he is always paying attention. He's starting to recognize letters already. He loves to watch Wheel of Fortune with us in the evening, too. I really think that TV can be educational for your children, if you choose appropriately. I don't ever let my son watch shows that I don't think will be teaching him something.

I too feel the same friend. Once in a while if a toddler watches TV, it is ok. In fact they learn talking fast, understanding things and even make noises.

While I don't think it's going to harm the child if it's just an occasional thing, I also don't think it's good for the child either. I don't like that almost all programs aimed at children are little more than 1/2 hour commercials to buy the toys the show endorses. I also think it's better for a child to learn other ways to entertain themselves. My 6 month old granddaughter will spend 15 minutes examining her toes. I feel that's a more valuable way to spend 15 minutes (at her age) than watching Barney or Elmo.

I have a 5 year old and a 9 month old and both of my children watch tv. Both of my children watch tv shows like seasame street, blues clues and dora the explorer they learn so much. My 5 year old was 2 years old speaking spanish and talking in sign language all from watching tv.I was watching on tv the Today's show they said it was bad for toddlers to watch tv. I completely disagree.

unfortunately we are a tv family, both of us grew up in tv families, where we all even ate dinner and watched. BUT i try to get my 3 year old to watch things he will learn something positive from at least. but he likes star wars and he likes all disney type movies and pixar movies, it's entertainment really. but we wait to watch scary movies and such when he's asleep. or movies with a lot of cussing and such. a lot of times if i'm just watching something, he's bored and plays or reads anyway, so he's not glued to the tv constantly.

I don't think there is anything wrong with toddlers watching TV. After all, there are educational programs around like those you pointed out. They help them learn. ;-)

I don't see nothing wrong with toddlers watching tv especially the type of tv you expose your child to. Raising a toddler, especially when they learn to walk, kills most of your time. Mothers tend to learn the world of multitasking and by having your child watch tv while you get some chores done then more power to you.