Below is one of the article i read from the email i received from BabyCenter.com
The best way to handle how much television and video your toddler watches is to think of them as refined sugar: You want your child to enjoy this seductive stuff without consuming too much. So you’ll need to stay on top of the time your toddler spends in front of the television. The average American child watches three to four hours a day, despite recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics that children should watch no more than an hour or two a day, and that children under 2 should watch no television at all.
Starting out tough from day one is the key to keeping viewing time under control. It’s a lot easier to relax your standards later than it is to wean an 18-month-old from a three-times-a-day Dora or Blue’s Clues habit.
Here are tips on how to use television as a learning tool.
Limit the amount of TV your toddler watches
Since your child is under age 2, it’s best to keep TV-watching to a bare minimum. If you choose to allow some television, break it up into 15-minute increments. Much more than that, and your toddler’s brain can shift to autopilot.
Once your child hits 2, limit his total viewing time to an hour a day — even that amount is a lot for an active toddler. You should also keep the television out of your child’s bedroom and turned off during meal times.
Watch programs, not television
Rather than sitting down to watch whatever happens to be on, carefully select the program your toddler’s going to watch, and turn off the set when that program is over. Record programs ahead of time, if possible, so your child can watch what you want, when you want.
A two-minute warning that a show (or the segment of it that you’re letting your toddler watch) is about to end will help him transition to the next activity.
Choose calm, quiet programs
Slower-paced viewing gives your toddler time to think about what he’s watching and absorb the information. Lots of action and quickly changing images will only confuse him or make his eyes glaze over.
Some research suggests that children who watch violence on TV are more likely to display aggressive behavior. Stay away from scary shows, too. Instead, choose simple programs that emphasize interactivity. The best shows are those that inspire your child to makes sounds, say words, sing, and dance.
For specific program suggestions, talk to other parents in our community aboutTV for kids.
Watch with your toddler
A recent study looked at three groups: children with unlimited access to television, children with moderate access to television who watched without parents, and children with moderate access to television who watched with a parent.
The last group scored significantly higher academically than the other groups. Just being there says to your child, "What you do is important to me."
Of course, many of us have moments when we resort to using television or a video as a babysitter, but when you leave your child alone with the TV for a long time, you send a signal that you don’t care what he watches. If you can, bring a basket of laundry to sort or some other task into the room so you can work and watch. Then it becomes an activity the two of you can enjoy together.
Help your toddler watch with a critical eye
Explain what’s going on in the show, and encourage your child to ask questions and relate what’s happening in the show to his own life. If you’ve recorded the show or are watching a video or DVD, press the pause button as often as you need to so that you have ample time to discuss what’s going on.
If you’re watching a recorded TV show, you’ll probably want to fast-forward through the commercials. If you’re stuck watching commercials, help your toddler understand the difference between those and the show itself.
Extend the show’s content with activities or books
If you and your toddler have just finished watching a Sesame Street segment that introduces a number, talk about it later and find other examples to show him. When you’re setting the table, for example, you might say, "Hey, today’s number was three, and there are three places to set!" Then read and discuss a book that explores numbers concepts.
These recommendations were developed with the help of Kathleen Acord, project supervisor for KQED television’s "Ready to Learn," a national government-sponsored program that educates parents and childcare providers about how to use television as a learning tool.
So.. now you have an idea on what and how long you should let your toddler to watch TV? guess what… i think is kind of hard for me to follow this now… ever since… when arr… i can’t remember… i think when Daphne few months old already started watch Barney her nanny house… is understandable that most of the nanny will choose to let the toddler to watch tv program while taking care of them… cause will be easier for them to take care… so what i did is choose the correct or i should say better program for Daphne to watch… Besides Barney and Friends, Daphne did watch the cartoon name “Nody” as well… that animation is not bad… besides some good storyline animation they did teach some exercises too… and there’s when Daphne start her first few steps while watching it ^^ and she always like to dance together with the video… ^^ is cute… you will know what i mean when you see your own toddler do the same thing…
Guess what.. last night i just watched Sesame Street English with Daphne… that’s the program that i don’t really like while i’m a kid… I’m not sure why i don’t like it.. but what i remember is… i can learn quite a lot of things from there…. so Brandon and I choose that DVD for Daphne recently ^^… ok… what’s Daphne first impression when she see Tingo and other character in Sesame street? Surprisingly.. Tingo catches her attention… she will keep look at him and Niki when they are having the conversation… when other character came out… some will actually make her cry… not really cry lar.. just that she will show on her face that she don’t like that character… until a limit where she will take the remote control and try to off it or something… hahaha.. most of the time she will accidentally press on the “forward” button… i will say that’s purely a coincident…
This is the colorful Tingo i talk about
Still remember all these character that i saw last time when i was young.. but seriously i can’t remember their name
after watching the Sesame Street English with Daphne yesterday… i feel that the program is not bad… but i think should find a better one… hmm.. how to say… i feel that there’s some part of Sesame Street is not really good… like.. there’s a part where two of the bugs trying to argue where to put the table… until one of the bug actually make the other fall down –_-“ i was like… err.. Daphne you better don’t learn this… although the bug did say sorry to the other bug after that.. but still i think this is kind of wrong…
I think the next program i will buy for Daphne to watch will be the one i saw at Genting Speedy (of course i won’t go all the way to Genting to buy lar.. i’m sure other speedy outlet will have that kind of learning program as well). The one i saw at Speedy is kind of cool… they actually have a graph at the back of the DVD and telling us… the milestone of the baby.. what they should learn for each age… for example… for toddle between 1 year old to 2 years old should learn the number from 1-20, colors, shapes, and animals as well… as for toddler that is more than 2 years old they can start learning FRENCH.. (OMG… FRENCH… i don’t even know how to say the number in FRENCH) but i think will be cool if Daphne can learn that… then i can learn together with her as well.. hahaha.. ya.. time to get back to school
so i think i will get that DVD and watch together with Daphne… and will try applying those words that she learn from the DVD while she’s not watching… hope that will help… besides that.. maybe i will try look for the “High Five” program as well.. cause i heard from my friend that that program is not bad as well.. hmm… have you watched it before? how was it? do you have any other tv program to recommend as well?
Barney and Friends… this is the tv program that Daphne watched most… can feel that she kind of like it.. some times she even dance together with the tv program… but.. weird thing is… when she see the Barney toy that we bought… she don’t dare to touch it… or i should say she will keep a distance with him… (maybe she scare that Barney will become big like how he did in the tv show.. hehe)
this is the High Five program that my friend told me that is good.. hmmm
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April 21, 2010 @ 12:00 pm
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