Hubby and I have already decided that TV is not going to be something that our baby will be exposed to all that often. Sure, it may be on to give mom something to do while feeding, cleaning, etc., but she's never going to be plopped in front of it as a babysitter. Turns out this instinct is right on.
A study by the University of Washington came out today saying that for every hour per day that babies (8 - 16 mo.) were shown "educational" videos, they knew 6 to 8 fewer words than their peers. Yowch. We're going to read to our baby. All the time. Reading is good. Books are to be worshiped/respected. TV, not so much. It's amazing. This same group had a study last year that showed that by 3 months old, 40% of babies are regular TV watchers and that by age 2, 90% of babies were watching TV 2-3 hours per day. 2-3 hours! This is appalling. When the TV is on in our house, it's only going to be Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers and Reading Rainbow, but it certainly won't be for 2 or 3 hours.
Will we resort to Baby Einstein or Baby TV every once in a while? Probably. I'm certainly not a Saint. It's not going to be a daily thing, though. No way!
1 comment:
Ha ha - "window licker"!
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