“Catastrophe !!!!” Noah understood how to turn on the TV. He even knows that he immediately has to go to the couch and seat like a grown up and he cries when I turn it off after 10 minutes of viewing.
WHYYYYYYYYY !!!! Aimann and I barely watch any TV, and especially not when he’s with us. We normally take the time to play and read to him.
I know that most parents were confronted to this and had to ask themselves if watching TV was actually bad for their babies.
Well, according to Time Health “TV exposure in babies younger than 2 doesn't do any good, Schmidt and Christakis agree. But does that mean a few minutes in front of the tube will sentence a baby to remedial classes for the rest of his life? "What I tell parents is 'Ask yourself why you're having your baby watch TV,' " says Christakis. "If you absolutely need a break to take a shower or make dinner, then the risks are quite low. But if you are doing it because you think it's actually good for your child's brain, then you need to rethink that, because there is no evidence of benefit and certainly a risk of harm at high viewing levels."If you want to stimulate your baby's brain, he says, try simply playing with him. In a recent study, Christakis showed that basic activities like playing with blocks with an 18-month-old can improve his language skills six months later.” (Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882560,00.html#ixzz1XSCB8XaI)
So in conclusion, 15 minutes of TV per day is not going to do any harm to your baby as long as he spends the rest of his day doing things that are way more productive and involves him to access his brain and creativity in a more interactive way.
We all know that watching TV is a passive activity, which comes the term “couch potato” which is to become a vegetable in front of the TV.
TV viewing can hence decrease a child’s creativity because it does not allow him to think or to create anything. However, we cannot exclude some positive aspect of some TV programming such as being expose to animals that our children would not have the chance to see, exotic places, distant lands…
What is important is that this activity is a family activity and that you make it interactive for your little one.
