The more TV a toddler watches, the higher the likelihood they will do badly at school and have poor health at the age of 10, researchers warn.
The study of 1,300 children by Michigan and Montreal universities found negative effects on older children rose with every hour of toddler TV.
Performance at school was worse, while consumption of junk foods was higher.
UK experts said parents could allow young children to watch “some” high quality TV.
We didn’t have a TV set until I was seven and even then there were long periods where we lived in places where you couldn’t get TV, such were the circumstances. It was awful as you can imagine: we had to go out and run about, walk and swim, play games, listen to the radio, read books and even talk to one another, which required concentration and brain activity. I never got over it.
And when we did watch it, there was only one channel, and most of the time it had those boring adult shows on.
Shame on me, I watch too much TV and let my 2 yr old son watch what I am watching. Darn Yo Gabba Gabba…
Actually, we watch movies, Star Trek (we’re on DS9 right now), Wheel of Fortune (he loves repeating the letters called out) and the occasional children’s show like Sesame Street, Dinosaur Train, etc. My husband and I leave the gory, PG, and R rated stuff until after he goes to bed. At the daycare he attends part time he watches no TV, and gets plenty of chances to go outside and play although he enjoys fiddling with his daddy’s XBOX controller. We’re even *gasp* going camping for Mother’s Day weekend.
Everything in moderation. Correlation does not equal causation. Maybe the reason most of those kids do poorly in school is that their parents neglect them, using the TV as a babysitter. I on the other hand can find it to be a useful tool for education.