had just ordered book when saw this thread.
for some reason, amazon recommended it to me. Why? Because I've bought Angelina Ballerina videos from them (for ds, not me)
watching thread with interest. basically, i am not really a tv watcher and would happily get rid of it, however ds had no speech at 20 months. We introduced tv at this point for a number of reasons (basically me 7 mths pg and knackered-he does not sleep very much at all, and even then requires a parent with him at all times)-and his speech has improved really dramatically.
Also, he seems to really like ballet and dance and I find it hard to find live performances that are 2-year-old-friendly (we are in Cardiff-when we were at my parents in London a few weeks ago he saw a performance in Covent Garden and was entranced-he's still trying to copy the steps!)
But we are talking here of 20 minutes of Angelina or Teletubbies or BSL when its raining. No ads til he's old enough to deconstruct them! I HATE the idea of every member of the family sat in a different room, eyes glued to the box.
And I do not like the way ds behaves when watching his videos. His breathing DOES slow right down and he will not talk to me or his sister. Is this a bad effect or is it actually developing his concentration? I genuinely don't know.
On the other hand, I do yoga to get into a state like this-and I do find that when I am watching tv I actually switch off from what the tv is saying, and think my own thoughts. I would never just watch tv, I would be doing knitting or whatever.
But as I say, if it were up to me I'd ebay the telly , I hate it, especially the way it takes up a good square metre of our not huge house.