TV and toddlers that are now adults.

[Picklemuncher123]

I have a 21 month old . I play with him I Interact with him I read with him we laugh all of the time. He is well behaved albeit going through a bit of a rough stage of hitting..

I let him watch little baby bum nursery rhymes on TV a while in the morning and a while in the evening.

I understand that TV for kids under two is no good for development etc. But my boy learns alot from watching the rhymes and he interacts and dances to them. I'm not sure how it affects development , for example my sister is 10 years younger than me and was glued to the TV as a toddler. She got As in all gcses and all a levels.

Can anyone explain?

TV isn't necessarily harmful for kids - it just doesn't so them any good. Toddlers should be experiencing the actual real life physical world through play and new experiences. Watching it on a screen doesn't teach the same skills.

In terms of why your sister is so smart, some people just are. Nothing to do with television.

The book 'Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five' says that the brain is 50 percent genetics and 50 percent environment. So a person who is naturally smart will find it easier to be smart no matter the environment, other people will need more help in that area. The book says TV does not help because you learn better with experiences in the real world. If you taught your baby something in real life they would learn it quicker than if a person on the TV taught them. If you're really interested in the subject I'd recommend reading the book, it's great.

In my opinion though as long as your child does not lead a sedentary lifestyle and has lots of face-to-face interaction then a bit of TV is fine.

A bit of TV is fine for downtime. It’s not harmful, it just isn’t beneficial, so you need to consider what they would be doing if they weren’t watching. Playing with toys/scribbling etc are very beneficial to them. Learning to entertain themselves is very beneficial to them too. Sticking sharp objects into plug sockets isn’t .

Questions to ask yourself before you decide to cut down screen time:
Is he getting enough exercise during the day?
How is he sleeping? (Late evening TV can make it harder to settle)
Does he get enough face-to-face interaction with toddlers and adults?
Is he getting some time each day to work on his gross or fine motor control? E.g. doing some stickers for a few mins, scribbling with pens, mixing in a bowl, whatever.

If all of these are fine, then some TV is not a problem. Exposing children to music at a young age is great for brain development (both in terms of musical and mathematical skill) and if he’s dancing along even better. Obviously you need to carefully screen what he is exposed to (no adverts, no violence etc), but you sound like you are already doing this.

I’m grew up in the 70s. We had Sesame Street, The Electric Company, both of which had an educational element, Mr Rogers and Zoom. And of course the usual cartoons. I didn’t ‘learn’ anything from the cartoons. But I did learn from the other shows. They did alphabet and counting and also how
to treat your friends and how people could be different but still be your friend. Sure I was learning in school too, but I loved those shows. It reinforced what was going on and also introduced me to things I wouldn’t have experienced in real life.
I think what’s bad is watching hours and hours of it and always having it on in the background.