Early Learning: Can Movies and TV Be Good for Babies and Toddlers?

What an important question! As a parent of an infant or toddler, you want to help your little one reach his or her potential. We know that language and social skills are very important for success in school and in life. And what better time to start than when your child is young?

First, the bad news, the really bad news. “Too much television viewing before the age of three has been shown to be associated with problems with attention control, aggressive behavior and poor cognitive development. Early television viewing has skyrocketed in recent years and is one of the leading problems in public health facing American children,” according to Frederick Zimmerman, a researcher at the University of Washington.

In this article, we’ll look at suggested links between screen time and lower vocabulary, ADHD, autism, and violent behavior. Then we’ll look at how you can use baby TV and movies to help your child learn.

LOW LANGUAGE SKILLS A University of Washington study shows that 40% of three-month-olds and 90% of two-year-olds regularly “watch” TV or movies. The researchers found that parents allowed their infants and toddlers to watch educational television, baby videos/DVDs, other children’s programming, and adult programming.

What can we learn from this study?

* “Most parents want what’s best for their children, and we found that many parents believe they are providing educational and brain-building opportunities by exposing their babies to 10 to 20 hours of television per week,” says researcher Andrew Meltzoff , developmental psychologist. .

* According to Frederick Zimmerman, lead author of the study, that’s a bad thing. “TV exposure takes time away from more developmentally appropriate activities, such as a parent or adult caregiver and infant engaging in free play with dolls, blocks, or cars…” he says.

* Babies ages 8 to 16 months who watched baby shows knew fewer words than those who didn’t.

“The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew,” says Dr. Dimitri Christakis. “These babies scored 10% lower on language skills than babies who had not seen these videos.”

* Meltzoff says that parents “instinctively adjust their speech, gaze, and social cues to support language acquisition,” obviously something no machine can do!

*Surprisingly, it made no difference whether the father watched with the baby or not!

Why did these babies learn more slowly? Dr. Vic Strasburger, a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, says, “Infants require face-to-face interaction to learn. They don’t get that interaction from watching TV or videos. In fact, watching it probably interferes with crucial wiring that is laid down in their brains during early development.”

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is characterized by problems with attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH et al.

“In contrast to the pace at which real life unfolds and is experienced by young children, television can show rapidly changing images, settings and events. It can be over-stimulating but extremely interesting,” say the researchers. “We found that early television exposure was associated with later attention problems.”

The researchers examined data from 1,278 children at the age of one year and 1,345 children at the age of three. They found that an extra hour of daily TV viewing at these ages translated into a 10 percent greater chance that the child would display ADHD behaviors by the age of seven.

AUTISM Autism is characterized by poor or no language skills, poor social skills, unusual repetitive behaviors, and obsessive interests. A Cornell University study found that higher rates of autism appeared to be related to higher rates of screen time.

The researchers hypothesize that “a small segment of the population is vulnerable to developing autism due to their underlying biology and that excessive television viewing or certain types of television in early childhood serve as a trigger for the condition.”

Commenting on this study in Slate, Gregg Easterbrook points out that autistic children have abnormal activity in the visual processing areas of their brains. Since these areas develop rapidly during a child’s first three years of life, he wonders if “excessive viewing of brightly colored, two-dimensional screen images” might cause problems. I find this comment very interesting, as it would apply to the entire spectrum, from “quality children’s programming” to adult material.

VIOLENT BEHAVIOR The National Association for the Education of Young Children has identified the following areas of concern about children who watch violence on television: * Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others. * They are more likely to behave aggressively or hurtfully toward others. * They may become more fearful of the world around them.

The American Psychological Association reports several studies in which some children watched a violent program and others watched a nonviolent one. Those in the first group were slower to intervene, either directly or by asking for help, when they saw younger children fighting or breaking toys after the show.

Now that we know the bad news…

Is it possible to use movies at all? I think it is. I think the key is to USE the show, not just SEE IT. Most people know that it’s great to read to babies, but no one would put a book in front of a baby and walk away, thinking it would do her some good!

Rock your baby or set the beat to classical music or nursery rhymes.

Be very, very selective about what your young child watches, and watch with them. Does the program show kindness, kindness, generosity…any value you want your little one to learn?

When he’s old enough to relate to pictures of people, animals, and toys, talk to him about what he’s seeing. “Look at the puppy. He is playing with the kitten. They are friends. Mommy is your friend.” “The little birds are hungry. They’re calling her mommy. She’s going to come back with some food.” “Oh no! The little lamb is lost. I wonder if the shepherd will find it.”

Make screen time a special—and very limited—time that you both share. Treat a movie for babies or toddlers the same way you treat a book, as another tool that provides you with themes for interaction with your little one.