The Great TV Debate

This is a topic I'm sort of mixed on. My generation was raised on tv, we were sort of the pioneers of Nicktoons and Disney during the day then Simpsons at night, and I have to admit I'm pretty addicted to tv. I have a nightly line up every night and before I was blessed with a DVR the thought of missing a tv show stressed me out. During the day I'm not really concerned with whats on and I struggle to keep it that way so it won't affect my work. I refuse to be the nanny that watches tv while the kids play because the parents are paying me to interact with their children.

Children's programming is a whole other ballgame. I am thoroughly impressed with the tv being produced for children these days because I can see the learning outcomes. In my classes where I learn to write lesson plans we break down activities into what we are teaching, for example, cleaning out a pumpkin is sensory exploration, fine motor muscle control, science, and cause and effect. Other activities that day may represent math, reading, cognitive, sequence, large motor...etc, so the day is educationally rounded. A lot of planning goes into executing this correctly. When I watch a show like Dora the Explorer, I can pick out things that really are educational in a subconscious way, like how they lay out their trip and repeat it several times (BRIDGE! GOOEY GEYSER! DORA'S HOUSE!) then revisit the sequence once they need to go to the next location. Other things like problem solving, the little games where the have to pick out whats big and whats small...all extremely beneficial to a child. Don't get me wrong, the map song grates my nerves like no tomorrow, but shows like Dora are engineered so perfectly it would be a shame not to expose a child to them. I don't condone hours of tv watching at all, but a half an hour show here and there can be an educational tool.

When I am with my 2 youngest kiddos (1 and 2) I break up the tv time so they're not couch potatoes. Our typical day is something like this:

8:00- Wake up/breakfast
8:30-9:00- TV/cuddle time
9:00-10:00- Nap for the baby and play time for the toddler
10:00-12:00- More play time, outside if possible
12:00-12:30- Lunch
12:30-1:30- TV and relaxing
1:30-3:30- Nap time (I'm really lucky...they actually sleep that long or later)
3:30-5:00- Walk around the block and play time
5:00-5:30- Dinner
5:30-6:30- Play time or TV if they're cranky

Usually after dinner they start getting really crabby and wanting their parents, I can relate, so I do whatever needs to be done to make that last hour a peaceful one. Sometimes they really want to be in their playroom and sometimes they just want to watch some tv. As long as it's age appropriate children's programming I have no problem with that and neither do their parents. At the MOST they would have 3 hours of broken up tv time a day. Being still for 3 hours really isn't a healthy behavior for young children, but a half hour or hour at a time can help them re-energize and learn to focus. In a classroom environment kids are expected to be still for that amount of time when they're in pre-k, so I would see that as a little bit of preparation.

Sometimes I like to keep the tv on while we're playing in another room, the sound of clear speaking and conversations can benefit a child's language development. You can essentially talk to a child all day but it would be difficult to not be repetitive. In my opinion having it as background noise on occasion is a good thing.