Rescinding the Corvette offer.

[rivka]

This morning I turned on the TV to a cooking show while I was eating my breakfast.

Alex clapped for Rachael Ray. Okay, so she's been strangely interested in Rachael Ray for a while - but sheesh, so much for my unbelievable specialness. I still love her to pieces, but now she can just wait for Rachael to buy her a Corvette.

---

A brief digression about Alex and TV:

Yes, we know that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV at all before age two because of concerns about its effects on development. I am utterly unconvinced by the putative TV-ADHD connection, and beyond that, the primary concern about TV in babyhood is that it crowds out activities with a higher developmental payoff, such as playing, interacting with other people, and being active. That's definitely a valid concern, but it seems most relevant for families where the TV is always on and kids are planted in front of it for long periods of time. That doesn't describe our household.

That said, we try to limit Alex's TV exposure in sensible ways. We watch most of our TV when she's sleeping. If the TV's on when she's awake, we try to arrange ourselves and her toys so that she's not facing the screen. (Other things being equal, she prefers to face us.) We don't turn on any children's television; I also avoid anything violent or graphic and anything with a lot of quick cuts. That pretty much leaves televised baseball and poker, cooking shows, decorating shows, West Wing reruns, and the occasional documentary. And we usually watch things on TiVO, which means that we can skip the commercials. Mostly she ignores the TV... but she does seem to like watching 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray.

Comments

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

I really don't worry about quantity of TV at all, and never have. My experience is that our kids use it in very similar ways to the way I use books - it doesn't take long before they see something that stimulates a conversation or a game. If they're slumped in front of it for long periods with no interest in doing anything else, it's usually because they're too ill or tired to be doing anything else anyway, and I don't think that's inappropriate.

[ailbhe]

Ditto.

She almost never sees *us* watching TV, and what she does watch doesn't seem to cause her to sit vegetatively in front of it - unless she's tired or ill, in which case she's much more likely to fall asleep if she's sitting still than if she's romping actively. TV *is* a lot more passive for her than "reading" books, but then, it was for me, too - I never sat still to read until I started school and was taught to sit still on demand. Even then, at home, I watched TV while lying still on the floor - and read books while moving a lot, on the floor, in chairs, etc. I think it's because books can move with me.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

The average American kid apparently watches four hours of TV a day. Four hours!

My parents' strategy was to keep the TV in a location that was slightly outside of our normal traffic patterns. Then they let us watch as much as we wanted. The idea was that watching TV would have to be an intentional choice, rather than just a default here-it-is-in-front-of me activity.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

And for kids in the 2-5 range, Mister Rogers has reruns. :)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I am totally cool with Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street, once Alex is a little older than she is now.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

she thinks you ought to be a tv star. that's the ticket...

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

We've fallen into watching too much TV lately - and not even good TV (Sesame Street, which is only on in the AM), but rather Dragon Tales which is a pretty bad PBS Kids show that Casper adores. And we watch a lot of Pixar movies, and she is always begging for them. It's harder in the winter months - in the summer, that witching hour at 5:30 pm was spent at the park, but now it's dark and we're inside... That said, we don't watch it every day, and on days we do, TV time is an hour tops.

As a baby, Casper was not very interested in TV at all. I know a family whose infant was a pretty big fan of John Kerry, though - perked up whenever he came on screen during the election season!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I will use TV more when Alex is Casper's age. The nice thing about TiVO is that we can save episodes of Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers to be watched whenever.

30 Minute Meals is on during the "Mama's completely worn out" pre-bedtime hour, which is why she's seen it more than once.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

We had pretty much the same approach to TV when Liam was that age. We never watehed 30 Minute Meals, but Liam loooved Alton Brown's Good Eats.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

And there are people who say that genes aren't important. ;-)

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Initially I was militant about not having the TV on while Alexander was in the room, but I gradually relaxed. It was reassuring to see that he isn't interested in it at all, except when there's music involved. He loves music, be it Bach or Broadway or tv show theme songs. But his highchair never faces the TV.

Although the other morning the news was on, and they were featuring a dog that needs a family to adopt him, and he looked at the TV and said "Dog!"

[chiefted]

I don't know why my brain is working this
way right now but after reading the
top portion of the post (about Racheal Ray buying Alex a Corvette) I have "Loooord won't you buy me a Mercaaaaades Benz" stuck in my head.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

We do watch some TV when Elena's around, but I'm getting more aware of it as she gets older. Her favorite thing to watch seems to be the weatherman. If he's not on, sometimes she looks that direction, and sometimes not.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

When she was teeny tiny, I was willing to watch a lot more stuff in front of her - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, CSI, etc. Now I'm afraid she would actually notice the violence and gore.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Heh, this is a topic I've done a lot of reading on lately, along with the sleep stuff, so of course, I have opinions. :-)

My beef is with the parents who think that tv is a good thing, and the more their kids watch, the better off they are. Hogwash. I know a woman who thinks that her 4 month old will grow up to be very smart because she pops her in front of the history channel a couple of hours a day. Huh?

I'm also with you on the "children's television". I have a few issues with it. Again, like the history channel, Baby Einstein isn't going to make your kid smarter. Secondly, there's often a lot of background noise, and individual voices cannot be discerned. Thirdly, if they're cartoons, or their mouths are otherwise hidden, again the speech communication is difficult for babies to understand. Alex is probably learning a lot more from Rachael Ray, because she can see her mouth, than she would from that show with the jumping poofballs.

There's also a high percentage of children under 2 with tvs in their rooms. Whaaa? I think that's insane.

As a sidenote, I've been reading a lot about sleep, ADHD, and TV. There was one study that found a link between tv and ADHD. There are studies that have found a link between tv and lack of sleep. There are also studies that have shown a correlation between sleep deprivation and ADHD. Interesting, sez I.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Wow, I can't imagine plopping my infant in front of the History Channel, expecting her to learn all about Nazis and submarine warfare and so forth. How ridiculous - and how sad, that these moms think that TV can do a better job of educating their kids than they can.

I stay away from children's TV because it's specifically designed to catch and hold Alex's attention. I don't want her paying attention to TV at this age. And no WAY do I want her watching the commercials that go with children's TV.

There was one study that found a link between tv and ADHD.

Is that the big study that appeared in the journal Pediatrics last year? If you click on the words "utterly unconvinced" in the post above, you'll see my critical review of that study. If you're talking about something else, I'd love it if you could pass on a link or citation.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

There's also a high percentage of children under 2 with tvs in their rooms. Whaaa? I think that's insane.

Gah!

See, just when I think I'm doing a good job of being nonjudgmental about other people's parenting styles, I come across something like that. What the hell?

The Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study is another prime source of parenting OMGWTF. For example:

- Soda is being served to infants as young as seven months old.
- In any given day, one third of toddlers 19-24 months are not consuming a vegetable and nearly 20 percent are not consuming any fruit.
- French fries are the most commonly consumed vegetable for toddlers aged 15-24 months.
- By 19-24 months, most toddlers consumed sweets, desserts or salty snacks at least once a day.

[thette.livejournal.com]

During the ENT course, they told us never to diagnose a child with any kind of behavioural diagnosis (ADHD, and others) unless they have been evaluated for sleep deprivation. Many kids with large adenoids, who get sleep apnea, display similar behaviours, and are completely cured with surgery.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

It would be impossible to do everything you're "supposed" to and nothing you're not "supposed" to in raising a child. I'm quite confident you're not permanently harming her with Rachael Ray.

[erbie.livejournal.com]

My kid has loved Good Eats since she was teeny. I applaud her taste in TV.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I liked 30 Minute Meals at first myself. But that woman is waaay to perky. At the 3000th "How gorgeous is that!?" I turned it off and I still can't watch -- I try occasionally. Alton Brown is another basket of chocolate eggs though.

MKK

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Alton Brown is another basket of chocolate eggs though.

He's soooo dreamy. ;-)

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

As long as Alex doesn't start saying "EVOO" you should be fine : )

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It doesn't even save her any time! She always explains as soon as she says it! *bewildered shrug*

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

Okay, even if she's not clapping only for you, the clapping thing is Entirely Too Cute!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It really, really is. It's one of those completely unexpected, heartbreakingly happy parenting moments that makes any number of night wakings worthwhile.

McSweeney's

[cheshyre]

Sorry, but I just saw I Don't Know What the Big Deal About Having a Baby Is and laughed and thought of your post.

To excerpt:

[N]ew parents go on and on about how hard child care is. Everyone knows that kids love television and candy. Yet I've met parents who refuse to give a baby candy or let it watch TV, and then complain when it cries. Wouldn't you cry if someone took away your bourbon and cut your cable line just as Desperate Housewives was about to commence? What if Eva Longoria said something especially sassy and you missed it?

Heh.

[k2daisy.livejournal.com]

Here from a comment of therealjae, hope you don't mind!

My nephew, age 4, is also very taken with Rachael Ray, and after doing some research, it appears she is VERY popular with the pre-nursery-school set. We think it has to do with her mannerisms and personality; she's very bubbly and animated, with a big smile, expressive hands, and a clear voice. She comes across like a friendly, kind, young teacher -- and plenty of little kids develop crushes on them, too. ;-)

Rachael's been asked about it in interviews -- apparently toddlers go rushing up to her at book signings and the like -- and she's a little bewildered by the attention. But they're a big fanbase for her! She even put out a kid's cookbook this year; I got one for my nephew. Kinda lame, though.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We think it has to do with her mannerisms and personality; she's very bubbly and animated, with a big smile, expressive hands, and a clear voice.

That could explain why so many adults find her annoying, as well. ;-)

It's good to know it's not just Alex. That is funny, though! Nickelodeon should hire her away from the Food Network to host a children's show.