TV

I haven't run into a lot of flack for my parenting choices so far... nursing in public, breastfeeding in general, working, daycare, not eating meat, even disposable diapering. A little comment here and there may sting, but usually by accident.

Interestingly, it looks like perhaps the hardest position to defend may turn out to be the no TV before age two rule. And it may be the hardest one to stick to as well, but we'll try. Luckily Mr. Ibis has heard the information on TV watching and backs me on this 100% - I think it would be impossible to enforce without his support. But most people don't understand. We mentioned it (I think Mr. I mentioned it) in passing while visiting my mother-in-law, and she was like, "well, what about Dora the Explorer? That's a very nice show!" It's not about the content. It's not like I'm debating whether or not to let him watch CSI. It's the TV watching itself.

Now, I'm not going to take pot shots at people who do let their babies & toddlers watch TV. I understand that we're taking on a challenge here and most people don't choose to take this one on. We have a slight advantage in that our TV is quite small and we don't watch it that much... when we brought Miles over to Grandma's he was totally mesmerized by their 50" flat screen!

Here's some information about why the AAP doesn't recommend TV for kids under two:

- too much TV may affect brain development

- time spent watching TV takes away from time playing and interacting with parents

- there are links between TV watching and attention problems, obesity, poor social skills, and aggression

- TV is addictive

- children confuse TV with reality

- children learn better from people than from TV, even educational TV

Those are good enough reasons for me. Mr. Ibis and I have observed our niece and nephew in front of the TV and they are completely sucked in whenever it's on, even if (especially if!) it's just showing commercials. They literally can't even hear you calling their names when they're in the zone. It's a little frightening almost. Now, certainly we'll allow Miles to watch TV eventually and he may be just as rapt a viewer, but there's no good reason to start early.

I know a lot of people use TV to entertain the kid briefly while they get things done, but I would rather Miles be playing with toys at those times. Since he's stopped napping before daycare (at the moment he IS napping as we wait for Mr. I to get home and take over) I have to get ready while he's awake - shower, put my lunch together, all that. I just wait until he's occupied with the toy bar over his bouncy chair or babbling to himself in the swing. He doesn't watch any TV at daycare and I'm happy he's learning to entertain himself in those ways. I figure if he's fine just chewing on his hands right now, there is no earthly reason to introduce television as an entertainment form that may not be beneficial.

The challenge is going to be watching OUR programs while he's awake. It's unlikely that we'll avoid that completely. But we try to watch things while he's otherwise occupied, keep him facing away from the TV (easy enough now, less so once he's mobile), and keep the volume down. Sometimes I even turn a DVD way down and put the subtitles on. Eventually I hope perhaps maybe maybe maybe he will be able to go to bed on his own and we can watch our shows then.