An interesting study came out recently on the topic of TV viewing for under 2 year olds. Dimitri Christakis from the University of Washington reviewed 78 studies on infant TV viewing from the last 25 years along with new research and found that
- There is no evidence to show that children under 2 benefit developmentally from educational TV programs.
- TV for children under the age of 2 actually can stunt language acquisition and shorten attention spans.
The BC College of Poediatricians have been advising parents against TV since 2002 but the majority of parents still do allow their infants to watch TV. So what can parent’s do instead? Exposure to classical music has been found to be beneficial in young children so if you are looking to occupy your child for a few minutes try putting him in the crib with some Mozart playing.
TOO YOUNG FOR TV?