Parents are inundated with tips and tricks for raising their
children from the moment they tell someone a baby is coming. Everyone has
advice for everything from diapers to sleeping habits, clothing to toys. Nine
months into this pregnancy and I think I have heard it all! It’s hard to make
sense of it all and to learn what is marketing propaganda, what a study is
really saying, and whose advice can be trusted.
Take it one topic at a time. Today, its media and toddlers. Media
can be anything from television programs to videos/DVDs, web-based programming
to smartphone and tablet applications.
It will pay to look closely at media exposure and its
effects on your baby. These murky waters are clouded with false advertising
claims, muddled research and studies that never reach their intended audience. The
bottom-line is technology definitely won’t help you raise a genius and it may
very well stunt learning skills. According to the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP), there is no evidence anywhere that supports any positive
educational or developmental impacts gleaned from media exposure for children
under two years old (2011). Incidences of obesity, sleep problems, aggressive
behaviors and attention deficit disorders are dramatically increased in
school-aged children who had a higher rate of exposure to media when they were
under two (Nunez-Smith, 2008).
This can be confusing as many products are marketed as
educational for children in this age group. Baby
Einstein and Brainy Baby are two
companies that have perpetuated these ideas. Disney came under fire in 2007 and
2009 when it was discovered, not only are the videos and DVDs sold NOT helpful,
they can actually harm the tiny viewers. "The more videos they watched, the
fewer words they knew," said Dr. Dmitri Christakis, director of the Center
for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Hospital. "These
babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not
watched these videos" (Park, 2007).
In fact, according to Christakis’ study, for every hour per
day spent watching baby DVDs, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary
words than babies who had never watched the videos. More often than not,
parents reported using technology to distract their children while they
addressed other needs of their household. These products had the strongest negative
effect on babies eight to 16 months old which is the age when language skills
are starting to develop (Park, 2007). This didn’t go unnoticed by consumers and
the general public. The New York Times released an article stating that after
being threatened with a class action lawsuit, Disney was forced to remove
“educational” from advertisements and packaging (Lewin, 2009). They went as far
as to offer refunds to those who purchased under false pretenses.
The way children learn changes dramatically once they hit
two years old. There is recorded and research-backed proof that certain
programs for children over two can improve social and language skills as well
as school readiness. However, limiting exposure before to any kind of screen
use will help your child. Even long-term successful shows like Sesame Street
have been shown to have a negative effect on language skills for kids under two
(Linebarger, 2005). It’s important to remember that not all language heard by
infants is created equal. Big Bird singing the ABC’s or Barney talking about
colors does not help a child learn nearly as much as when they are recited by
Mom or Dad.
Apps for smartphones and iPads require a little more
oversight as they are still too new for long-term research. The Apple store
lists over 700 apps for children up to two years of age, but can they really be
beneficial? The AAP is concerned because the time spent interacting with a
tablet, is time spent removed from the three-dimensional world we live in (van
Gilder Cooke, 2011). It stands to reason that watching a show on a tablet has
the same results as watching television. But some games and the assertion that
they can increase fine-motor or even language skills are still debatable.
“Surely we would not want that to substitute for actually getting blocks and
building something,” Dr. Christakis said. “This is not how the real world
works, and babies do need to learn how the real world works.”
No one is saying that mild exposure to television or a
computer screen is going to cause your child to lag behind other classmates. It
is just critical to be mindful of what your child is tuning in to. It’s
important to participate with your child if they are engaging media. Talk to
them about what they are watching or playing with so multi-tasking and language
skills can expand. Solo, unstructured play time for your little one is always
better than unsupervised technology use.
Limit or set concrete rules and timelines regarding media
use. As always, if there are any major concerns, have a discussion with your
pediatrician. “We know parents can’t be with their children 24/7,” said Tanya
Altmann, a pediatrician and author of the best-selling parenting book Mommy Calls. “But don’t forget that when
we were kids, our moms would just give us toys to play with on the ground and
say, ‘Play.’ Just give them some time to explore occasionally on their own.
They don’t have to have external stimulation every second of the day.”
Sources
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2011). “Media use by
children younger than 2 years.” Pediatrics.
Lewin, T. “No Einstein in your crib? Get a refund.” The New York Times. New York. Retreived
from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/education/24baby.html?_r=0
Linebarger, DL and Walker, D. (2005). “Infants and toddlers
television viewing and language outcomes.” American
Behavioral Sciences. Vol 45 (5).
Nunez-Smith, M. (2008). “Media and child adolescent health:
a systematic review.” Common Sense Media.
Washington, DC.
Park, A. (2007). “Baby Einsteins: Not So Smart After All.” Time. New York. Retrieved from:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650352,00.html#ixzz2JVFoOrLG
Van Gilder Cooke, S. (2011). “Should Your 2-Year-Old Be
Using an iPad?” Time. New York.
Retrieved from:
http://healthland.time.com/2011/10/20/no-screen-time-for-2-year-olds-do-ipad-apps-count/#ixzz2JVjS0MWP
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