So Dr. Berman, the author of Superbaby, claims that all videos and TV of any sort are detrimental to kids and their development and recommends that we ban kids from watching them until they’re at least 3 years old. Agreed that plopping your toddler in front of “SpongeBob SquarePants” for hours every day may not be the best idea in the world, but I have to wonder if all videos, in limited doses, are necessarily bad for kids.
The hubby and I terminated our cable subscription, so C can’t watch the latest episode of “American Idol”, but we do have a couple of educational videos that we’ve let C watch since she was an infant, and I have to admit that the results have been impressive. We started off with the “Your Baby Can Read” series (http://www.yourbabycanread.com), and while they were working and C was starting to “read” — or at least recognize the words and what they signified — by 12 months, I found the production quality of the videos to be infuriatingly poor, and the word selections were oftentimes odd. The videos would drive me nuts, so I stopped putting them on for her. Having said that much, the supplementary materials — flash cards and books — are great, so maybe worth the investment anyway.
We were simultaneously letting her watch the Preschool Prep Company series, and the results were astounding. I like how methodical and well-thought out the videos are, and the cartoon graphics are simple, memorable, and adorable. If C knew her colors, shapes, letters, and numbers as a very young toddler, I give Preschool Prep most of the credit. Check out their website here:
I mean, am I creating a future ADHD candidate by letting C watch these videos? Who knows? But I figure that as long as I’m balancing the video-watching with real interactive playtime, it’s a risk worth taking. And besides, the dinner doesn’t cook itself.
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