This week’s question came from one of our writers, Dee Harlow, who asked…
“What, if any, TV or video programming did you first introduce to your child(ren) and how old were they?”
Here are what some of our World Moms had to say…
Allison Charleston of New York, USA writes:
“Sesame Street when Chase was 13 months old – well really just the last 20 minutes of Sesame Street . . .Elmo’s World.”
Maggie Ellison of South Carolina, USA writes:
“We started watching, well actually listening to, Baby Neptune and Baby Galileo when my son was a baby. The music was so relaxing it just helped set a peaceful environment.”
Karyn Van Der Zwet of New Zealand writes:
“We had TV, etc. right from when our first boy was born. Then, about five years ago, we completely removed all electronic entertainment from the kids’ lives. We rank it as one of our top parenting decisions.”
Veronica Samuels of New Jersey, USA writes:
“I started introducing my daughter to Baby Signs, sign language for babies before they have the ability to talk, at 6 months old. At about 8 or 9 months, I introduced her to the Baby Signs DVDs. They really helped her learn more signs and helped us communicate together, so I took a chance and disregarded the advice about introducing TV at such a young age.”
Asta Burrows of Norway writes:
“We have had the telly on from time to time but he never really paid much attention to it (unless the Baywatch theme song is on, he loves to “dance” to that”) . But then one day, when he was 13 months old, he saw a Norwegian kids telly character called “Fantorangen” – a orange and pink mix between an elephant and an orangutang. And then he suddenly started pointing at the telly and was very interested!”
FireCrystals of India writes:
“My lad is more interested in TV ads which have kids (preferable babies) starring – so right now, his favourite are the ads for Pampers and Huggies. Another favourite is the ad for Red FM, an FM channel available in India. Even if he is about to go to sleep, the moment he hears the jingle for any of these ads, he jumps out of his cot, sits up straight and avidly watches the ad.”
DC Blogmama of Washington, DC, USA writes:
“I accidentally found this great classical poetry animation program on HBO called Classical Baby and this particular episode that we have saved to our DVR features animated recitations of poetry by Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein, William Shakespeare and others. The narrators are some of the actual poets and also actors like Susan Sarandon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Andy Garcia. It’s really sweet and makes me feel less guilty about letting our daughter watch “teebee”. I think we stumbled upon it when she was 16 months old. And she asks for it by saying “Baby”.
Prior to that, around 12 or 13 months we started showing her whatever Urdu children’s videos (2-5 minutes) we could find on YouTube. An early favorite was “Ek Bandar ne Kholi Dukaan” — “A Monkey Opened a Store” and other animals came to shop/visit.”
Kirsten Jessiman of Canada writes:
“Both of my kids loved the Baby Einstein series when they were babies. Some of the DVDs helped my older (autistic) son’s communication a lot!”
Kally Mocho of New Jersey, USA writes:
“I introduced my daughter to Baby Einstein when she was an infant. I didn’t introduce my son to television, but he discovered it on his own since he had an older sister who loved to watch it. My son is a big fan of Sesame Street and I approve.”
Eva Fannon of Washington State, USA writes:
“I don’t remember what age we introduced our first child to TV at, but it was around age one. When we did let her watch, it was only the PBS Sprout a channel with 24-7 pre-school programming (and perhaps an occasional National Hockey League game). I’ll never forget one night she woke up about 2 AM and was crying inconsolably. We diapered her, tried to feed her, rocked her and nothing seemed to calm her down. My husband then turned on PBS Sprout to find Boobah playing – which made her stop crying in an instant!
Now we don’t have cable TV, so anything she gets to watch is on DVD. It works out quite well for us because it’s easier to monitor what she watches and for how long. The other plus is that she doesn’t get exposed to commercials. Our youngest may see the TV on when her big sister watches, but up to now has not shown interest in it – she crawls right past it.”
Dee Harlow of Mexico writes:
“I really appreciate all of your responses, especially the global perspective. I feel pressure to not introduce TV until 2 years old which I believe is a very American thing, but am torn about the possible benefits of learning from certain programs. I will definitely look into some of your children’s favorites!”
What about other parents out there…what, if any, TV or video programming did you first introduce your child(ren) to and how old were they?
And do you have a question you would like to pose to our WMB writers? If so, email us at wmbsidebareditor@gmail.com to see what they have to say.
Come back on Sunday to check out next week’s travel itinerary!
– World Moms Blog
Photo credit to Asta Burrows.
I am really glad to hear that I am not the only who allows the wee lad to watch telly! There is a lot of pressure here as well that the telly should not be used as a “babysitter” etc, but I do think that having a balanced relationship with the telly is important, I mean we watch it, so why shouldn’t he? (And it also means that I have about 30 minutes every afternoon to get dinner!) I also got some great tips here, my wee lad loves music, so I have just ordered the Baby Einstein (as recommented by Kirsten) – Baby Mozart – so am hoping he will enjoy that 🙂
I love the picture of “Fantorangen”!
Veronica Samuels 🙂
I was very strict about it until my son turned 2, then he was allowed to watch Nick, Jr. — good, commercial free stuff. Since he goes to school full days, we let him watch these same cartoons in the evening for about 1-2 hours. He plays while its on.
His first movie that he was willing to watch was not a cartoon: Marley & Me. I have to confess he’s 3. He watches & loves: Terminator Salvation, Avatar, Transformers — thanks to his dad!!! I would have never allowed it but he likes aliens and robots so much. It’s not gory so I let him watch but I was certain I was going to parent prison for that!
I think it’s very good to keep t.v. to a minimum when they are young. I have been around “catatonic” children and the preschool teachers have said that many kids who start school immediately ask for the t.v. So sad!
Also, the teachers have noticed several two year olds who cannot finish a statement such as “I love my daddy because….” This is a new phenomenon. This implies a lack of back and forth conversation between children and parents. This why they think t.v. (and perhaps mobile gadgets) is why some kids are speaking later….they will all eventually catch up. I found that very interesting.
I also try to limit the viewing to “commercial free” TV but I’ve come to realize that while channels like PBS, Nick, Jr. and Sprout are technically “commercial free” the ENTIRE show is a commercial for all of the licensed merchandise. There is a full line of toys associated with EVERY show that we watch and, honestly, it kind of annoys me that we can’t go the store without being bombarded by toys based on characters from shows. I try to keep our purchases centered around books associated with the shows, but its not always easy!! I think that all of this merchandising targets kids as consumers which is just wrong. Maybe this is a good topic for a future blog post!! Thanks ladies, great discussion.
My kids only ever watched the last 20 minutes of Sesame Street, too! We have a house full of Barney and Thomas the Train. In the age of Netflix – we no longer watch actual TV. And our Dvd’s have been passed down one after the other. My oldest’s first ‘show’ was a VHS copy of the The Little Mermaid – she was about 8 months old and bounced in her bouncy to all the music. Real shows didn’t come until closer to 2.