The Smart Thing To Do

I was shocked when I read this article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette today, Study: 1 out of 5 kids under 2 has TV. The study was designed in consultation with media experts who were convened by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Texas Children's Digital Media Center. The results of the study were published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. You can read the entire article titled Digital Childhood: Electronic Media and Technology Use Among Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers.

So what was so shocking you ask? Try this on for size.

• One-fifth of infants and toddlers under age 2 have a TV in the bedrooms.
• 43% of 3 to 4 year-olds have TVs in the bedrooms.
• The most common reason that parents named for having a television in their child's bedroom was that it frees up other televisions in the house so that other family members can watch their own shows (cited by 54% of parents whose children have television in the bedroom). Other commonly cited reasons were that it keeps the child occupied so that the parent can do things around the house (38%), it helps the child fall asleep (30%).

Call me "old school" if you like, but TVs in bedrooms for infants and toddlers is over the top. And researchers agree. Previous studies have found that bedroom TVs are linked with childhood obesity, inactivity and low scores on reading and math tests. Research also suggests that extensive viewing before age 3 may cause attention problems later on.

A 2004 study from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that watching videos as a toddler may lead to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in later life. The lead researcher was Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, director of the Child Health Institute at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.

In the study of more than 2,000 children, Christakis found that for every hour watched at age one and age three, the children had almost a ten percent higher chance of developing attention problems that could be diagnosed as ADHD by age 7. A toddler watching three hours of infant television daily had nearly a 30 percent higher chance of having attention problems in school.

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has recommended that pediatricians advise parents to avoid television-viewing entirely for children who are younger than 2 years and to limit the viewing time of older children to no more than 2 hours a day. The AAP recommendation states that pediatricians should "discourage television-viewing for children younger than 2 years and encourage more interactive activities that will promote proper brain development, such as talking, playing, singing, and reading together." These guidelines also specify that television has no place in children's bedrooms.

So what's your pleasure? Do you want to lower your child's chances of attention problems, raise their IQ, and help them develop healthy habits of social interaction. Then turn off the TV, pick up a book, play a board game or talk as a family about your day. It's the smart thing to do!