Toddlers and TV: What parents should and should not do

The American Association of Pediatrics recently updated its recommendations for media consumption in children under two years old. The report came to the conclusion that television has no benefit for toddlers and is best avoided before the child’s third year, but it also acknowledged that this recommendation might be unrealistic for parents who think of television as an indispensable feature of modern life. It can be a difficult balancing act, but the issue becomes less thorny when we keep a few crucial points in mind. Is television bad for toddlers? The first thing that parents need to realize is that there is nothing wrong with letting your young child watch a little bit of television. Of course, it should be child-friendly programming, and it should be limited to a relatively small amount every day, but if you use your common sense on these points, you are not going to do any damage to your child. With that said, it is important to keep in mind that while a little child-friendly television is not harmful, it is also not beneficial. Toddlers are too young to be positively affected by TV shows, even those that are supposedly educational. Meanwhile, if you allow your child to get into the habit of watching multiple hours of television a day, this is a very significant chunk of time during which the child should rightly be interacting with the world and with those around her. Toddlers learn about the world by playing and exploring. When you take this away, there is a risk of slowing the child’s mental, physical, and social development. Setting limits Understanding that a moderate amount of child-friendly television is neither harmful nor beneficial for a toddler, it is up to each family to decide what sorts of limits to set. Many parents find television useful when they need to make dinner, do chores, or make phone calls, but they sharply limit screen time otherwise. Some use it every day, while others use it only when there is no other good alternative. But it is very easy to let things get out of hand. When a toddler develops favorite shows or becomes especially well behaved when the TV is on, parents might be tempted to permit more and more TV time. When we see our children taking delight in something, it is only natural to want to let them have more of it, which is why parents need to be conscious of their habits and resist the urge to permit more and more screen time. It might help to schedule a time of day during which television is permitted, and to have a zero-TV policy the rest of the time. For example, if there is a half-hour period in the late afternoon when you do chores, make dinner, or take care of other business, this might be a good time to allow a little bit of screen time so that your child is less likely to need to be picked up or try to wander off. But even if you do this, try to remember that no TV, if you can manage it, is always better than even a little TV. Other considerations Toddlers enjoy TV to varying degrees. Some tend to become immersed in it no matter what is on and tend to plant themselves in front of it. Others show no interest all. Still others may be interested for a few minutes at a time before going off to play while the TV runs in the background. How your child responds to TV will be important for determining your family’s habits. Also pay close attention to the content of the TV shows your child watches. Children’s television is much better than it used to be, and almost every show geared toward very young children has some sort of educational component. Many go the extra mile by encouraging children to dance around and be active. Try a few different programs to see what both you and your child can tolerate. Once you find a good program or two, buy a few seasons so you can play them any time and so your child will not be subjected to commercials. Finally, keep in mind that television does not replace an engaged parent. Children need supervision even when absorbed in a TV show. Of course, you can make this time of day safer by arranging the television so that it is in sight of your child’s safe play area, but in any case, toddlers require close supervision at all times. By Jamell Williams