No To TV!! (for the meantime anyways)

Faye, my cousin who's a preschool teacher, told us not to let Anika watch any TV. It's quite hard because we can see how much she enjoys watching Mickey Mouse in Playhouse Disney. Hindi ako mapakali kaya I researched it.  Here are some points that I learned:

1.) Children below 2 years old should not watch any television and children older than 2 shouldn't watch more than one to two hours a day. This is from the American Academy of Pediatrics or AAP.

2.) However, many DVDs are available in the stores such as "Baby Einstein". The creators of this series advice parents watch televisions with their children so that parents would be engaged with them and help them understand unfamiliar concepts. This is if they would allow their children to watch TV at all.

3.) Experts in this field associate excessive TV watching with variety of problems in children such as childhood obsity, ADHD and aggression.

I began thinking. If Anika would start watching TV from now on with Girlie, she will be able to watch some shows not suitable for babies like the news or action films. Bata pa ang baby magkakaalam na siya about killings, war and violence. I don't like! Without guidance, she will also might believe that monkey people are real (TV show NOAH which Girlie is so addicted to!). Or might make gaya how those girls make giling on a noontime show. Tatay will definitely have a heart attack! Worst, she might end up talking like Vice Ganda. Hay! I super don't like!

If we let her watch cartoons naman, hindi madedevelop masyado ang brain niya. I read of a study also that those babies who watch cartoons / TV often, make less words than those who don't. They skip some blah blah development in their brain. She needs also to practice her motor and other skills that they cannot get in TV watching. Skills that they learn from you playing and talking to them. The American Speech-Languange-Hearing Association recommends variety of cognitive development exercises for your babies such as:
           -eye contact
          -engaging in back and forth conversation
          -peek a boo games
          -reading to child

Also the article that I read was right. Babies spend half of the day sleeping. If they watch TV pa, you rob them of the parent-child interaction time which is very important to them. Remember, this is their development stage. As parents, we need to make sure our babies are guided in a way where all needed skills should be developed well. It's all for them really.

You can read more on why parents shouldn't let babies watch TV HERE.