Chapter 8: There goes the Brainstem
Without a doubt, researchers publish studies on the detrimental effects of television just to torture parents. They put one out about every year or so, warning us about our children's soon to be destroyed brainstems. The American Academy of Pediatrics even recommends that children under the age of two don't watch television . . . at all. That recommendation usually makes most parents chuckle and wonder if the person writing these recommendations has children.
In my “pre-parent” days, before I had kids and woke up to reality, I adopted the no television mantra. Many a book was consumed about the ability of television to make my child a complacent, uncreative zombie. I cited research studies on a daily basis to my TV-addicted husband.
“Television changes brain waves into a Delta state,” I would tell him. “That means it’s like you’re sleeping.” I would barely get a nod from him zoned out in front of the latest documentary.
When our tiny babe arrived, we still had the television. I wouldn’t even turn it on for fear that the baby would hear the violence and the commercials trying to exert an early influence on her. People recommending Sesame Street to me were met with cold stares. Content wasn’t the problem. It was the actual act itself. This no-TV philosophy lasted about 18 months.
Eighteen months is a lifetime in parenthood. A well-lived lifetime full of days when you think you’re just about to lose it. If I had to make another set of pudding finger paint or blow another bubble, I would have popped myself.
Sesame Street was the drug of choice. Safe, secure, edu-ca-tion-al, right? At first I watched with my daughter, happy to not be the primary entertainment. Then I began thinking about the value of one show’s
worth of time. Uninterrupted reading came to mind. Putting on make-up, getting out of my pajamas; all of these options were high on my list.
At first, we held television time down to one hour or less per day. Then we added one or two shows. My only consolation was that there was no violence to model in the programs my daughter watched. I would also quickly run out and buy the accompanying books, hoping to somehow counteract the effects on my child's delicate brainstem.
The final piece of evidence I needed for my philosophical flip came after my daughter started watching the more interactive shows such as Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer. These shows attempt to actively involve the child by asking them questions and pausing, waiting for their answers.
My child is definitely not in a deep sleep state when she shouts out “Map” in order to help Dora find her way over and across the icky, sticky, sand. There’s nothing zombie-ish about her when she gets up and waves her arms to help the birds fly over the tall trees.
The biggest problem I have with television these days is that my daughter pulls me out of the bedroom, half-dressed, in order to hop, hop, hop over dangerous ants. As for the researchers, where are the studies about interactive TV? I suspect they keep them hidden from parents. After all, they have to have some way to make us feel guilty. Dire warnings about television will suffice until the next study about the evils of fast food is published.
References:
http://www.aap.org/family/tv1.htm
”Until more research is done about the effects of TV on very young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not recommend television for children age 2 or younger. For older children, the Academy recommends no more than 1 to 2 hours per day of educational, nonviolent programs.”
Top Tip #8
It’s perfectly acceptable to lock yourself in your room if the kids are driving you crazy. In this day and age, people are aghast at any kind of retro-discipline, such as locking your kid in their room for misbehavior or putting them in the closet. So don’t do it. Apply it to yourself instead. Need a break? Freaking out? Losing it? ‘Fraid you’ll hurt someone? Lock yourself in your room. Or put on the t.v. . . . it won’t kill the baby! And put away that bad mama guilt – it’s truly unnecessary. We’re all human and staying calm 100% of the time is not just un-reasonable, un-doable, and unnecessary, it’s downright spooky!