Its always funny to me that all the NEW parents who dont allow tv in their houses are the ones ON Tv and have grown up themselves with TV...

Exactly what is so BAD about TV?

Oh i love Jennifer--she's so funny...I love the comment "I want all the attention" how cute is that! LOL Oh and the TV thing--Violet isn't even two--what would she be watching on TV anyway...I mean really...

And i absolutely adore them and all the activities they always do...I mean that is what everyday families do--go to the grocery store, go to the library, go to the park...I love it! And Violet is a total ham so I can see her havin those terrible two moments but being a total sweetheart most of the time...I love it!

Just a regular family with an amazing little one! ADORE this family!

Preesi, a study was just released this week about the attention problems related to early TV viewing. And before that study came out, it was well-known anyway.

It's no surprise that so-called ADHD started running rampant with an increase in tube viewing and videogame playing, in the past 20-ish years. I don't blame Jen at all.

Side note for Jen, here's something no one tell you: It's not as much the Terrible Twos as it is the Terrible Threes!

My 18-month-old niece has been obsessed with Dora since she was about 10 months old. It was one of her first words (after Dog and Dadda I think). I'm not sure where she first saw it, but now anytime the TV is on she will hand you the remote and ask for Dora.

It's true! I'm not sure what little Violet would be watching on TV at this point. I can't remember that far back! But I know that when I was 5 or 6 I was watching "Doug," "Rugrats," "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego," and "Hey Dude!" It gave me a sense of culture and consciousness and community. Especially when I went to college and sat around watching those awful VHI 90's countdowns. Television can make you stupid, but it can also give you a context. Guide your baby! If she is destined to watch and comment on those countdowns, let her have something brilliant and intuitive to say!

Hopefully, it's just that she buys into that "babies need to be manipulating 3D objects" mentality, rather than become as extreme as Madonna.

I agree to that first idea to an extent, that little kids do need more exposure to the real world and interactions with people. However, the fear of ADHD is overhyped. It may not be as bad as some people think, as ADHD can bolster creativity and the impulsiveness makes you more apt to take risks. Here is a link on that whole idea:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7102727/site/newsweek/

Violet isn't even 2. She really doesn't need to be watching TV anyway...

Plus, I know she's spending most of her time playing and interacting with real people. Jen and Ben seem like great parents. I love them!

Jen seems like a great mom, love that family.

I don't understand how tv can "cause' ADHD when ADhD is on the autism spectrum. It's a disorder, not caused by what you watch. Early tv may cause attention problems, but this is very different and not a condition, just a behavioral/learning problem.

Personally, I find most of these studies flawed. In most houses, when a tv is used to babysit the kids, it means there is probably a lack of parental interaction. They can't possibly go into everybody's home and measure how much interaction vs tv there is. One house could watch an hour of tv and have no interaction and another house could watch an hour of tv and have an enormous amount of parental interaction. It can't be the same affect.

If you spend 95% of your day doing active play with your baby - reading to them, blocks, and singing - I don't really see the harm in a baby watching Dora or Blue's Clues for 30 minutes so you can have some time to do the dishes and have a break. They are obviously forming focus and attention habits by playing with you all day and I really don't think it will be undone by one Dora show. Just my opinion!

I just dont believe Tv causes ADHD.
I dont see how watching a relaxing episode of Animal Planet or Mythbusters can cause Physiological changes.

PSB? can you post a link about the ADHD/Autism link?

Personally I dont believe there is a SPECTRUM or an Umbrella. I believe all the parts of the Spectrum should be labled as individual disorders. Cause they arent similar in my opinion.

Honestly, there is NOTHING wrong with TV once in awhile!! If you monitor the shows and playb educational videos its not going to harm your child. And studies about ADD and TV...I doubt that is the complete cause of ADD. It may play a role in certain children, but an hour of TV a day for kids certainly wouldn't cause ADD. I am sure there are many factors in why a child has ADD.

I think its funny when actors dont allow their children to watch tv, whats up with that? I gotta admit my two yr old daughter has learned lots from programs such as Dora & Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Little Violet should get to see these things!

a couple of comments:

1. adhd is not on the spectrum. some have suggested a link, but the miniscule amounts of research that have been done between the two is weak and unconvincing to most of the medical population.
2. the spectrum is very real with certain features that are shared all around; it's the severity of those certain features that determines where you're on the spectrum and what approach parents and doctors should take.

signed, neurologist mom

For me, the TV issue is included in the 'everything in moderation' mantra. The study that came out this week says that too much TV viewing by young children can lead to attention problems - not watching it period. But that's just common sense. I don't think we needed a study to tell us that having children watching TV all day is bad.

Preesi

I think Jennifer seems to have better information than I do about ADHD. One of my parents is a child psychologist, specializing in ADHD, but I am not, so it's probably better to defer to the neurologist.

My point was just that ADHD is a disorder like OCD and cannot be "caused" by outside influences. You either have the genetic potential for it or you do not. If this were the not case, then the millions of children who watch tv would all have ADHD. I'm not saying that tv is good for kids, and maybe excessive tv can worsen the condition of a child with ADHD, but I do not believe that it can be the actual cause of it.

It cracks me up how every time a celebrity mother makes a comment about how her children don't watch television there are always a bunch of defensive parents in the comments section saying things like "It's ridiculous that this person makes their living through television and yet they won't let their kids watch it." or "there's nothing wrong with children watching television."

Jennifer has every right to decide what she thinks is best for her child. And if she feels that television is not best for Violet, then good for her for sticking to her guns. I can't believe that anyone would fault a mother for not doing something that the American Academy of Pediatrics has advised against anyway. It's not as if she's denying her child something that she needs. She's avoiding something that a child does not need anyway. And the fact that she made her living in television should have no bearing on her decision one way or the other. There are plenty of things that are okay for adults or even older kids that aren't good for young children. If she was an author who wrote romance novels would you be upset that she doesn't read those books to her child. If she was a lawyer would you be upset that she doesn't take her young child to court and let her watch the proceedings. She's not obligated to let her kid watch t.v. just because she made her living making a t.v. show for ADULTS.

I know that every child is different but my own son didn't even care about the TV at Violet's age. It just didn't interest him at all and I sure wasn't sad about that. He started watching sporadically when he was about three, and by six he was already *addicted* to all the kiddie programs out there just like most other children. Pokemon, Dragonball, Doug Funny, Recess, he had to watch every last cartoon series out there. But he much preferred watching them with others (me for example *lol*)and talking about the stuff, to just sitting there, watching all by himself.

I certainly don't think it's harmful for small children to watch TV as long as it's (more or less) age appropriate and in moderation, and there is someone with the child while it watches. But parking a kid in front of the telly for hours every day, like some do, only because they want some peace and quiet, sorry but I don't think that's a great way of parenting!

Im around autistic kids all the time and there are some that are very similar, but OTHERS IN MY OPINION, are not autistic at all but a totally different disorder.
My son is typical mild PDD, but his one sports friend isnt like him at all and IMO is not autistic at all. Not ONE criteria at all.

Kate...do you have children yet? The reason we get defensive is because the massive amount of guilt we get by relying on a little TV so we can take a shower. The reason we get annoyed with celebrities making these great choices for their kids SO VOCALLY is because we all can't afford the help they can. I'm a hands on mom, just like Jen (whom I adore by the way). But since I have to scrub my own toilet, putting my 2 year old in front of the TV is the only way to keep her from coming near me, the toilet, the brush, and the chemicals.

Mom's with those kinds of resources don't have to make those really difficult choices. And when they speak about it in the press, it just makes the rest of us (or at least me) feel worse about those choices. That's why we get defensive.

Brangelina allows TV and XBOX and Dora!

Amen Angela!

Backyardigans lasts just long enough for me to load the laundry and the dishes!

Jennifer is absolutly correct. I am not a neurologist, but I do have an Autism Specturm disorder (commonly called ASD for short), so believe me, I know plenty about it!

preesi- I agree that it is very obvious that BRAD and ANGELINA (I cannot stand the term Brangelina!) allow TV, considering that it has been mentioned in a few interviews. However, how do you know that they allow video games?

I wouldn't allow tv either if I had someone to clean the house for me so I could focus all of my attention on my little one!

Angela: Yes, I do have children. And I still don't understand why other mothers get so defensive. Particularly in light of the fact that Jennifer never said t.v. was bad for kids. All she said was her child doesn't watch television. She never said anything about what other mothers should do. And it is possible to raise a child without help and without the television. If you have choosen to go the route of letting your child watch t.v. for the purposes of cooking and cleaning then that is your choice, but it's not wrong to chose to not utlitize the t.v. at all in raising children. It's just a shame that you choose to alleviate your guilt by insulting mothers who have chosen another path.

funny how some people always blame cooking and cleaning for letting the tv babysit their kids, not trying to criticize anyone but it seems like a lame excuse. when do your kids go to bed? you could always scrub the toilet and have your shower or bath in the evening. like, do you sit at the pc browsing the net too while the tv babysits your kids? just curious.

Wow...my first online provocation. I just re-read my post and am quite confident that I did not insult any mother's choice. In fact, I complimented the no TV watching celebrities as making a "great choice for their kids." I am also happy to compliment you Kate for doing the same.

I was simply trying to explain one perspective on the matter, in a quite humbling way I thought. I'm not sure why it provoked such attacks from the following posters. Obviously it was interpreted in a different way then when it left my head. Raising children is hard enough, we moms need to stick together, not attack. Peace!!

Annonymous? I read an interview on her that said that Maddox has an XBox in one home that they have, but not in any others, so when they go to stay there, he appreciates it.

Francesca? Gosh! When are Mommies allowed to have ME time? PSB says you have to spend 95% of your day interacting with your kid! OMG no wonder Moms lose hair! EVERYONE, Moms, Dads and kids NEED alone time!

preesi? A baby of Violets age doesnt NEED alone time with the television set. Jennifer got that right!

M.D,? Read what Francesca wrote. She told another poster that after the children go to bed is when to scrub the toilet and do chores. Like WHEN do Mommies get ME time?

How do you teach a child that they arent the ONLY one in the world if you make them the only one in your world and neglect yourself?

@ Preesi

"Like WHEN do Mommies get ME time?"

I totally agree. When you become a mother you don't stop being a person and everyone needs some time to themselves.

I personally would go nuts if I got my son down for bed at 7.30-8pm and I jumped straight into the dishes/laundry/mopping/toilet scrubbing. My nights are my 'me' time. My husband works a lot of hours so we really only see him on weekends so nights are my ONLY 'me' time.

As far as TV, my son watches a kids show for a half hour each morning at 8.30am. By this time he's been up for about 2 hours, has had his breaksfatst and fruit snack and is dressed for the day. I use this half hour to have my breakfast, my shower and to be ready and refreshed for the day. I don't feel guilty about it at all. It works for me. I then use his 1-2 hour nap during the day to clean.

But seriously, am I the only one whose child (21 months) has the run of the house and grabs his toys to play in other rooms and explore? Do I interactively play with him? Sure but not 95% of my day. He's busy and boring mum just doesn't cut it some times :-)

I think it's great if mums find a way that works for them to balance everything. No one will do it the same way but do we have do get on our high horses and lay on the mummy guilt?

EVERYONE has to have ME time!
That wonderful alone time that helps you reset your equilibrium!

Honestly I WISH CBB had a forum, where we could debate and stuff.
I SOOOOO want to know what people here think about Ayelet Waldmans Essay of a few years ago, that kinda sorta touches on this topic...
Heres the Essay:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1374327/posts

Sarah's note: You're definitely welcome to talk about it as long as there is no name-calling and it's respectful. (i.e. No, 'YOU'RE WRONG!!!!!' but more 'I disagree because...')

We've thought about having a forum, but in keeping with the site, it would be moderated and that's not something we have time for right now. :(

Angela: I was speaking in general terms about all the mothers who get defensive just because someone makes another choice than they do. Instead of just figuring she does what works for her and I do what works for me, a lot of mother go on the attack and start trying to prove that the other person is wrong.

When I said interact with your kid 95% of the time you're with them, it was hyperbole, and I also didn't say the level of interaction. A lot of interaction is just being in the same room and your kid and having them watch how you behave and vice versa. I don't have a teaching degree and certainly not the energy to format some kind of curriculum for a one year old! I simply meant that if all you do is plant your kid in front of a tv, you've got problems, but a little tv in moderation, along with some focused play time is fine.

FWIW, my son is a LOT more verbal than a few kids his age who are not allowed to watch tv. Maybe it's a natural aptitude, but maybe these non-tv moms aren't always filling their kids' time with intelligent play? Just because you keep your kid away from tv, doesn't mean you're also feeding their mind. These things are mutually exclusive. You have to feed the mind and the tv stuff is up to you as a parent.