Inside Motherhood

TV: Boob tube? Built in Babysitter? Educational Tool? You decide

by Christina on January 6th, 2007

We don’t have a television. I say that with some pretense at superiority, but the dirty little secret in our house is Noggin.com

My kid’s a video game addict. I’m going to have to pull the plug. But that’s another post.

Part of me is fighting getting a television, because I’ll use the television to buy myself some quiet time. If we had a TV, i wouldn’t hook it up to the outside world, but still… I’d put in a movie and get something done while the Boob Tube babysat my son. Guilty as charged. We have some great DVD’s: Harry and the Dinosaurs are a favorite, as is Andy Pandy and the Muppets. I’d put in some Baby Einsteins or some Sesame Street, or perhaps some teach your toddler French DVD if we could afford them. At least the kid would be learning something while he got sucked in.

Commercial TV is insidious. It’s hard enough to get through the grocery store when we don’t watch television. Somehow, Sponge Bob has become a status symbol even among three year olds; not ever having watched the cartoon, my kid doesn’t know what he’s missing. Only somehow, he does.

There’s an interesting group out there called “Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood” whose website is full of information on how commercialization is affecting our children. Worth poking around. I’m not saying we have to throw our TV’s out the window (but oh how satisfying the crash), but we should be more aware of what marketing does to our kids — and to us.

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POSTED IN: Child health, Parenting, Sexuality