In a new study by Mendelsohn et al , researchers studied the TV behavior of 154 low-income mothers and their 6-month-old infants. 97% of the mothers reported that their infants watched TV every day. The researchers observed that the parents interacted with their children just 23% of the time that the TV was on.
As CMCH mentions in our guide to media and developmental stages, infants and toddlers need stimulation in three main ways, none of which are provided by television-watching: interacting with people, interacting with their physical environment, and solving open-ended problems.
poulsbo flowers
that’s pretty alarming.
K
My husband and I are both teachers and agree, however, how do I get my mother, who is watching our 6 month old for free during the day to limit or stop the amout fo t.v. she is exposing our son to? We actually didn’t have cable and she had it put in b/c she couldn’t stand being in a quiet house all day. She literally has the television on all day long! It really bothers us but we don’t know what to do. She gets very defensive when I bring it up and says that she raised me and I turned out fine.