My Rant on Television for Children

Many disbelieve in television time, but modern times have hit and it becomes a great distraction for a child.  I didn't even know the plot-line of one show growing up because I didn't watch television often enough to follow them.  I did however love it when I did get to watch and I still love to sit and watch television.  I often find myself doing chores around the house while listening to a show I am familiar with.

Well, now that I have a child I have been spending my days watching cartoons since I was pregnant.  You may ask, "why since you were pregnant and not since my son was born?"  The reason is because I was screening which shows I thought were suitable for a child and which channels were going to be acceptable in my household.  Unfortunately, there aren't many channels that are suitable...at least according to my standards!  My little one is only allowed to watch 4 channels and 2 of them are only on from early morning until early mid-afternoon.  I agree with WVPT (PBS Kids), Disney Junior, Sprout, and Nick Jr.

PBS Kids is a great educational channel.  They have many reading shows that Noah loves and I enjoy them as well.  Unfortunately, this is one channel that ends mid-afternoon.  Sometimes we are lucky and he can watch after a nap, but often times we aren't.

Disney Junior is great, but also not on the entire day which limits his opportunities to watch to the morning.  I still haven't gotten a chance to watch all of the new shows on Disney Junior...so there may be one that needs to be turned off, but as of yet I believe all the shows to be appropriate for Noah to watch.

Sprout is also a good channel, but not quite as educational as the two above.  This and Nick Jr. are the two channels that run 24/7 so if we encounter an endless night of illness we may find something to calm him down on television.  Some of the shows on Sprout and Nick Jr. are inappropriate to me and get changed, but the majority are alright.

I like that these four channels have short shows and the breaks are educational as well; whereas other channels show commercials for toys and such.

Now, as for the rest of those cartoon channels....they are an absolute NO NO!  If Noah watches a channel other than the approved 4 he tends to copy whatever bad influence it is and it is extremely hard to curtail those new habits!  An example of a horrible show is Sponge Bob!  So many parents allow their little ones to watch this show, but when I examined it it was awful!  They show bad examples, non-educational, and beating on each other is surely NOT something I want my child learning!  There are plenty more examples out there, but that is one I hear of the most that other children Noah's age are watching and I think the values and morals must be all sorts of mixed up there!

I would love to let Noah watch those old time cartoons that I loved such as Tom & Jerry...but when I went into thoughts on what I wanted my own child to watch my opinion changed.  I think I am proud of my picky television decisions for Noah.  Of course he spent the majority of his first year watching Baby Einstein videos and he to this day LOVES those movies!  I love them and am so proud of Noah for learning a little bit of sign language through the Baby Einstein!

Now as for time spent watching television...LIMITATIONS ARE A MUST!!!  Reading, craft time, coloring time, free play, outdoor time...all important things too!