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Before he turned two, Evan Craig only watched two hours of television – in his entire life.
“Even now, he’ll watch it,” his mom Jennifer says, “but he’s in-and-out.”
Of course Evan knows who Big Bird is – but what he doesn’t know is that Big Bird is in a big fight with pediatricians.
Sesame Street has just released a new line of DVDs for toddlers, but the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no television viewing for kids under the age of two.
“[It’s] such an important time in their lives for brain development; that there’s direct interaction with parents and caregivers for their cognitive, emotional, and social well-being and development – that we feel that TV viewing is not a necessary thing,” says Dr. Sara Goza, pediatrician and president of the AAP’s Georgia chapter.
But Sesame Street says these videos “offer age-appropriate content while entertaining, engaging and encouraging interaction between caregivers and their children.”
“Yes, they do encourage parents to be there and interact with their children while they’re doing it,” says Dr. Goza. “Will parents do that? No one knows.”
Will these videos help parents and kids interact with each other? Dr. Goza says the answer is not at all clear: “There’s no current science that shows that it’s good or that it’s educational or that any program is educational for children under that age.”
But there are studies that show that brain development is enhanced when parents read and play and spend time one-on-one with very young kids.
Dr. Daniel Siegel, a child psychiatrist, explains: “Having face-to-face communication-that actually is the best kind of nurturance for the child’s brain growth.”
And that’s exactly what Evan’s mom does. “I just wanted to have that time with him,” she says, “and not have someone else – or something else – do that for me. To me, the bigger picture is spending time with my son.”
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