Everyone knows a 'My children don't watch TV' parent, or have heard a parent wax lyrical about the damage it does to grey matter and a childs development. I remember listening to a group of mothers at a Mother & Toddler group discussing this subject and being a bit intimidated by how militant they were. I did secretly wonder how many of them were fibbing on the subject though. Their discussion got quite competitive about just how little television their budding geniuses actually got to watch. I really wanted one of 'Militant Mums' kiddies to stand up and start singing the theme tune to Bob the Builder or, even better, utter a swear word!
HRH, from about 9 months, developed an strong attachment to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and included Little Einstein's in his collection at about 18 months old. At 27 months old it was time for a change, if only for my sanity. It is not a good sign that I sing 'Oh yes oh yes its springtime' to the tune of one of Beethoven's greatest works.
Enter Special Agent Oso. Initially we loved him for not being Micky Mouse or Little Einstein's but we have been discovering other reasons over the last few weeks.
Agent Oso is a cute bear who helps children solve problems. These problems are broken down into 'three special steps' and include issues such as tidying a bedroom, going to the library, making a jigsaw, preparing food, packing for holidays, brushing teeth and lots more. Social stories! At a later stage I can choose episodes relevant to HRHs learning programme.
HRH may or may not be ready for the social story aspect just yet, but he loves the singing and the bright colours. This DVD is his current reinforcer and it works very well for us. This is the bit where I am supposed to explain that I maintain strict control over the length of time he watches the DVD, but no, I cannot. We watch the DVD together while I am feeding Her Cuteness because that takes two hands and HRH invariably wants both of them, urgently, every time I get a spoon of food near her mouth.
Agent Oso to the rescue. I sit with HRH, naming colours and objects, using the program as a tool to help develop his language and words. Well, mostly I do that, sometimes I just put it on and hide so that I can have a cup of coffee in peace. But I aim to do the 'learning words' approach every time.
Recently The Royal Advisor was using flashcards to probe HRHs 'words'. She initially produced the ones she knew he would recognise and then started on a second group that it was unlikely he would be able to recognise. One of them was a strawberry, horrible things that never enter our house because I am allergic to them. Both The Advisor and I were surprised when he got it right, until I remembered there is an episode of Agent Oso where he has to pick the strawberries, wash them and prepare them for a meal. Aha!
Out of 10 flashcards that HRH probably wouldn't know he got 7 correct, items such as clock, newspaper, watch and torch. These are items that I know I have not been showing him around the house because we don't use them regularly enough, but Agent Oso does.
I feel vindicated now and if I ever go back to that Mother & Toddler group I won't need to feel intimidated. I have proof that TV, used correctly, can be a useful learning tool.
As Agent Oso says 'Its all part of the plan...................more or less!'
For those of you with older children, 5, 6 or 7 years of age, Firstborn is 7 and loves Agent Oso too.
Are there any other TV programmes that would be of similar benefit?
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25 comments:
hi Jen
i used to cringe and i still do when this converstion arises among mothers!! my older boys learned all about life from Barney, and they didn't want to know the same info from us. the second one loved telltubbies and lets face it there wasn't much to be learned from them. The youngest one who has autism also learns from t.v but has a strange fascination with horror, it doesn't scare him, and he has learned that all on T.V, isn't necessarily real so thats good isn't it?? Anyway i find it amazing the way my three kids are all really visual learners, its an interesting subject xxx
I got my father in law to bring back Baby Einstein DVDs back from the States. Noelie and Marie love them. One is all about languages and another one is 'teaching' them sign language. It can't be bad, can it? And, let's face it, everybody lets their children watch TV and they probably all know the words to the songs too. Isn't it time we let the truth come out? We ALL do it. X
Right, I'm on to social services straight away!!!lol!!! Button was never interested in programmes, but absolutely loves ads!! Especially ones for insurance companies! Go figure!! xx
oh Jen I could have written that post - Ava loves learning and following Oso but in particular Barney, the wiggles, cbeebies etc... but the best we have found, which Kai adores also is Super Whys - they both love it and Ava does all the things they ask the 'audience' to do.
I find like HRH, that Ava knows things I don't know she knows until flash cards or similar are produced - they know alot more than we think!!!
Monkeys
ive never heard of him, but i shall be looking out for him
oh dear, id hate that group to come to my house and see luca right up at the telly banging it and eeeeeing and ahhhhing to it NON STOP lol
im such a terrible mother LOL
hate that programme lol. alex loves him. and i wud put money on most of them mothers lying!
id go insane if it wasnt for our tv!
thrilled its helped ur little fella so much. thats great progress
You drink coffee while your child watches telly!!! I'm appalled!!!
Like the gals above,only for telly I'd be at the bottom of a lake by now (a lake of gin, that is, with a nice slice of lemon floating on it).
I recommend Maisie Mouse to EVERYONE!!! Simple colours, slow movement and lots of repetition. The ABC dvd is especially good.
I must check out the little einsteins...i seem to recall being frightened by the cost of them .
Great blog m'darling....now get back to yer coffee XXX
I have to laugh at the 'perfect mothers' with their 'perfect children' and their 'perfect life'. Id love to be a fly on the wasll (or the TV) when they go home. Id say the majority use the TV as much as we do.
Now I must remember to knock our TV off tonight, and give it a well meaning break, before it melts....lol
Sounds like yours are getting lots of learning from tv ...keep up the great parenting :)
Yes, I too am a t.v. mother-I proclaim it loudly!
I can sing every song from Sesame street, Blues Clues, Dora the explorer, Max and Ruby..you name it. I believe that it is a talent. I am looking for a way in which to use it to find gainful employment.I was thinking of a Vegas act-a kind of burlesque teletubbies...after having a few drinks (which childrens programming causes one to do) it seems like a wonderful idea.. :)
btw...I do believe that my oldest has learned everything from reading to science and math from television...he just goes to school for show.
There's definitely nothing wrong with the telly. Kids loves it so why deprive them of something they enjoy. I do know parents (of neurotypical children) who don't have a telly, and one family who do have one but are very VERY strict as to how much telly their kids watch. But you can tell that the kids are dying to watch a DVD, and when they've been here, guess what they always want to do.
CJ xx
Couldn't agree more..since Ben became interested in the TV his language and vocabulary have multiplied a thousand fold!!! HUMF is his favourite and excellent for social stories; Humf has a hair cut, Humf and the cinema, Humf gets lost, Humf and the Restaurant....brilliant! Dora the Explorer is great for developing pragmatic language too. Ben will not answer me when I speak to him or ask a question, but he has started to answer Dora (you've gotta start somewhere). Great post and they're all liars :-)
My first born learned sign language from the Signing Times DVDs. She knew well over 200 hundred signs and could form short sentences and communicate all her needs until she learned to talk at two.
I think TV can be used as a great tool. But I'm careful to not let my kids sit and watch for too long because I find they can get cranky after too much TV.
The NSLM has moved through a series of favourites - Tweenies - life used to be all according to Jake, then we had Barney, then Max & Ruby and for the last year everything is according to Mr Bean!
We were sitting in a restuarant in Paris last year and the NSLM started to put his food into the handbag of the lady sitting beside us - just as Mr Bean does in Mr Bean's Holiday! Thankfullyl her daughter who spotted him knew about Mr Bean and laughed as she told her Mum! They were Italians and then the Germans at the table on the other side of us - clapped as they realised what was happening and exclaimed 'Mr Bean' too! Me, I just wanted to crawl under the table but Mr Bean is universal it seems and the NSLM had learnt what to do with food he doesn't like! Clive wasn't with us to eat it up!!
just to add, humf is loved in this house for social stories too. and i can tolerate it :-)
I can't get the image of burlesque teletubbies out of my head!! xxx
My kids love the Wiggles. I can't remember off hand but my son used a legal term which surprised me. I asked him how he knew about it. From iCarly. I agree TV can be educational. And my kids watch way more than I'd like, but I do make them turn it off and read a book, play, do crafts or something else during the day.
Thanks everyone for the comments, appreciate them:) I haven't heard of Humf, but will get googling and see what I can come up with. I have heard baaaaad things about Barney so will avoid him, bad for us Mums that is:) @Clive, that is hilarious! Glad they understood though:) Thanks again:) Jen
@Kathleen, I would employ you with a talent like that, no questions asked :) @SandraM, Ava is our little role model here, it seems to be working! @Coolkid, yep we have squeals of excitement and hand flapping here too:) @Susan, I noticed that with my older boy when he was little, but not with HRH, not yet anyway.
Oh Jen, You are one of a million, no....a kazillion moms who allow their children to watch TV. Griffin has always delighted in watching not TV per se but DVDs, he only owns about a hundred of them. Some are purely entertainment and some are educational but nonetheless he watches them all the time and he is just as brilliant as a child who never has watched TV. He loves the Muppet Show, Old Sesame Street, Barney, and many more including the Teletubbies (even at age 8). Don't you worry a bit about it, we are all in this together and nobody is perfect!!!
Ok, well my boy was indoctrinated with Nickelodeon by his teenage sister from day 1. Now he cannot manage life without it - even needs it to go to sleep now!
Hi, my names Petunia and I let my kids watch tv... Hehe :) Yep, another one here who lets them watch the evil box. I also give them microwave meals sometimes and let them eat chocolate so you better report me to PPP (perfect-parent-police) now and have me chastised along with the rest of ye...
Vindicated you are indeed! The conclusion of a (highly over-touted) Mommy-panel I was on last week concluded: moderation. ;)
Barbara
Look, those bitches who say their kids don't watch TV are also lying about toilet training and how little Tarquin can lapse into Japanese without thinking...
I was a Nanny in London and while we had to do crafts and playgroup and hang around freezing playgrounds, the second those kids were back with their parents it was TV city. My two could operate the video with their feet as they lay comotose on beanbags in front of the box.
My rule is 1: no commercial television. If my kids are going to learn by repetition it will be "The Hoobs" singing "who what where" or something from "Lazy town" well, anything from Lazy town as long as Spartacus is wearing a stretchy pantsuit.
I don't want to be offered ocean finance or the chance to trade in my gold so I tune the Tv to Ceebeebies or Disney Cinemagic. No Nick or Tiny pop.
2: watch whatever they watch with them. Johnny Knox said this to Pat Kenny on The Late Late when he was trying to goad him for making kids imitate the stunts on "JackASS" and Johnny told him he would know exactly what his kid was watching as they watched it together.
So I don't put up with Barney or that little suck-up Elmo. But can watch endless repeats of the Bear, or wonder at the naivety of Bob and Wendy's unrequited infatuation. (or how a small time builder can afford so many machines?? I suspect organised crime is backing him)
And I LOVE watching Disney Pixar movies again and again with my kids.
That way I control the echolalia and stims, because I know exactly what they are about. xx
I enjoyed reading this and your blog and am now following you and hope you will follow back. My son just learned a really bad word from watching TV and said it infront of my dad and his daycare teacher. OOPPS
I let my kids watch satellite tv on internet and they get all of their favorite cartoons online and it's great to see the smile on their faces when they see the selections they have. http://www.computeruser.com/blogs/entry/satellite-tv-for-pc-watch-satellite-tv-on-your-pc/
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