Saturday, December 12, 2009
Not exposing our children to commercial is essential. So avoiding TV is logical and simple to do. There are tone of Video and DVD available and parents can choose the most appropriate. Documentaries are the best program for younger. In fact starting to choose cartoon to the young children is a mistake. Parents should keep the TV time for documentary, young children love all kind of documentary, particularly if they did not see anything else yet on Television. It is the perfect time to feed their natural curiosity. Documentaries about animal always get a great success!
Other programs with a slow pace are also interesting for young children and adapted to their rhythm of thinking. "Mister Roger neighborhood" is an amazing program for young viewers.
Winter vacation may be the perfect time to show some special movies like:
Caillou's holiday Movie
Chitty Chitty bang bang
Programs with no villain are more appropriate for young children, those with songs are the best. Children tend to reproduce what they see, re-enact with their friends at recess for example, so gentle programs will teach them gentle play.
If you have any doubt about this, just go to observe some game at recess. You will notice that the most agressive kids are the one watching violent programs and often to much TV.
Monday, November 30, 2009
(Media-Newswire.com) - Three-year-old children who are exposed to more TV appear to be at an increased risk for exhibiting aggressive behavior, according to a new report co-authored by a researcher from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
The report, which appears in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, analyzed survey data from 3,128 mothers of children born from 1998 to 2000 in 20 large cities in the United States to examine associations of child television exposure and household television use with aggressive behavior in children.
“The study shows that there is an association between the number of hours that the television is on at home and early childhood aggression,” says co-author Catherine A. Taylor, assistant professor of Community Health Sciences at Tulane, who conducted the study with lead author Jennifer A. Manganello of University at Albany, State University of New York. “We also found that the number of hours a child directly spends watching TV is associated with increased aggression.”
The research is one of the few to look at television and aggression in very young children. The authors suggested that increased television use in the household could displace more positive childhood development activities and interactions with parents. Also, “it is possible that TV exposure may act directly to increase aggression by providing models for aggressive behavior or normalizing the behavior,” the authors state.
“Early childhood aggression can be problematic for parents, teachers and childhood peers and sometimes is predictive of more serious behavior problems to come, such as juvenile delinquency, adulthood violence and criminal behavior,” according to background information in the article. Various predictive factors for childhood aggression have been studied. These include parents’ discipline style, neighborhood safety and media exposure. “After music, television is the medium children aged 0 to 3 years are exposed to the most.” Although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen media for children younger than age 2, studies consistently have found use of television in that age group.
According to study authors, “About two-thirds ( 65 percent ) of mothers reported that their ( 3-year-old child ) watched more than two hours of television per day.” On average, there were an additional 5.2 hours of household TV use per day.
Direct child TV exposure and household TV use were both significantly associated with childhood aggression, after accounting for other factors such as parent, family, neighborhood and demographic characteristics. “One explanation that could link both child and household TV measures with aggression involves the parenting environment,” the authors write. Households with higher rates of TV use may have fewer restrictions on children’s viewing habits such as exposure to unregulated television content. Increased household television use may also affect daily routines such as eating and communication patterns and may decrease time spent on other activities.
“Current American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations mainly suggest limitations for direct child exposure to TV and other media; however, our findings suggest that additional household TV use may also be an important predictor of negative childhood outcomes, such as early childhood aggression,” the authors conclude. “Future research in this area should consider inclusion of both of these TV variables along with additional parent-child interaction assessments, observational assessments when possible, quality and/or content of TV programs and longitudinal analyses.”
DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
Associated Press Writer
3:35 AM PST, November 23, 2009
When added to the two to three hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of the about 12 hours they are awake each day in front of the electronic baby sitter, said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and a researcher at the University of Washington.
That's double the TV time he found in a previous study based on parental reports of home viewing, according to findings published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. The study is the first to look at TV watching in child care in more than 20 years.
The figures come from a telephone survey of 168 licensed child care programs in Michigan, Washington, Florida and Massachusetts. Christakis said he thought television use was probably underreported.
Of the child care programs surveyed, 70 percent of home-based child cares and 36 percent of centers said children watch TV daily. The children were watching TV, DVDs and videos. The study did not track what kind of programs were shown.
"It's not what parents have signed up for," Christakis said. "I'm not sure how many parents are aware of this."
The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages any television viewing of any kind in the first 2 years of life and recommends a daily limit of 1 to 2 hours of quality programming for older children.
Children go to day care to develop social skills, build on cognitive abilities and enjoy imaginative play, as well as allowing their parents to work, Christakis said.
"We know what's good for children and we know what's not," Christakis said. "High quality preschool can make a very, very positive difference. We're so far from meeting that, that we really have a lot of work to do."
His research found a difference between the amount of TV watching at home daycares and larger child care centers, although both reported some TV time.
The study found that among preschool-aged children, those in home-based day cares watched TV for 2.4 hours per day on average, compared to 24 minutes in centers. Toddlers watched an average of 1.6 hours in home care and about 6 minutes in centers. Only home-based day cares admitted putting infants in front of the TV, for an average of 12 minutes a day.
"It's alarming to find that so many children in the United States are watching essentially twice as much television as we previously thought," he said.
Other research has connected excessive TV watching during the preschool years with language delay, obesity, attention problems and aggression.
Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston, wasn't surprised by the findings in this study but he was forgiving of the parents and child care providers who put kids in front of the TV.
"In general, we still have a culture that sees television as benign," said Rich, who is also an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard University. "This is an area where we're learning more and more all the time."
He compared society's growing knowledge of the impact of TV on child development to the early days of seat belt use. Today's parents and child care providers grew up on TV, Rich said, so it's understandable that they do not recognize the problem.
"We can always do better," he said.
Christakis said one of the main problems with TV for young children is that it takes away time that could otherwise be spent playing outside, being read to, playing with blocks and talking with adults and other children.
The study did not include passive TV time, when the TV is on in the background but no one is actively watching it. Christakis said any time a TV is on, children speak less and adults interact with them less frequently.
Instead of urging parents to turn off the TV, President Barack Obama might want to start sending the same message to child care providers, Christakis said.
"Hopefully this will serve as a wake-up call," he said.
On the Web:
Center on Media and Child Health: http://www.cmch.tv
Seattle Children's Hospital: http://www.seattlechildrens.org
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The latest figures from Nielsen have children's TV usage at an eight-year high. Children's health advocates warn of adverse effects.
October 27, 2009
The amount of television usage by children reached an eight-year high, with kids ages 2 to 5 watching the screen for more than 32 hours a week on average and those ages 6 to 11 watching more than 28 hours. The analysis, based on the fourth quarter of 2008, measured children's consumption of live and recorded TV, as well as VCR and game console usage.
"They're using all the technology available in their households," said Patricia McDonough, Nielsen's senior vice president of insights, analysis and policy. "They're using the DVD, they're on the Internet. They're not giving up any media -- they're just picking up more."
The increase in consumption is in part the result of more programming targeted at kids, she said, including video on demand, which is particularly popular among young children who like to watch their favorite shows over and over again.
"When I was a kid, I had Saturday morning cartoons," McDonough said. "And now there are programs they want to watch available to them whenever they want to watch them."
The findings alarmed children's health advocates, who warned that increased television watching is linked to delayed language skills and obesity. A 2007 study by researchers at the University of Washington found that babies who watched videos geared to them learned fewer vocabulary words than infants who never watched the videos.
When kids are plunked in front of a screen, they're also missing out on critical opportunities to learn from their parents and develop imaginative play, experts said.
"I think parents are clueless about how much media their kids are using and what they're watching," said Dr. Vic Strasburger, a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"The biggest misconception is that it's harmless entertainment," said Strasburger, who has written extensively about the effects of media on children. "Media are one of the most powerful teachers of children that we know of. When we in this society do a bad job of educating kids about sex and drugs, the media pick up the slack."
The academy recommends no screen time for children younger than 2 and less than an hour or two for those older than 2.
"There are some extraordinarily good media for kids," he said. "But even the best -- 'Sesame Street' for 5-year-olds -- kids shouldn't be watching five hours a day. They should be outside playing. They should be having books read to them."
The new data from Nielsen comes on the heels of the news that the Walt Disney Co. expanded its refund offer for its “Baby Einstein” videos after pressure from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which complained to the Federal Trade Commission about claims that the videos are educational. On Monday, Susan McLain, general manager of the Baby Einstein Company, issued a statement saying the company does not make such claims and that the refund offer is not an admission that the company misled parents in its marketing.
Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said the way infants are exposed to media shapes their future relationship with television.
"Once you start hooking babies on media, it's harder to limit it," she said. "If we start children early in life on a steady diet of screen time and electronic toys, they don't develop the resources to generate their own amusement, so they become dependent on screens."
Networks that program specifically for children discounted the potential negative effects from the report's findings.
"Our programming for 2- to 5-year-olds is totally educational programming, and has been widely praised by advocates, widely praised by educators," said Dan Martinsen, a spokesman for Nickelodeon, the network behind such popular kids' shows as "Dora the Explorer," "Wonder Pets," and "Blue's Clues."
Kids ages 2 to 5 spent an average of 3 hours and 47 minutes a day watching television in the fourth quarter of 2008, up from 3 hours and 40 minutes in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to Nielsen. Older children watched an average of 3 hours and 20 minutes a day, up from 3 hours and 17 minutes.
In 2008, children spent 97% of their screen time watching live TV, although those ages 2 to 5 are increasingly watching shows through digital video recorders or DVDs. Younger kids also watch more commercials in playback mode, viewing 50% of ads, compared with the 44% watched by children ages 6 to 11. The data is based on Nielsen's national sample, which includes 6,700 kids ages 2 to 11.
Times staff writer Dawn C. Chmielewski contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
Thursday, October 22, 2009
We've got great news. CCFC's ongoing campaign to stop the false and deceptive marketing of baby videos has had a stunning success. We've persuaded the Walt Disney Company to offer a full refund to anyone who purchased a Baby Einstein DVD in the last five years. The refund is only available for a limited time, so please help us spread the word now!
Our 2006 Federal Trade Commission complaint forced Disney to stop claiming that Baby Einstein videos were educational for infants, but the company made no move to compensate parents who purchased them.
We thought parents deserved better. So, with help from CCFC members like you, we kept the pressure on until Disney agreed to reimburse Baby Einstein customers.
The refund offer is a wonderful victory for families and anyone who cares about children. Recent research shows that screen time is not educational for babies. Now parents who purchased Baby Einstein DVDs, mistakenly believing the videos would make their babies smarter, can recoup their money.
You can help by spreading the word. Letting friends and family members know about the refund will help parents get their money back - it's also the perfect way to start a conversation about babies, marketing, and screen media. After all, a screen-free babyhood is a critical component of a commercial-free childhood.
What you can do:
1. If you've purchased a Baby Einstein DVD in the past five years, click here to learn how to get your refund: http://www.babyeinstein.com/%28S%283qnoffi1whnnnt55h2ljk355%29%29/parentsguide/satisfaction/upgrade_us.html
2. Share this email and our fact sheet on baby videos with any parents that you know.
3. Pass on news about the refund and our success on relevant blogs, parent listservs, and social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Thanks for all you do,
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
A Program of the Judge Baker Children's Center
53 Parker Hill Ave
Boston, MA 02120
Friday, May 29, 2009
|Written by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute|
|Tuesday, 26 May 2009 20:24|
Today’s children are coming of age immersed in video gaming, Web browsing, and instant messaging. Many have cell phones, laptops, and hand-held video games. Others have created avatars of themselves, and some are raising robot pets in virtual worlds. What impact does this technology have on children?
A new journal issue co-edited by a human-computer interaction (HCI) professor from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a developmental psychology professor from the University of Washington explores the promises and perils ahead for children in technological environments.The journal Children, Youth and Environments (CYE) this month published a special issue titled “Children in Technological Environments.” The issue examines the increasing prevalence of technology from various perspectives, including knowledge and education, social and moral development, culture and community, access and equity, relationship to nature, therapy and health, art and expression, and future scenarios. (Read it in its entirety at http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/19_1/)
“Today, technology is part of everyday life, and it can easily mediate or even replace other types of experiences,” said Nathan G. Freier, assistant professor of HCI in the Department of Language, Literature, and Communication, with a joint appointment in Information Technology, at Rensselaer. “Through past centuries, technologies have offered enormous benefits to children,” Freier said. “Written language, for example, can be incredibly beautiful, and compared to spoken language, the written word – from clay tablets, to pen and paper, to digital computers – has allowed for new depths and forms of communication and expression, an unfolding of human awareness.”
According to this research, today’s technology is more sophisticated and invasive. Children play multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), which allows for large numbers of players to interact by controlling and developing their fictional characters in adventurous game settings. In 2006, MMORPG revenues exceeded $1 billion. Also, video games dominate children’s media entertainment. In more recent years, inexpensive robot pets and online virtual pets have become increasingly popular.
“Technology is good and it can help our lives, but let’s not be fooled into thinking we can live without nature,” said co-author, Peter H. Kahn Jr., associate professor in the Department of Psychology and adjunct professor in the Information School at the University of Washington. “We are losing direct experiences with nature. Instead, more and more we’re experiencing nature represented technologically through television and other media. Children grow up watching Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, playing with robotic pets, and taking virtual tours of the Grand Canyon on their computers. That’s probably better than nothing. But as a species we need interaction with actual nature for our physical and psychological well-being.”
Freier also noted that the interactions and amount of time that children are spending with technologies, particularly the Internet, communication technologies, and video games, are forcing educators to redefine what they mean by learning processes and outcomes.
The Future Impact of Yesterday’s Technology
The journal also highlights the fact that visions of the future as portrayed through media and literature (such as science fiction) are one of the powerful drivers of technological environments. In the mid-1960s, for example, Gene Roddenberry, creator of the original Star Trek television series, saw the value of small, handheld mobile communication devices; thus the “flip” design of the crew’s Communicators seemingly influenced the design of the common cell phone we see in use today. Also, the android character Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation shows us how fragile our own self-identity is when we look into the eyes of a man-machine and see our own reflection. And perhaps, the woman-machine in the classic Metropolis reflects our deep-seated nightmares of a future gone wrong.
Freier noted that we also see this tension play out in Asimov’s iRobot series of short stories in which robots are intentionally designed to benefit humanity, but all too often the robots (and humans, ironically) fall victim to their own immense complexity.
“It is obvious that today’s children are coming of age in yesterday’s science fiction future,” Freier said. “Children today know no other way of being, no other way of existing in the world. Our faith in the benefits of those who play a significant role in shaping our technological force is often balanced with the fears of the unknown and uncontrollable sinister force embedded within the technologies, often unbeknownst to the designers themselves.
“This process of balance – which leads to children’s intellectual, social, and moral development – will be, and already is, strongly shaped by the technological environments children inhabit,” he added. “Thus we need to design our technological environments wisely.”
According to the authors, the most important lesson to remember is that “we are not technological species, but one that came of age through deep and intimate daily contact with other humans and with an embodied, physical natural and often wild world – and we still need that world to flourish as a species.”
“In the years ahead, technological nature will get more sophisticated and compelling,” Kahn said. “But if it continues to replace our interaction with actual nature, it will come at a cost. To thrive as a species, we still need to interact with nature by encountering an animal in the wild, walking along the ocean’s edge or sleeping under the enormity of the night sky.”To view the publication, visit http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/19_1/.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Parents urged to limit time on computer games
Cindy Stephen, For NeighboursPublished: Thursday, August 14, 2008
Although a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast can prepare your child for a day of learning, experts are finding other smart ways to beef up the brain.
"Neuro-science is growing so much because of new technologies," says chartered psychologist Deb Skaret.
"We're finding that there are lots of things that parents can do to help facilitate the health and overall intellectual development and curiosity of their children."
Skaret, who holds a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Alberta, has long been a student of the brain and cites the latest research into how exercise benefits the muscle between your ears.
"We're learning how exercise is critical for brain development. It's like a spark," she says, adding that lack of physical activity can be connected to children with attention problems. She says American physician John J. Ratey tested junior high school students by running them on a treadmill before morning classes and found they were more alert in school.
Scientific research shows that exercise increases the fitness level and development of brain cells, and benefits the hippocampus (a seahorse-shaped brain structure) which is vital for memory and learning.
"I'm concerned about a child playing a lot of computer games and not having a balanced, recreational lifestyle. It's just a hypothesis, but I think we'll see greater challenges with kids holding down a conversation in the classroom. They're used to flashy stuff, and maybe it will be hard to sit down and enjoy a book," says Skaret, who jokes that the thumbs of future generations will be longer because of increased video games use.
Parents should encourage a balance of recreational activities and limit time on computer games, encouraging interaction and conversation with others.
Skaret also recommends parents monitor stressors in their children's lives.
"A little bit of stress is good. Hey, you got an assignment due, nothing like stress to help you get it done. But chronic stress, such as family fighting, and you get a child with constant anxiety," she says.
"Chronic stress creates cortisol which inhibits memory. If a child is sitting in school worrying, they can't concentrate or they learn something and it just falls through."
Cutting edge research still touts the benefits of sleep and adequate nutrition.
"Basically, when your brain doesn't have the nourishment it needs, you're foggy and fatigued. It's hard to stay focused," says nutrition specialist Theresa Riege of the Calgary Health Region.
Riege stresses the importance of a breakfast that is a combination of several food groups, particularly protein and whole grains, which will take longer to digest and help students keep their energy level up throughout the morning.
"Some children won't always be hungry upon first awakening," she says. If whole grain cereal or eggs don't appeal to them, Riege suggests thinking outside the traditional cereal box.
"Left-over pasta or even a ham sandwich is good. Whatever food goes into them should be as nourishing as possible," she says.
"Avoid that sweet sugar rush in the morning. It will get them going faster, but they'll lack energy by mid-morning and will inhibit their function from a thinking, and even play, perspective."
The Calgary Health Region, Nutrition and Active Living, has published a school nutrition guide book for schools, teachers and parents which is available on their website at http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/programs/nutrition/services/school nutrition.htm.
"It will give parents some food options and outlines some strategies for packing lunches and snacks," says Riege.http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/neighbours/story.html?id=baeb2abe-f5f3-4456-ab2b-a476c144a142&p=2
|Environmental factors found to be more influential|
|March 2, 2009|
| Boston, Mass. -- A longitudinal study of infants from birth to age 3 showed TV viewing before the age of 2 does not improve a child's language and visual motor skills, according to research conducted at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. The findings, published in the March issue of Pediatrics, reaffirm current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) that recommend no television under the age of 2, and suggest that maternal, child, and household characteristics are more influential in a child's cognitive development. |
"Contrary to marketing claims and some parents' perception that television viewing is beneficial to children's brain development, no evidence of such benefit was found," says Marie Evans Schmidt, PhD, lead author of the study.
The study analyzed data of 872 children from Project Viva, a prospective cohort study of mothers and their children. In-person visits with both mothers and infants were performed immediately after birth, at 6 months, and 3 years of age while mothers completed mail-in questionnaires regarding their child's TV viewing habits when they were 1 and 2 years old. It was conducted by researchers in the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's, and the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
The study is the first to investigate the long term associations between infant TV viewing from birth to 2 years old and both language and visual-motor skill test scores at 3 years of age. These were calculated using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III (PPVT III) and Wide-Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities (WRAVMA) test. The PPVT measures receptive vocabulary and is correlated with IQ, while WRAVMA tests for visual motor, visual spatial, and fine motor skills.
The researchers controlled for sociodemographic and environmental factors known to contribute to an infants' cognitive development, including mother's age, education, household income, marital status, parity, and postpartum depression, and the child's gender, race, birth weight, body mass index, and sleep habits. Using linear regression models, the researchers equalized the influences of each of these factors and calculated the independent effects of TV viewing on the cognitive development of infants. Once these influences were factored out, associations in the raw data between increased infant TV viewing and poorer cognitive outcomes disappeared.
"In this study, TV viewing in itself did not have measurable effects on cognition," adds Elsie Taveras, MD, MPH, senior author of the study and pediatrician at Children's. "TV viewing is perhaps best viewed as a marker for a host of other environmental and familial influences, which may themselves be detrimental to cognitive development."
| While the study showed that increased infant TV exposure is of no benefit to cognitive development, it was also found to be of no detriment. The overall effects of increased TV viewing time were neutral. TV and video content was not measured, however, only the amount of time exposed. The researchers acknowledge follow-up studies need to be done, and they are quick to warn parents and pediatricians that the body of research evidence suggests TV viewing under the age of 2 does more harm than good.|
"TV exposure in infants has been associated with increased risk of obesity, attention problems, and decreased sleep quality," adds Michael Rich, MD, MPH, the pediatrician who directs the Center on Media and Child Health and contributing author on this study and the current AAP Guidelines. "Parents need to understand that infants and toddlers do not learn or benefit in any way from viewing TV at an early age."
The Center on Media and Child Health, an affiliate of Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health conducts and translates research about the effects of media on child's health and development so that parents can make informed decisions about their children's media use. Parents can access this information about research as well as tips at www.cmch.tv.
Children's Hospital Boston is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 500 scientists, including eight members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 12 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Children's Hospital Boston today is a 397-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Children's also is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about the hospital and its research visit:www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The $789 billion economic stimulus package includes $115 billion in new education funding, dollars that will be used for things like school renovation, and .
But Obama is also calling on parents to do what no government program can: "There is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will attend those parent-teacher conferences or help with the homework or turn off the TV, put away the video games, or read to their child. Responsibility for our children's education must begin at home," he told a joint session of Congress last month.
assumed office two months ago, he's put forth an ambitious . High on his list: Improving education and urging parents to do their part.
Friday, February 20, 2009
children under 13. And they mean it. This week, Saputo Inc., plead
guilty to twenty-two charges of violating the ad ban for using Igor
the Gorilla to market snack cakes in daycare centers. Similar charges
are pending against McDonald's, Burger King and General Mills.
Quebec's child advertising ban is wildly popular. A recent survey
found that nine out of ten Quebecers think that it is necessary to
control advertising targeting children. Most of the respondents
thought that the Consumer Protection Act (Loi sur la protection du
consommateur) banning advertising targeting children under 13 should
be enforced "more severely" (60%) or "as severely" (31%). For more