Concern about toddler TV

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Feanor2 said:
Today I went to the Pediatrician and she recommended that I have my one year old daughter start watching some Nick Jr. during the day to help with language but when I put it on I became concerned with some liberal, possible left leaning matter.
  1. There was plenty of non-english, especially Spanish- along with talk of “diversity”.
  2. There were several skits on recycling and we know how the left always pushes this Doctrine.
  3. The music was sometimes very fast and rock-n-roll sounding.
  4. There were also what seemed to be working women and this would take attention away from the highest calling of a woman which is to be a stay at home wife. I want my daughter to see primarily mothers being tender and loving with their children.
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There’s nothing immoral about ethnic diversity, recycling or working mothers. There’s also nothing immoral about rock-n-roll sounding music as long as the lyrics are not immoral.

All of that said…putting a one year old in front of TV for speech impediments is very odd advice from a doctor. Especially in light of the fact that the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly oppose television for children under two. I would think singing, talking and interacting with your child would be far better for improving speech.
 
Here’s a recent news report regarding 2-year-olds and television watching.

foxnews.com/story/0,2933,592137,00.html

I’m not usually a fan of most chlidren’s programming. Seems to talk down to them rather than up to them, doesn’t stimulate or challenge.

Talk, talk, talk, and pick up a good classic book and read aloud. I hear there may be some good children’s books hitting the market shortly, too. 🙂
 
That is really strange. :confused:

It’s been a long time (over 20 years), but back then, our pediatricians strongly advised us to keep our children away from the television so that their language development wouldn’t be impeded.

I’ve heard that the reason television impedes language development is that there is no interaction. The TV talks “at” the child, but doesn’t respond if the child talks back, so the child stops talking. Also, the child can’t use all their senses to learn all the body language and other nuances of communication between humans, since the TV is just a flat image, not a real person.

I agree with the poster who suggested that you consult with a speech therapist. I wish you lived near me (Northern Illinois). I have a good friend who is a wonderful speech therapist. She’s retiring from school practice this week and plans to do private consulting work from now on. She has lots of business, indicating that many children have some problems with speech and language. So your children have lots of company.

A speech therapist will probably give you some idea of how serious the language impediment is and what you can do at home to help.
 
Feanor2 said:
  1. There were also what seemed to be working women and this would take attention away from the highest calling of a woman which is to be a stay at home wife. I want my daughter to see primarily mothers being tender and loving with their children.
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What will you do if your daughter decides she has no interest in being a housewife and that her dream is to be a doctor?

Will you discourage her? Tell her she can’t? Tell her it’s a sin?

Are you going to educate her in how to cook and keep a nice home, for fear that if you teach her science, or math, or history she will become passionate about it and want to pursue a career in it?
 
smswife said:
I am a little bit shocked that your Pediatrician suggested TV to help a speech delay.

I am also a children’s health professional and very much disagree.

Children do not learn to speak from TV! They learn to speak by interacting and speaking with other live people.

The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends NO TV at all before age 2. I don’t let my kids (age 8 and 10 now) watch stuff on Nickelodeon when we are at home. It’s mostly inane drivel and such a waste of time!

I would get a second opinion ideally from a speech therapist. If you live in the US, there is an early intervention program run by your county or state to which you can self refer for a formal speech eval. Even if your child does not qualify for services they should give you advice on how to stimulate her at home.

My advice: read to her daily and talk to her continuously all day long about what you are doing (“This is how we fold the laundry . . . Now Mommy is drinking coffee . . . etc.”)

Good luck!
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👍 Very much agree with this! Children don’t learn language from watching TV. It’s possible that it can be educational for older children IF they also have other people (actual people, not TV characters) helping them learn. I am also in the early childhood/mental health field and see so many parents buying all these toys, etc. that “talk” and are supposed to be educational, when the child’s first and most important teacher is the parent (and/or primary caregivers). In my experience some pediatricians give some very bad advice. I would definitely contact your state’s early intervention program; in Michigan it is called Early On. They will evaluate your child and give you helpful advice.
 
Miserys_Fence said:
Diversity? RECYCLING???

sniff…sniff I smell a troll.

Miz
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Uh,the OP has a higher post count than you do so I don’t think she’s a troll. She sounds like a mom that is just concerned about some of the content in the programming on Nick Jr.
 
rayne89 said:
There’s nothing immoral about ethnic diversity, recycling or working mothers. There’s also nothing immoral about rock-n-roll sounding music as long as the lyrics are not immoral.

All of that said…putting a one year old in front of TV for speech impediments is very odd advice from a doctor. Especially in light of the fact that the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly oppose television for children under two. I would think singing, talking and interacting with your child would be far better for improving speech.
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Pediatricians do not learn about speech delays in medical school (unless this has changed recently). The degree to which pediatricians in a particular area have been educated about language acquisition varies widely.

If you want to know about language acquisition and how to treat a possible speech pathology in a young child, ask someone who is educated in that. When it comes to the issue of how well a particular child is hearing, find someone who is specifically educated in that to assess the child. These are very specialized fields.

If there are problems, it pays to have an actual person see the child. Educating yourself isn’t enough. For instance, the general advice from experts is to spend some time playfully imitating your child’s babbling. If they say “ba”, you happily say “ba”. If they say “da”, you happily say “da”, and encourage them to repeat what they said. The problem with our kids was this: because of their speech delay, they couldn’t reliably repeat a speech sound. They did not like this little repeat game, as a result, because they couldn’t do what the game asked them to do. So it is worth knowing what difficulties your child may be experiencing.
 
Miserys_Fence said:
Diversity? RECYCLING???

sniff…sniff I smell a troll.

Miz
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This is hardly charitable. 😦

OP, if you have concern about speech delay, ditch the tv and find a speech therapist who works with very young children. They can evaluate and help you help your child. I have 2 (older) children in speech currently and speech therapists are wonderful!
 
I also think it’s odd that your pediatrician recommended TV. How strange. :confused:

That said, my kids do watch an hour a day (or less) of TV a day - commercial free PBS. Doesn’t anyone watch that anymore? They love Dinosaur Train, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George.

And like the OP, the whole “Spanish” thing in some shows drives me BONKERS. The kids are getting such a tiny little sprinkling of Spanish mixed all up with English that they aren’t learning anything useful anyway. 🤷
 
sanctareparata said:
I also think it’s odd that your pediatrician recommended TV. How strange. :confused:

That said, my kids do watch an hour a day (or less) of TV a day - commercial free PBS. Doesn’t anyone watch that anymore? They love Dinosaur Train, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George.

And like the OP, the whole “Spanish” thing in some shows drives me BONKERS. The kids are getting such a tiny little sprinkling of Spanish mixed all up with English that they aren’t learning anything useful anyway. 🤷
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And Sesame Street! And Mr. Rogers reruns!
 
Feanor2 said:
Today I went to the Pediatrician and she recommended that I have my one year old daughter start watching some Nick Jr. during the day to help with language but when I put it on I became concerned with some liberal, possible left leaning matter.
  1. There was plenty of non-english, especially Spanish- along with talk of “diversity”.
  2. There were several skits on recycling and we know how the left always pushes this Doctrine.
  3. The music was sometimes very fast and rock-n-roll sounding.
  4. There were also what seemed to be working women and this would take attention away from the highest calling of a woman which is to be a stay at home wife. I want my daughter to see primarily mothers being tender and loving with their children.
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Well, liberals may like diversity and recycling, but that doesn’t make them wrong. I am very conservative, and I hope my kids are comfortable around different ethnicities/languages, and I also am concerned about all the garbage our culture produces. So #'s 1, 2 wouldn’t bother me, unless they started going in other environmental directions that I did disagree with.

#3-Fast crazy music. I don’t mind rock, but I don’t think kids need the overstimulation. Introducing them to calm classical music first would be preferable IMHO.

#4 - I can see your point on that too.

***Here’s the thing: If a peds is suggesting that your child is behind enough that they NEED tv to aid her development, then it sounds like they NEED to refer you for some speech evaluation. Often, they’ll test the child’s hearing before they do a speech eval, so you could ask about that as well. But it makes absolutely no sense to prescribe TV for a toddler, especially considering they haven’t deemed her behind enough to make a referral to a specialist.
 
Have to say though, putting a kid in front of spanish speaking tv, or even people with accents, is not the way to improve their Engish language skills.
 
And, if she’s only slighlty delayed, then maybe the tv is meant to just be an encouragement of development. Google “speech development” and you’ll find plenty of ways you can encourage your child to talk that don’t include nickelodien.
 
There are much better ways to expose your daughter to language than sit her in front of a TV. Nick Jr is entertaining to a point, but a little goes a long way. I too feel uncomfortable with some of their messages, although I suppose there are worse things kids could be watching during the day.

Please read, read, read to her, Then read some more. Also many libraries have story times for young children that are really fun and educational. Talking to her throughout the day is another excellent tool to teach language.

I take care of my grandaughter during the week while my son and daughter-in-law are at work and I can see now where reading to her and just simply playing with her using lots of language has paid off. She was/is a late talker, but in the last month or so she has begun to chatter and talk constantly. Now, when someone leaves she will say…“bye, see you later” (which we always say to her whenever we would leave), she will use the pictures in her books to “read” to me. I have realized now the books that she wanted read to her over and over again, are the ones she can look at now and “read”. She will chime in with me on certain words within the story.

I believe there are so many easy and natural language experiences you can provide for your children, that it is a shame to limit them to tv. I am sure that dr is knowledgeable about medical issues related to children, however maybe she needs to brush up on cognitave learning issues.
 
Feanor2 said:
Oh I’m not talking about homeschooling moms! I will homeschool and hopefully she will attend either Christendom College or Ave Maria College to get a proper education that does not deride western european civilization.
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Well, as a recent graduate of one of these institutions, I think I can fairly say that, for most young women, having a really good liberal arts education that sets one’s head straight about Western civilization will be most immediately useful… in getting them a career. Most of the girls I know aren’t getting married directly after college, and need to set up on their own for at least some time before marriage and children. It’s likely that many of us will be single for some years to come, and these years are arguably better spent occupied with gainful employment than with sitting around bemoaning one’s single state. So it would seem more helpful than not to teach girls that they can find some fulfillment in being working women, as long as they aren’t simultaneously taught to despise motherhood.

That said, there’s no reason why you should let TV dispense lessons about this or anything. My parents helped me and my younger siblings learn language skills mostly by reading to us, telling us stories, or just letting us be around when adult conversations were going on.
 
Feanor2 said:
Today I went to the Pediatrician and she recommended that I have my one year old daughter start watching some Nick Jr. during the day to help with language but when I put it on I became concerned with some liberal, possible left leaning matter.
  1. There was plenty of non-english, especially Spanish- along with talk of “diversity”.
  2. There were several skits on recycling and we know how the left always pushes this Doctrine.
  3. The music was sometimes very fast and rock-n-roll sounding.
  4. There were also what seemed to be working women and this would take attention away from the highest calling of a woman which is to be a stay at home wife. I want my daughter to see primarily mothers being tender and loving with their children.
Click to expand...
I am not quite sure what is wrong with different languages and diversity. We live in a diverse world with many different people and cultures and your child will be exposed to some of them. Nothing wrong with recycling either less waste is good. And as for the rock and roll music…I guess I see nothing wrong with it as long as it isn;t too loud and doesn;t have inappropriate language. I donlt see how working mothers are bad either. Yeah it would be nice too see more stay at home moms on tv being loving and tender to their children. But the fact is a lot of mothers have no choice but to work. I mean my mom worked…and was/is a loving mother. So I think that showing working mothers does reflect on the current situation for many maybe most?

However I do agree with those who say that putting you kid in front of the tv isn;t the answer. Personally I am thinking talking around her alot might help. And reading to her would likely be a great help as well. I mean I learned to read from my mom reading to me…so it obviously does some good! Though while I am no baby expert I am wondering why your doctor seems so concerned about your daughters language skills at one. But I have no idea what the normal progress rates are supposed to be.
 
Feanor2 said:
Today I went to the Pediatrician and she recommended that I have my one year old daughter start watching some Nick Jr. during the day to help with language but when I put it on I became concerned with some liberal, possible left leaning matter.
  1. There was plenty of non-english, especially Spanish- along with talk of “diversity”.
  2. There were several skits on recycling and we know how the left always pushes this Doctrine.
  3. The music was sometimes very fast and rock-n-roll sounding.
  4. There were also what seemed to be working women and this would take attention away from the highest calling of a woman which is to be a stay at home wife. I want my daughter to see primarily mothers being tender and loving with their children.
Click to expand...
Whether or not TV would do anything to help with language is questionable for sure (although my 15 month old DS has learned/repeated words & bits of songs from TV shows so not impossible). I could see if you were just opposed to the idea of him watching television at all, but I’m a little unsure about the concerns you mentioned.
  1. Respecting other cultures and languages is important, especially in modern America which is full of people from all over the world. I don’t see why this would be harmful. Your child will likely come in contact with children from different backgrounds and it is good for that to not be a shock to them.
  2. Just because the left pushes recycling doesn’t make it bad. Wastefulness is sinful according to Christianity. Do you think encouraging recycling is bad?
  3. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with “fast” or “rock and roll” music as long as there are no inappropriate lyrics.
  4. Working women are a reality. This particular concern of yours could actually be considered offensive to mothers that have to work because you imply that they are less loving toward their children. I only work part time since DS was born (but I guess that makes me one of the dreaded “working women”) but I also know full time working mothers that are more loving and tender toward their children than some of the SAHMs I know. Nowhere does the Church say women are required to be housewives. Interestingly, when I started scanning Nick Jr’s programming I was surprised at how many SAHMs their seemed to be. I expected more working moms since that is more reflective of today’s reality.
BTW in general those of you who mentioned commercials, Nick Jr. (which is geared toward preschoolers) is commercial free. Regular Nickelodeon (for the older kids) has commercials.

My 15 month old won’t actually sit and watch TV because he is constantly in motion but I do put it on sometimes for background especially when I am cooking or getting dressed as it will keep him a little distracted for a minute…
 
So I have been talking more to her and constantly saying Dada and Mama while pointing. Also talking about “kitty”. I think I “might” see a bit more recognition of language. She really didn’t even watch TV when I had it on the Nick jr. She may just be used to it being boring so. . . .

anyway. . . I will keep this up. She really doesn’t tolerate reading much as she just wants to be on the go constantly.
 
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