Letters to the Editor
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the anti-mom
Well, I guess I'm the anti-mom. I let my kids, 2 and 4, watch the preschool cable channel we have in the morning as we're getting ready and in the afternoon as they unwind after preschool, probably about 2 hrs in the morning and two hours in the evening.
I turn it off for supper and we usually make it to the park before or after they unwind.
Here are a few interesting observations about my "unlimited tv" kids:
1)They rarely watch more than one show. After that, they usually like to go off and do something else like draw, play dress up, pretend, etc. They come back and forth.
2) My two year old likes Dora but I've never seen Dora involved in any of her play to the extent that it takes over her imagination. She has one Dora doll that she likes to play with occasionally, but that's it. My older one hates Dora.
3) I don't usually watch with them, but they do call me in sometimes to show me something they just saw and their excited about (an interesting animal or a funny scene).
4)There are absolutely no violent shows on this channel and if occasionally we turn to the cartoon channel or something like that, my daughter cannot tolerate it. So I don't see any desensitizing at all.
In short, I really don't see my children suffering any deficits from their tv habit. They are both very sensitive, imaginative, healthy, emotionally aware little girls who love pretend play and park play. And they also watch tv.