Thoughts about TV viewing for toddlers . . .


Last week a policy announcement from the American Academy of Pediatrics provided some new ways to think about language development in young children. The AAP's policy is now harmonized with policies of the Canadian Pediatric Society ( which were reaffirmed in February 2011).


According to both medical groups, even a little TV is too much for toddlers. One member of the AAP committee which recently reviewed the media guidelines stated, "Television for toddlers is not beneficial or educational and may cause children some harm." The research suggests too much television stunts children's language and cognitive development, and can lead to shorter attention spans.


Interesting points are raised in the report including issues with simply having a TV on in the background. Even when no one is really watching, having the TV on apparently "almost eliminates parent-child interaction." The AAP recommended that any television left on in the background  should be turned off. The full report also speaks about the issues related to toddlers' and young children's viewing of programs intended for adult audiences.  


At Ready 4 Learning, we see another way to frame the the problem of young children watching TV - just think about all the important things they are not doing while they are watching TV:

• They are are not talking and interacting with others, and  “talk time”  is critical for young children to learn language;
• They are not engaged in play and exercise activities which promote healthy physical development;
• They are not using their hands in the many kinds of play that develop fine motor skills; 
• They are not engaged in plain old unstructured playtime which is known to be critical to   learning problem-solving skills and fostering creativity.

Really, there's no time like the present to rethink current TV viewing habits for the young children in your life!

The Importance of Ordinary Daily Talk for Young Children

Talking with a young child who doesn't reply may seem like an unusual thing to do - but just think about it for a minute . . . In order to learn the language, a child has to hear the language; the more words the child hears, the more words he or she is learning. The talk doesn't have to be anything special. Ordinary daily talk is all that's needed.

Here's a link to a quick video that shows what such interactions between mother and baby look like and sound like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S2YlqcsF2Ms&noredirect=1

Using ordinary daily talk with an infant or toddler is really just speaking out loud as you go through your daily routine - saying what's happening, describing what you are doing, and naming the objects that are involved with this activity.

Another way to to encourage a young child's learning is to follow his or her lead in playing. Gifted with curiosity about the world, young children look at and reach for things of interest to them. When this is happening, use words to name the objects involved, and describe what's happening.

This may sound like a small thing, but it has big implications for language development and learning!

Children learn words and sentences by talking, singing, playing, and reading directly with their parents and caregivers. A child gets much more from the sound of the their voices and the time they spend with him or her than from fancy or expensive toys, flashcards, and TV shows. Luminous screens (TVs, DVDs, computers and the like) are not the best way for a child to learn language. Parents and caregivers are!

Find out more more about how young children learn language on Alberta's Raising Children website: 

http://www.programs.alberta.ca/Living/14651.aspx?N=770&Ns=14530+14532+14590

What your parents did to help your literacy growth and development - cont'd


I am still struck by Nada's comment, "The most important thing that makes a difference to children's literacy development and later success at school is the amount of ordinary daily talk they experience." If this is so, what's hampering the development of this strongest "root" of literacy in young children today? What might have changed in young children's environments in recent years that may be contributing to the following daunting statistic: 1 in every 4 children is experiencing difficulties by the time they enter Kindergarten, with the greatest number of these coming from middle income homes? (See www.ecmap.ca for a Fact Sheet entitled "Why Early Childhood Development Matters" for further information)


You probably have thoughts about this to share, so please respond with your comments! 


I suspect the answer to the question "What's changed?" is a combination of factors - some with big implications, and others with less. Here's just one of these factors to think about. . . Forward facing strollers!

Did you know that strollers haven't always faced forward? In the 19th century, they were designed so that infants faced the person pushing them. It actually wasn't until the late 1960s that collapsible strollers emerged, with engineering constraints causing them to face forward. It makes sense that babies who face ahead cannot see their parents or caregivers and thus will have more difficulty interacting with them. So if babies spend a significant amount of time during their early years in forward-facing strollers, might it impede their language learning?


Britain's National Literacy Trust engaged a research team to look into this question. It concluded  that mothers talked to their children twice as much during the toward-facing trial journey, and they also laughed more. When a stroller pusher can't easily see the things that attract a baby's attention, valuable opportunities for interaction can be missed! And these missed opportunities add up over time. 


You can read more about this study at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/opinion/02zeedyk.html


This might seem like a small thing, but perhaps one with big implications!

This week, plan to look into the forward facing stroller question yourself. Keep track of how many forward-facing strollers you see, and compare that with the number of the toward-facing kind. Watch to see who is talking more with the children being pushed . . . 

Have you ever thought about what your parents did to help your literacy growth and development?

This question was put to us by Nada Jerkovic, the manager of Family Literacy for CanLearn Centre/The Calgary Learning Centre in the Calgary Herald this week, leading up to the newspaper's recent Raise a Reader Day.

Right away, I assumed the answer to be about daily reading by parents to children in the preschool years. Questions like this always remind me that in the place and time of my own childhood, children's books were not readily available. I have no memories of bedtime stories as part of my daily routine. So how did they help my literacy growth and development?

Nada doesn't pin the answer on books and being read to. She says:
   
     The strongest "root" of literacy is planted when children have many opportunities to develop their oral  
     language skills. . . The most important thing that makes a difference to children's literacy development and
     later success at school is the amount of ordinary daily talk with children.

When Nada speaks about ordinary daily talk, she means the way we talk with our children about what is happening as we do the ordinary things that we do every day. She means the way we talk about what we are doing, where we are going, what we are seeing and hearing, as we get ready for the day, do errands, do housework, and spend leisure time together - from the very beginning, even before our children can respond. Talking helps our children to learn the language and how to use it.

I wonder how much of this ordinary talk is happening between young children and their parents these days. Could it be that the lure of those luminous screens - TVs, tablets, smartphones, etc. and the ease of staying connected socially may one day be judged as negatively impacting the literacy development of this generation's youngest members?


Click here to read Nada's article:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/literacy/raiseareader/Building+reading+skills+with+families+growth/5463128/story.html