Everyone knows screen time for little ones is a big no-no. Right? Attention problems, behavior issues, epic battles with their siblings over the remote: the problems TV can cause for kids are legion. The AAP has just issued new media guidelines for parents stressing that not only should young kids watch no TV at all, you shouldn’t watch TV yourself when your kids are around.

What if all this stress about screen time for kids is just so much fearmongering? Do screens really hurt the kids who watch them? One Slate writer is questioning the research. He says his 1-year-old son loves screen time, and letting him have it makes their lives better.

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5th-largest burger chain yanks toys from its kids meals.

Is today the real beginning of the end of toys in kids’ meals?

National fast-food chain Jack in the Box is no longer including a piece of flashy plastic kids’ movie referencing junk in their all-in-one meals marketed to kids.

What makes the chain’s move different from banned Happy Meal toys at McDonald’s is that it’s completely voluntary. And happening in all of its restaurants — right now. Continue reading »

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Watch as the colors are filled in!

Watch one or both of these ads for TiJi TV, a French children’s television network, and you’ll never sit through an episode of the already unbearable Dora the Explorer again.

But you have to watch them. These shorts, animated by Akama Studios and created by DDB Paris, are imaginative little stories with that hint of French melancholy and a universal appeal (no words, just pictures).

The first one answers why Panda bears are black and white. Continue reading »

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Narrowing their blood vessels one cartoon at a time?

One of my main sources of mothering guilt is how much time my daughter spends watching television.

Mama needs a shower? Go watch Dora, sweetheart. Toddler tantrum time? Come sit here with mama and we’ll watch Bubble Guppies.

I don’t pop pills, I don’t drink during the day, it’s the TV that is my motherhood crutch. Continue reading »

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Who decides if this is bad for children?

The Parents Television Council is a decent idea — in theory. A non-profit that watches the entertainment and advertising industry, monitoring what children who are exposed to TV and advertisements actually see. The problem is, the PTC loses sight of the goal of assisting parents with information and advice and, instead, play morality police.

A few examples of their most recent outrages, TV show, $%(# My Dad Says and 17-year-old Miley Cyrus writhing on a bed in black lace undies and a bra. Continue reading »

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The man who co-founded the “Baby Einstein” videos enterprise but no longer owns the brand is suing the University of Washington for release of records, data and research methods relating to studies on kids and television.

William Clark, who along with his wife Julie Aigner-Clark, launched the company back in 1996, said in a press release earlier this week that he asked a judge to order the university to release records of two studies that concluded young children who watch television are at a greater risk for attention problems and language delays. Continue reading »

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Many parents choose home-based day care over larger day care centers because they feel it offers a more personal experience for their child.  But according to a new study out of the University of Washington, the home-based day care experience might be a little too much like home for some kids.  In much the same way parents sometimes use television as an electronic babysitter, the study found that a surprising number of home-based day care centers do, too.  Continue reading »

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