babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
It started out innocently enough. A few years ago, I watched a couple of hours of Disney Channel programming to make sure that what my kid was watching was appropriate. You know, “Suite Life,” “Hannah Montana” and all those other silly shows they love so much. I didn’t particularly enjoy them, but as a parent it is my responsibility to know what she’s watching, right?
But then, Nickelodeon got in on the act. I sat down to watch “iCarly” and something happened. I stopped rolling my eyes and started actually enjoying the show. It was well-written and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. That’s when I realized that tween TV had changed. Continue reading »
They deal drugs. They mock their kids. They lose their cool. Today’s TV Moms are a far cry from the idealized television moms of yesteryear.
These days, moms on the small screen are more likely to put their own needs first and — unlike earlier generations of TV moms — they don’t always seem to know what they’re doing. Continue reading »
She’s the TV mom everyone loves to hate. Kate Gosselin returns to the tube with her children in tow in her new series, Kate Plus 8, airing this Sunday, June 6 at 9pm on TLC.
David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun says she won’t be doing so without a new level of scrutiny from lawmakers and mental health experts. He reports that “psychiatrists and child advocates say the shows can invade a child’s privacy and confuse a child’s sense of identity.”
Zurawik quotes Dr. Michael Brody, chairman of the Television and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (who knew there was such a thing?) as saying, “Kids in these kinds of shows are not having a childhood, and you don’t have to be a scientist to know what’s going to happen to some of them as they get older. It can be a real disaster for them.” He continues, “Just doing retakes, where they stage a scene and then reshoot it again because something went wrong, really screws up a kid’s sense of reality.”
Anyone who has been privy to the reality of “reality” TV will tell you that it is definitely not for the faint of heart. A talented and experienced friend who was recently on the set of a popular summer reality show left feeling that reality TV is “evil and not to be trusted.” Certainly by agreeing to appear on a reality show, you have to surrender to the fact that what happens in the editing room is out of your hands; you have to be okay with however you end up being portrayed in the final cut. The problem with the Gosselin kids is, they’re not old enough to understand any of that, nor to make their own decisions. Continue reading »
Want active kids? Turn off your TV. New research on how parents’ behavior affects their kids shows that kids whose parents watch more than 4 hours of TV a day are at substantially increased risk to watch that much TV themselves.
Not exactly shocking.
Here’s good news for couch potato parents, though. You don’t have to exercise to get your kid moving.
A parents group is threatening to cause a $#*!-storm for CBS affiliates if they don’t do something about a new sitcom in the works. The Parents Television Council, which monitors obscenities on network TV, said they’ll challenge the broadcast license of any network channel that airs the new sitcom before 10 p.m. or even advertises it.
The TV show in question is likely about a curmudgeonly 73-year-old father who dispenses nuggets of wisdom to his adult son still living at home. But that’s not the obscene part (though really, get your own place, man). Continue reading »
My daughter, circa 18-months, watching Curious George.
I’ll never forget the poignancy of what she said. I had just turned off the television when my daughter, red in the face, stomping her feet and punching her fists in the air, shouted, “Maybe they should have never invented TVs!” She choked back a few breaths and said, “I wish Grandma was born a million years ago so we never had to watch TV,” and then collapsed into my arms and sobbed. I knew exactly what she meant. The paradox of childhood is that despite having very little life experience, kids seem to intrinsically understand things, as if they have all the secrets of life tucked inside their little sleeves, just waiting for the right moment to teach us something really important. Like, sometimes things that are meant to make us happy can make us resentful and angry if we get in too deep.
Which is to say, for the umpteenth time, if kids watch excessive amounts of TV, it will ruin their lives. Parents know this. But a new study released yesterday in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reiterates that toddlers who watch too much TV will end up doing poorly in school.
University of Montreal and University of Michigan researchers found that “each additional hour of TV that children watched at 29 months corresponded with a 7% decrease in classroom engagement, a 6% drop in math achievement, a 13% decrease in physical activity on weekends, a 10% increase in video-game playing and a 10% greater likelihood of getting teased, assaulted or insulted by classmates” by age 10. According to the study, television consumes nine hours of the average 2-and-a-half-year-old’s week, increasing to 15 hours by age four-and-a-half. (I admit, my four-and-a-half year old watches 15 hours of TV a week. Does this mean I can check off a milestone on her development chart?) Purportedly kids with “educated mothers watched less; those from single-parent homes watched more.” I’m an educated single-parent, so I guess it all evens out in the wash.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents watch TV with their children and discuss program content with them. Because I’m a modern/neurotic/dedicated parent and I want my kid to have a trouble-free life, I did that for a long time. It was easier when I was married. But I still tried as a single mom. Until the syrupy-sweet voices of the cast of Clifford began to lull me to sleep on the couch. And I realized I could actually get some work done while my daughter watched her morning shows. So for the past few months, I’ve let PBS babysit my kid for two hours a day. That automatically means she’s gonna be a failure by age 10? I don’t think so. Continue reading »
Sam and Wyatt play video games as guests of Chinese government.
In our house, Turn Your TV Off Week (aka Digital Detox Week and Turnoff Week) corresponded with spring break. Not to mention the NHL playoffs, the arrival of my new iPad and my 8-year-old’s discovery of his glorious ability to use the DVR to watch Phineas and Ferb at any opportunity. No way were we turning off. We’re a big, busy, active family, and we welcomed a little chance to turn on. I know what’s best for my kids, and you, sanctimonious school district with your “Turn it Off” handouts, can go turn off your own television to your heart’s content–but keep your mitts off my remote. Continue reading »
Lori Garcia 
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
0