wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] JB from Manhattan October 03, 2007 - 10:25AM

  I hope that when I have kids they have shows on TV or the Internet, like I watched on PBS when I was probably age 3 to 10. Math and Science shows like 3-2-1 Contact, [another Math show I can't remember the name of, had 'MathNET'], Reading Rainbow, etc. I'm not sure kids today have quite the same options... Carl Sagan was warning us about this 10 years ago. Has anything been done?

  I feel like watching these shows just a few hours a day while my mom was doing laundry or whatever really helped me get a head start in creative and analytical skills.

  
  
• [2] Janet from Peekskill October 03, 2007 - 10:36AM

  Why is there no discussion about the choice of having children in the first place?

  I know lots of families in the middle and upper middle class who decide not to have a child or another child because they can't afford it.

  Perhaps those individuals who cannot afford to care for children including providing insurance and health care for them should choose not to have children.

  
  
• [3] Connie Holperin from Larchmont October 03, 2007 - 10:55AM

  This is not the first time George W.has traded children's health care programs for his political ideology.I read a book by Molly Ivins in 1999 entitled "Bush"(I think).She told of how in preparation for his run up to the White House he wanted to reduce the number of Texas citizens receiving any form of public assistance--you know, to make his numbers look really good, like he was a swell governor.To accomplish this he changed the qualification requirements--lowered them to knock several thousand poor children off the program.

  
  
• [4] Trevor from U$A October 03, 2007 - 11:33AM

  Janet, are you serious?

  I think any intelligent person knows to keep their kids away from television, movies and video games as much as possible when they're very young.

  Then again, American does have something of an intelligence drought.

  Read to your kids. And read books yourself. And "Harry Potter" doesn't count.

  
  
• [5] Maria from Brooklyn October 03, 2007 - 11:39AM

  I have a son, 11-month old. My husband and I have made a point of not using the TVas a baby sitter. He is not allowed to watch it at all.

  We have seen how other children are left watching so-called educative programs for babies. They seem mesmerized, they do not interact or play among themselves. To anyone that take the time it is obvious that TV is a negative influence,

  
  
• [6] ab from nyc October 03, 2007 - 11:39AM

  Odd...

  I've met people who came to the U.S. and learned English from watching t.v.

  I find it hard to believe that a child couldn't pick up a bit of language from a t.v.

  
  
• [7] Mary Bon from Westbrook, CT October 03, 2007 - 11:43AM

  I have two boys, 10 and 16-years-old. We have one tv in the house connected to a couple of game systems (not allowed on school days) and a dvd player. We get no reception, and I had the cable removed when we bought the house. We listen to ball games on the radio, and watch the playoffs at a local restaurant that has become accustomed to having us around a lot in October.

  It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Firefly is a great show we watch on dvd, along with Planet Earth or other quality programming. But with one tv we do it all together.

  I was subbing in the middle school not long ago. One kid expressed surprise that I had never seen Friends. When I explained to her why, she said she was jealous. That her dad spent all his time at home watching golf in the den. How sad.

  As for nostalgia TV, someone recently posted (on Boing Boing perhaps, Crooks & Liars maybe) Run DMC on Reading Rainbow. Good times.

  
  
• [8] Trevor from U$A October 03, 2007 - 11:43AM

  And above all, don't MICRO-MANAGE your kids!

  Yeesh.

  "Screen time"? "Active time"? Man, they've got it broken down.

  Talk about raising a generation of authoritarian control freaks...

  
  
• [9] R.A. from NYC October 03, 2007 - 11:50AM

  Like everything else when it comes to children, anything will be harmful to them if it is used as as substitute to parental attention. It is not about avoiding TV or computers at all but moderating them and being a involved and informed caregiver.

  A caregiver should not feel guilty at all if s/he needs a break to take sometime to unwind while the kids are busy watching TV or playing video games. If anything, an overstressed caregiver is probably more harmful to a child than any screen time.

  
  
• [10] flanders from Brooklyn October 03, 2007 - 02:40PM

  I think it's safest to not have a TV. I don't have one, and my kids haven't shown any negative side-effects. There's so much cross-marketing, that my kids are fully aware of what's going on in the TV world without ever setting eyes on it. We have a projector, so we can still watch DVDs, but only after dark.

  My oldest daughter wakes up in the morning and spends an hour reading before school. If she can get away with it, she reads while she eats. We get a big laugh when all of her friends are jonesing during turn off the TV week.