Comments on Fizz-Kidz: Kids & TV Watching

KetanThanks for the note. We tried the 'incentive'...

2008-04-13T17:48:00.000-04:00

Ketan
Thanks for the note. We tried the 'incentive' method a couple of times with our daughter, and so far it has worked like a charm with respect to her picking up all her toys and putting them back in the toy basket when she is done playing.

Obviously we wont use it all the time, as then that would become a habit which in itself is not good in the long run.

Both me and my wife try to set limits regarding TV...

2008-04-11T15:44:00.000-04:00

Both me and my wife try to set limits regarding TV watching for our 3 year old son. He too loves watching the usual Curious George, Dora shows. However we also discovered that he wasn't just into cartoons, but many other things on TV. Keeping this in mind, we try to ensure that he watches shows like Animal Planet. He loves shows by the late Steve Irwin. I also watch the travel channel with him, that shows exotic places and cultures and then once we finish watching the show, I take him to Google Earth and show him the place that we just saw. He loves playing with the globe on Google Earth and exloring it on his own.
One of the things he likes is Hindi film songs especially the old ones (50s, 60s, 70s), so we found them on YouTube, and downloaded them. We tell him that he has to finish certain things--eat his food, pick up his toys etc, if he wants to watch songs, and he happily does it since he has an incentive. Then instead of cartoons he gets to watch songs, and in this manner he gets a bit of Indian culture into him. We found that he also picks up the words/language in this way. To further broaden his exposure to all kinds of music, I have been feeding him a steady diet of other kinds of music such as Indian classical music, classic rock(he likes The Beatles, Led Zep, Tull etc).

My point in all this is--kids will always want to watch TV and there is only so much you can control. What you can control is what they watch and steering them in that direction is up to us.

These are comments from http://parameswarier-konth...

2008-04-11T12:05:00.000-04:00

These are comments from http://parameswarier-konthai57.blogspot.com

Watching TV by children is o.k. to some extent like watching cartoon networks, comics, etc. but continued addiction,is a passive activity and would ultimately make their brains only passive and wont allow to develop original ideas.

So it would be a good idea to allow them watch TV as soon as they return from school for a few minutes, say half an hour or so ,and then persuade them to switch off to other activities like out door games within the compound,and also provide them with a PC either a desktop or cheap note book , and initially teach and develop in them an interest to do some original work like painting ,doing home work.. reading stories etc. One such site, where their attention can be drawn to, which I came across recently, is http://www.balagokulam.org/.
In due course they themselves will find new openings to show their capacities either in art, education or understanding our epics etc.

My 18mth old does watch her kiddie shows like Dora...

2008-04-11T09:18:00.000-04:00

My 18mth old does watch her kiddie shows like Dora etc on TV, infact she points out the TV remote when she is drinking her milk in the morning. I let her watch sometimes & I do feel guilty about it. Of lately I have started taking the remote away from the usual place where we keep it & put it away somewhere else. Sometimes when objects are out of sight they are out of their mind. It works for her & then I engage her in some other activity like reading a book, playing with her blocks etc. Watching TV while eating the food can become a routine if we use it as a "means" to achieve the "goal" ie eating the dinner. But at their age its possible to break their routine by giving them a option to choose something else, maybe play her favourite songs instead of TV. I feel at this age they want to assert their independence & they can be rebellious at times to the limit that it can get frustrating for the parents. But giving them a choice makes them feel more independent in making their own decisions & we can also control their habits in a subtle way.