Kids And Television

Being a first time mom, I have yet to learn a lot about raising kids... What I do with my little one, I base on instinct and baby-books... I share insights with other mothers and from there, I learn things one at a time.

Back in the days, I used to remember, raising kids seemed very different from how new parents do it now. Before, it never mattered whether kids were left to watch television, as long as the channel's tuned in to cartoons. But now, more parents are becoming aware of the effects of too much boob-tube and how the fast pace affects their kids' comprehension.

That was what I learned recently from a development specialist whom we saw for Ching. Thankfully, Ching is doing very good, save for the little delay in speech which was, according to the doctor, still understandably normal for kids her age.

It was only recently that I learned that watching tv could prove detrimental to a child's psychological development. Too much exposure to television and computers, according to recent studies,  have been found to contribute to a child's speech delay and worse, could lead to Attention Deficit Disorder Syndrome. Honestly, that last one scared the hell out of me. I said to myself, I won't lose anything if I follow the doctor's advise.  Now, my baby rarely watches tv, well, most likely just a glimpse from time to time but not how most kids  do it, like being glued to the screen for hours..

I made it a routine to read to Ching every chance I get, sing to her, talk to her and try to teach her patiently about every word. Yes, I used the term patiently, you'll be needing a lot of patience when dealing with toddlers. It isn't easy and sometimes, it can get to you especially when  a child is unresponsive, but these things you SHOULD get used to. Besides, it is your child..  Once in our lives, our parents did the same to us, and now, it's our turn. I'm also glad that my little girl is into books herself, every morning after I've bathed her, she would automatically pick one of her books and start looking at the pages.. I am overwhelmed seeing her like this everyday..

So now,  everyone in the family barely watches television. And we miss it badly. But hey, let's look at the positive side, that would mean lesser electricity bill...  That's fair enough for me...