Cartoons...a love/hate relationship

Let me start this blog entry by stating that I am not categorically opposed to my daughter watching cartoons. I personally grew up watching t.v. that my parents supervised: I have fond memories of watching Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, and the Muppet Show. When I became a parent, I planned to have the same relaxed-but-supervised approach with my children.

However, before we moved to Australia, Sydney didn’t get to watch any t.v. because, when she did, she became a bit of a monster. An unrecognizable slack-jawed, drooling, eyes-not-focusing monster that ate my vivacious, loquacious little girl. Beyond the zomby-fying effect of them, Syd’s appetite for cartoons seemed insatiable: when we were so bold as to turn off the t.v., we were met with tantrums of epic proportions.

So when Syd turned around 1 year old, Dan and I made the joint decision that the t.v. would not ever be on around her, to avoid her turning into the slack-jawed monster described above. This was actually quite easy to pull off: because Dan and I were both at work most of the day, we didn’t consider turning on the t.v. in the limited hours we had with Syd before her bedtime.

Apparently Dan and my approach is consistent with recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). In 1999, AAP issued a policy statement that pediatricians should urge parents to avoid t.v. watching for kids under the age of 2, noting that research on early brain development shows that babies and toddlers have a critical need for direct interactions with parents and other significant caregivers for healthy brain growth and the development of appropriate social, emotional, and cognitive skills. The AAP also notes that research has shown that exposure to t.v. can lead to delays in language development (among other negative effects) and that no studies have documented an actual benefit from early viewing of t.v. and videos.

In 2010, the AAP issued an updated policy on t.v. watching, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2010-1636v1, in which the organization acknowledged the dramatic changes to the media landscape in the preceding decade. The AAP noted, somewhat shockingly, that “kids are now spending more than 7 hours per day on average using televisions, computers, phones and other electronic devices for entertainment.” (Seven hours per day!!) The AAP recommends that children be exposed to less than two hours of screen time per day (and maintains that children under two should not watch any t.v.).

Now that I’m a SAHM in Australia and have much more idle time with Sydney, I find that it’s increasingly difficult to keep Syd away from the tube. Although I think I’ve done a great job of filling our days with fun and educational activities, there is undoubtedly a lot more time in the day that needs to be filled. Most significantly, since moving here, Syd has considerable trouble leaving my side. Just as my pediatrician forecast before we left, Syd has been very emotionally and physically needy towards me since her entire universe has been turned upside down. As predicted, Syd needs mommy all the time. Although I love all this time with her, it can be quite challenging to make dinner (or even pee!) when she can’t leave my side.

So… rules be damned….Syd now can watch up to an hour of cartoons in the (very) early morning when she gets up, when I am still barely conscious and checking emails and making our plans for the day, and a bit more in the evenings when I am preparing dinner. (My efforts to learn how to cook will be chronicled another day.) Many days she is happily distracted by her books and toys and forgets to demand that I grab the "motes!" (remotes) and turn on the cartoons. Syd still turns into the same drooling, cross-eyed monster when she watches cartoons – Dora the Explorer and Diego are her favorites – but I feel slightly less guilty when I realize that she’s actually really paying attention to the shows and can tell me afterwards what animals were in them. I even find her humming the theme songs from them. Do I dare say she may actually be learning something from them?! From a sanity standpoint, Syd’s sessions with Dora and Diego allow me to get a few things done around the house that I couldn’t do otherwise. While I am admittedly using the t.v. as an “electronic babysitter,” as the AAP aptly coins it, at this time it’s the best I can do. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being a parent, the best you can do is good enough! Finding balance as a parent is a constant seesaw, and sometimes I need Dora and Diego weighing down the other end of the seesaw to stay upright.