My Two Year Old Watches TV

Author’s note: This isn’t an attempt to convince anyone that watching TV is a fantastic use of time (for anyone!). Rather, I’m just trying to share that allowing a limited amount of TV hasn’t completely ruined our son’s speech or imagination, and hopefully this eases the guilt that some parents feel about their children’s limited TV consumption.

As a new parent, one thing that really stuck out to me was the AAP’s recommendation that kids under two not have any screen time, and that after that, it should top out at two hours. Seems pretty reasonable, and I absolutely completely agree that television shouldn’t play a big role (if any) in the life of a baby. “Back in the day,” I may have even envisioned a screen free household for a short time, lest my precious developing son catch more than a minute of Ellen and stunt his speech completely.

Fast forward a few years and while it hasn’t taken over our home, I’ve definitely come around to the idea that we can welcome a few shows into our house without any major negative side effects. There are even a few kids shows I actually LIKE.

I know many parents let their younger kids watch TV but have some guilt or bad feelings about this, or even try to keep it a secret (which doesn’t usually bode well, kids have big mouths!). I can’t pretend I have any research to back me up (except my own personal case study as a kid who LOVED TV and by most accounts, is doing okay), but I’ll share a bit about why I think it’s alright to allow a little screen time at home with older toddlers, and some loose guidelines our family uses.

{Why we allow TV}

• It gives a new dimension to some of my son’s interest, or helps him find new ones. I won’t argue that watching Chuggington or the Cars movie is a better experience than playing trains and cars first hand, but my son loves to see how the characters in these shows/movies interact, what kind of “jobs” they do, and learn a bit more about them. I’ve certainly learned a lot about different trains, cars, trucks, dinosaurs, etc. that I wouldn’t know about (YES I KNOW BOOKS EXIST), and that we have reinforced when playing with Oliver. I don’t think most kids shows are really educational, but they have been a huge springboard for some of his imaginative play.
• It gives us a quick break in a pinch. I don’t like to use TV as a baby-sitter, but on rare occasion, I’ll need to get ready/answer an urgent work email/check Facebook/whatever, and in that exact moment, nothing else will keep my son’s interest. Like I said, it’s rare, but mama’s gotta make some money, and if it means the occasional Super Why, I’m down with it.
• It can be good snuggle time! It’s hard to find anything that will get my busy two year old to stop and sit down for a few minutes. We read lots of books, but I’ve found that he’s particularly cuddly during TV time, and totally use it to my advantage when I can.
• TV or movies make for much more pleasant long car rides. No pinterest “TV free car activity pack!” has helped us survive trips to my in-laws more than our iPad loaded up with a movie or show.

{Guidelines we follow}

I should say that this is the first I’ve written these down, and I didn’t put much thought into them, to me they just make sense.

• We aim for 40 minutes or less (2 twenty minute shows) in a day. Your “magic number” may be higher or lower, but I think that the AAP’s two hour recommendation seems like more than enough, at least for my two year old. Often on weekdays it’s one show in the morning, and one in the evening, with lots of active playtime the rest of the day. The evening show seems to happen less and less as the weather improves. Sometimes days go by and we haven’t watched a single show, other days we might top out at an hour of television time. I get a little anxious on those days, but I feel like as long as it’s the exception and not the norm, it isn’t something to stress about.
• No commercials. Truthfully, this is just because we don’t have cable, so the only TV exposure Oliver gets is from Netflix, but I’m pretty thankful for it, because we are all blissfully unaware of the latest and greatest toy sensations.
• No obnoxious shows. I thought of this a little late, and then course corrected, so we missed the boat on a few (Thomas drives me nuts, and I’m not a huge fan of Lightning McQueen, who is unfortunately, a hero in our house), but we’ve mostly been able to phase out obnoxious shows without any notice. My son’s favorite show is Chuggington, and I actually think it’s adorable. Luckily, we’ve been able to avoid the dreaded Caillou as a result.
• Keep it age appropriate. I’m a big believer that kids grow up too fast, and that it can be hard to stop an active imagination from wandering into scary territory. We stay away from anything scary or violent, and stick to shows designed with little kids in mind. This means that for now, we catch our news online.
• Think about the main messages, character traits, diversity, etc. displayed in the show. One of the reasons I’m a big fan of Chuggington is because one of the main train characters (and my son’s favorite!) is a girl, and their mayor is a black woman. I also like that the characters make mistakes sometimes, but learn a lesson about kindness, trying their best, or listening to adults.

One tool that I’ve found helpful is commonsensemedia.org. You can use this to evaluate TV shows, movies, books, and more to help determine if a show is something you want your child exposed to. Of course, nothing is better than your own involvement in picking a show, but I think it does a nice job explaining age appropriateness and value (or lack of) in certain shows. Here’s an example review of a popular show, Super Why:

I hope that this is useful…or at least helps you know you’re in good company if your child loves Barney, or knows every word to the Sesame Street theme song!