Now you are making things up. I never in a million years said that if a baby watches one minute of TV then he or she is destined for anything. Don't be ridiculous.
Well, it IS a debate board, not a *chat* board. You have every right to comment on choices or ideas you disagree with. The idea of debating is to find your platform and defend it, try to back it up.
It can be a lot of fun here, but you have to learn to have a thick skin.
And no one is *attacking* you. They are challenging you to defend your platform. Attacking would be outright saying you are a bad mother. No one is saying that.
I have to say that much as I agree with a lot of what you have posted about tv use, I feel I have to draw the line at the idea that every single scrap of tv is junk food. I don't think there are any benefits, no matter what the content, to be gained for babies and toddlers watching tv, but I think that there are certain shows that school-aged children can actively benefit from.
Of course, my opinion on this may be based on the fact that to this day I can sing most of the songs from the school house rock series and remember exactly what the cartoons looked like :-). The "We the People" and "I'm just a Bill" songs actually saved my bacon on a couple of tests. Not to mention "Conjuction Junction" and all of the multiplication songs.....ah, classics! And very useful for memorisation. My siblings and I were glued to saturday morning cartoons just to get the school house rock songs :-).
Oh, that's funny -- I didn't even know that WAS a tv show. We have some cassette tapes with the songs, and they DO get stuck in your head. And actually, I am sure that there are some shows that kids can learn from and that can help imprint the right values in people. I grew up in a somewhat disfunctional family and got a lot of my ideas about what real families were supposed to be like from books and TV. I still get all misty-eyed about that Grandpa who died on the Waltons show and all that "Good Night Jim Bob" stuff.....overall, I don't think it did me much harm. What bugs me today, though, is that TV has gotten SO violent and graphic -- even network TV here. I watched a couple of shows this summer and my jaw was hanging open half the time, and I'm asking my husband, "Can they SHOW that on TV?" and he's telling me of course they can, they just did....lol. And if it's not violent and graphic, it's completely inane, with the "Who wants to marry my Cat?" kind of junk; and if it's not violent or graphic or inane it's completely against our family value system, with everybody having sex with everybody else and then trying to figure out who could possibly be the father of Rachel's baby, and if it's not violent or immoral or inane, the commercials are trying to sell you stuff that's bad for you and you don't need. But other than that, I think it's great, and people should actually watch more of it.
Hey, Lois, the Schoolhouse Rock folks also recorded a record (that you can get on CD now) called God's Top Ten which is very likely the best mnemonic device for teaching kids the 10 Commandments I've ever used in Sunday School. Even my kinda verbal 2 year old class catches on to most of them about halfway through the Sunday School year. When most of the members of our Disciple I class admitted to not knowing the 10 Commandments in order, we played the CD for a couple weeks and now we all know them (and it's a really cute CD :)
I can't stand all the reality shows on TV, I haven't watched a Sit Com in who knows how long. THe ones I did like were cancelled. Fox shows so much crap it's scary. Talk shows are just plain dumb (Except Oprah, I dont watch her very much, but I do like her show)
Over the past year we started watching more of the Life, Discovery and History channels. We started watching Jeapordy more. We cancelled a lot of the channels on our sattelite. I do watch sports (I just like Hockey - but hey, i'm canadian, i think it's a requirement). But other than that, I only have a couple hour long dramas I enjoy.
TV has just gotten dumb, and it seems to be a contest among stations to see who can go the furthest with their story ideas.
Good grief, did Lois shoot your dog? What is your issue with her that you're just making things up about her now? Geesh, I don't even necessarily AGREE with her on the TV issue, but there's no way she's ever made anything even close to the comments you keep attributing to her.
Other than when visiting the cousins, the kids have never watched network television (or cartoon network) of any kind. We are so out of it that I heard about sponge bob from this board and I have to admit I'm still not really clear about what that show is about. I don't think they actually know what a commercial is (which is not necessarily a good thing, now that I think about it.....). But forget network television, some of the more recent Disney cartoons have left me absolutely horrified (Huntchback of Notre Dame springs to mind, someone thought this would be cute for children?!?!).
As for school house rock....hmmm....how can I put this kindly ;-)? What rock were you under as a kid:-)? Unless you aren't more or less my generation? Everyone I knew grew up on those cartoons, they were absolutely classics. I've got a very well done cd with rock bands who have re-interpreted the songs a bit and that was one of ds's favorite cds for a very long time. Still the cartoons and original songs were absolutely the best.
You must have read my mind! I was just about to post and ask if anyone knew of a dvd with the songs. That is going straight on my amazon list of orders. Thanks so much!
No, but since I never said you DID say that, your question is completely irrelevant.
I SAID you posted a controversial opinion, one that is UNSUBSTANTIATED by science (ie., that any level of TV watching is okay for an infant, when in fact, many studies suggest harm is caused).
If you want me to "pay attention", perhaps you should start there yourself.
Pages
It can be a lot of fun here, but you have to learn to have a thick skin.
And no one is *attacking* you. They are challenging you to defend your platform. Attacking would be outright saying you are a bad mother. No one is saying that.
dj
Dj
"Now when I need help, I look in the mirror" ~Kanye West~
Of course, my opinion on this may be based on the fact that to this day I can sing most of the songs from the school house rock series and remember exactly what the cartoons looked like :-). The "We the People" and "I'm just a Bill" songs actually saved my bacon on a couple of tests. Not to mention "Conjuction Junction" and all of the multiplication songs.....ah, classics! And very useful for memorisation. My siblings and I were glued to saturday morning cartoons just to get the school house rock songs :-).
Laura
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JKTY/qid=1095186303/sr=8-1/ref=pd_cps_1/102-2707431-9680152?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846
Hey, Lois, the Schoolhouse Rock folks also recorded a record (that you can get on CD now) called God's Top Ten which is very likely the best mnemonic device for teaching kids the 10 Commandments I've ever used in Sunday School. Even my kinda verbal 2 year old class catches on to most of them about halfway through the Sunday School year. When most of the members of our Disciple I class admitted to not knowing the 10 Commandments in order, we played the CD for a couple weeks and now we all know them (and it's a really cute CD :)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000065USZ/qid=1095186228/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i4_xgl15/102-2707431-9680152?v=glance&s=music&n=507846
Karen
"A pocketknife is like a melody;sharp in some places,
I can't stand all the reality shows on TV, I haven't watched a Sit Com in who knows how long. THe ones I did like were cancelled. Fox shows so much crap it's scary. Talk shows are just plain dumb (Except Oprah, I dont watch her very much, but I do like her show)
Over the past year we started watching more of the Life, Discovery and History channels. We started watching Jeapordy more. We cancelled a lot of the channels on our sattelite. I do watch sports (I just like Hockey - but hey, i'm canadian, i think it's a requirement). But other than that, I only have a couple hour long dramas I enjoy.
TV has just gotten dumb, and it seems to be a contest among stations to see who can go the furthest with their story ideas.
Karen
"A pocketknife is like a melody;sharp in some places,
As for school house rock....hmmm....how can I put this kindly ;-)? What rock were you under as a kid:-)? Unless you aren't more or less my generation? Everyone I knew grew up on those cartoons, they were absolutely classics. I've got a very well done cd with rock bands who have re-interpreted the songs a bit and that was one of ds's favorite cds for a very long time. Still the cartoons and original songs were absolutely the best.
Laura
Laura
I SAID you posted a controversial opinion, one that is UNSUBSTANTIATED by science (ie., that any level of TV watching is okay for an infant, when in fact, many studies suggest harm is caused).
If you want me to "pay attention", perhaps you should start there yourself.
Karen
"A pocketknife is like a melody;sharp in some places,
Pages