Thursday, September 28, 2006
Are the children in your care watching too much television? I have discussed this before and am a firm believer in limiting the amount of television that young children are allowed to watch, especially in child care where you are paid to provide a learning experience to the child... That's the difference between child care and just babysitting, where the only real concern is keeping a child safe and away from harm... perhaps it is a part of being a professional and how you view your business.
This article and report that it refers to is alarming in the fact that obviously not many child care providers view the situation the way I do...
Is Your Child Watching Too Much TV at Day Care?
SEATTLE, Sept. 28 /PRNewswireA national survey finds that 89percent of children in home-based child care settings regularly watchtelevision at day care, an average of 1.5 hours a day.
Although the amount of television that young children watch at home hasbeen well documented, no study until now has examined how much televisionpreschool children watch in day care. A study by Dimitri A. Christakis, MD,MPH, Michelle M. Garrison, MPH and Frederick J. Zimmerman, PhD, publishedin the October issue of Communication Reports, examines the amount of television viewing in home-based and in center-based child care programs.
Using data from the nationally representative Profile of Child CareSettings study, the authors found that children in 89 percent of home-based child care settings and in 35 percent of center-based child care settingsregularly watch television. In those settings in which children regularlywatch television, it is on for an average of about 1 hour per day incenter-based care, and for about 1.5 hours per day in home-based settings.
Furthermore, for children in home-based child care settings, approximately 30 percent of the programming is "non-educational." To put that amount of television viewed into perspective, it is worth noting that prior estimates for children this age based on parental reports of home viewing, were about1.5 hours a day (Rideout et al., 2003). Previous estimates maysubstantially underestimate the total television exposure for many children.
There are reasons to be concerned about television viewing in thiscontext, the authors report. There is some evidence that heavy early television viewing may adversely affect children's diet, physical activity, aggression and ability to pay attention. Moreover, early childhood environments represent important opportunities for socialization and for adult-directed learning.
"Given the opportunities for interactions with peers, teachers and other educational activities -- which is what is expected of high-quality child care -- it is disappointing to determine that passive viewing of a screen is displacing some of this rich stimulation," said Dr. Christakis.
While some viewing has proven educational value, it is generally agreedthat even the best programs are not the equal of thoughtful adult interactions.
A full copy of the study can be viewed at
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=0893-4215&linktype=1
