When I was still pregnant with Miley, I wanted to implement the no TV rule
from reading different articles about it. Like they say kids under 2 years old
should not watch ANY TV since the first 2 years of life are considered a
critical time for brain development. That TV can get in the way of interacting
with others, exploring and playing. I figured I’d prefer for her to read books
or to play with toys.
But who am I kidding? I’m a certified TV-holic myself. I
watch every reality show and TV series there is (name it, I watch it!), I’m a
certified Kapamilya, and just basically keep up with any showbiz related news
out there. How can I apply that rule in a house that has a TV in every room?
So it’s no surprise that my kids love watching TV too! It
started with commercials. When Miley was a baby, she’d stop whatever she was
doing, whip her head towards the TV and stay still when her favorite commercials
would play (like Surf, Tide, Colgate, and any shampoo brand). Her latest favorite was the Cornetto Disc ice cream (where they play the song Hey Daydreamer). We
even watch it on Youtube! Now, even Sabre is the same way! They love watching
Nickolodeon (Dora, Hi-5, Team Umizoomi, Yo Gabba Gabba) Disney (Upin & Ipin,
Mr. Bean), and Baby TV!
But their favorite is the Baby Einstein videos! When Miley
would stay with my in-laws, her lolo would always download all kinds of videos
for her to watch. Whenever I’d check on her, I’d find her sitting quietly in
her lolo’s lap, watching the computer screen intently with full concentration.
When my in-laws went to the States for vacation, I decided to randomly copy
whatever videos I could find on their computer and good thing I was able to
copy the Baby Einstein ones.
Miley’s addicted to them. At the height of her addiction, we
would watch Baby Einstein the whole day! Like 5 episodes non-stop! There was
one time she wouldn’t stop watching even if it was past midnight already! It
was like playing a game of who could outlast each other. Well, Miley won. She
would just wake me up when the episode ended so I can play the next video. When
she woke up the next day, the first thing she said was “Baby Einstein! Watch
Baby Einstein!” After that, Vins and I
said that Miley needed an intervention already! Once she hears the opening
music and sees the first scenes, she starts jumping like crazy and shouting all
the names of the animals or things on the screen.
Well, if my kids will be addicted to anything, at least it’s
educational. Miley knows so many words already from watching the videos. I
mean, one time, she was drinking milk from her Elmo bottle which had a picture
of a barn and some chickens. She stopped and pointed at the bottle and said
”Farm!” One time, her grandparents came from vacation and when they got back, told
her they went to the beach. Miley said ”Ocean!” Her memory is also amazing. She
already knows the next scene before it even happens. Like we were watching the
Discovering Water episode and she was already saying “dolphin”. I saw the
screen and it was just water, then it moved to a dolphin video! Now, she already speaks in sentences, can count from 1 to 20, she can recite the alphabet, recognize
numbers, letters, shapes,colors and more! Hopefully, Sabe will follow suit.
I
guess what's bad is when you leave your children to watch TV alone. Like
parents or yayas who use the TV as a substitute babysitter . Whenever
Miley watches her videos, we still try to make it interactive by asking her
different questions about what she sees on the screen. And we make sure there’s a balance between
playtime and reading time as well. And I guess it works because Miley loves
reading books. She even knows the titles of her favorite books when she asks me to read them to her. When we go out, our pasalubong for Miley is always books. When
she’s with us and we bring her to the bookstore, she gets excited and even
picks out what book she wants.
If my kids love Baby Einstein, I love it more! They not only
learn a lot from it but its one of the things that can make them sit still for a long
period of time. =)
What about you, what does your baby love watching? =)
My grandson is special needs,autistic , and his obsession is baby Einstein. His parents were worried because as he got to be 5,6,7 years old he was to addicted to Baby Einstein. However, they did not see what I did. They even got to the point that they got rid of all Baby Einstein stuff and then wanted me tomdomthe same. Not listening to what I have seen , he was not just watching it and looking at the books.He was learning so many different things. By the age 2 he could draw baby Einstein and other characters from the books. He could count to 10 in more languages , and the alphabet,then his parents or I could.He could listen to classical music and tell us who wrote that music.As he got older he would sit with the books ,paper and copy the letters , then sentences making sure they were capitalized and a period at the end. He taught himself how to play the piano. He now can sit at a piano and not only play the music from the videos, but can teach himself how to play other songs.
ReplyDeleteThen finally , we went to a wedding where they had a violinist who played requests. My grandson asked him to play Mozart, Bach, ect.. Then the violinist played the wrong song, my grandson corrected him saying that was Beethoven not Bach, as he laughed. The violinist then amused played songs and had my grandson name the music. My daughter finally realized and looked what he has all learned. He can even tell u about Albert Einstein , and go on the computer and take pictures, or video clips and be very creative. So, yes he is addicted to Baby Einstein, and yes it has to have the baby Einstein logo, the real thing. However, he is still learning and also teaching others. I wish the Einstein pals would of came out.
People who complained sounds like they plopped their kids in front of the tv for along time. Parents , take time and get involved. Give them paper and crayons , or practice the different languages! Even sign languages . Don't let the tv be the babysitter , then complain about it!
What a great story about your grandson! That's amazing how he taught himself the piano and recognize the music and composers. Thank you for sharing :)
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