As with any topic related to parenting toddlers, the topic of television is one where families vary greatly in their approaches. Some families avoid any and all television. Some have multiple televisions which are on much of the time. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle of the television spectrum. Personally, we only have one television in our home. It is in our bedroom. It is not hooked up to cable, satellite, or any other television service. We have a DVD player, and that is what we use the television for.
As far as what kind of programming and how much of it toddlers watch, families also vary greatly. Dylan does not watch DVDs every day, and when he does it is generally for less than two hours a day. He is usually much more likely to be interested in playing in his sandbox or asking me to pitch tennis balls to him for “batting practice”. That said, he does have a few DVDs and we borrow others from the library.
I’m pretty choosy about what we watch as far as DVDs are concerned, I like nature shows, Reading Rainbow, and some of the programs that are designed for kids. Personally, I prefer Mighty Machines over The Wiggles but Dylan likes them both. Interestingly enough, Dylan will not watch just anything. He is rather particular about certain types of content. Specifically, if there is even a hint that the mother of a person or animal has somehow met her demise, he begins to sob and insists that the movie be turned off. We have never tried to watch Bambi, and we won’t, but you would be amazed at how many movies this takes off of the table. He also will not watch anything which contains a real octopus. He thinks that they are gross. Fictional octopi are apparently okay, a la Henry The Octopus from The Wiggles. Speaking of The Wiggles, he also asks me to skip over “La Cucaracha” on the Wiggly Party DVD because the song is about a bug. I had to explain it to him when he asked me what a “cucaracha” was. The word means “cockroach” in Spanish.
What kinds of things do your toddlers enjoy watching on television?
Photo by Alvimann on morguefile.com.