Guidance for parents on How to Help Children Learn Before School is one source that advises parents to strictly limit television viewing. Television’s affect on children is often studied, and recommendations that children under 2 should not be exposed to television and that those older than 2 should be limited to 1 or 2 hours a day are well known. An article in Canadian Parents City News discusses a recent study on the affect of background television on toddlers’ play.

The study, published in the July/August, 2008 issue of Child Development, was conducted with at group of 50 toddlers aged 12, 24, or 36 months. The children were asked to play, with little adult interaction, in a family room-type setting. The children were randomly assigned to play either with no television in the background or an adult-focused game show playing in the background. The groups switched after a half hour.

The children were videotaped, and reviews of the tapes showed that, during the time the television was on, the children were less likely to move from toy to toy. Their play episodes with the television on were half as long as they were without the television. Those in the room with the television on played five percent less time than those without the television.

The study further revealed that the children are affected even when they are not watching the shows; the background noise may disrupt play and stop children from developing attention spans. This lack of development of an attention span leads to the increased risk of issues like ADD.

The study recommended that the television be turned off most of the time that small children are in the same room, which will give them the free attention to play and let parental attention be focused on the children as well.

Canadianparents.com states that, at just over the age of 1, children can play by themselves, but they enjoy interactive play, like pretend play and “gentle roughhousing.” At 19 to 20 months, children enjoy playing near adults, pretending to be adults, and activities like going for a walk or swinging on playground swings.

The site reminds parents that brain development is vulnerable to influences in the environment, and those influences are long lasting. Infants need to learn to focus and interact, and the following tips can help nurture that development:

The work of children is play, and parents are “essential partners.”

Parents are encouraged to:

“Use happy sounds when interacting with your baby, and respond to and answer his happy faces and noises;

“Chat with your toddler at playtime” and encourage him to talk about what he’s doing; and

“Show and coach your preschooler on how to handle her feelings.”

Television’s affect on children is often studied, and recommendations that children under 2 should not be exposed to television and that those older than 2 should be limited to 1 or 2 hours a day are well known. This article in Canadian Parents City News discusses a recent study published in Child Development that studied the affect of background television on toddlers’ play.

The study, published in the July/August, 2008 issue of Child Development, was conducted with at group of 50 toddlers aged 12, 24, or 36 months. The children were asked to play, with little adult interaction, in a family room-type setting. The children were randomly assigned to play either with no television in the background or an adult-focused game show playing in the background. The groups switched after a half hour.

The children were videotaped, and reviews of the tapes showed that, during the time the television was on, the children were less likely to move from toy to toy. Their play episodes with the television on were half as long as they were without the television. Those in the room with the television on played five percent less time than those without the television.

The study further revealed that the children are affected even when they are not watching the shows; the background noise may disrupt play and stop children from developing attention spans. This lack of development of an attention span leads to the increased risk of issues like ADD.

The study recommended that the television be turned off most of the time that small children are in the same room, which will give them the free attention to play and let parental attention be focused on the children as well.

Canadianparents.com states that, at just over the age of 1, children can play by themselves, but they enjoy interactive play, like pretend play and “gentle roughhousing.” At 19 to 20 months, children enjoy playing near adults, pretending to be adults, and activities like going for a walk or swinging on playground swings.

The site reminds parents that brain development is vulnerable to influences in the environment, and those influences are long lasting. Infants need to learn to focus and interact, and the following tips can help nurture that development:

The work of children is play, and parents are “essential partners.”

Parents are encouraged to:

“Use happy sounds when interacting with your baby, and respond to and answer his happy faces and noises;

“Chat with your toddler at playtime” and encourage him to talk about what he’s doing; and

“Show and coach your preschooler on how to handle her feelings.”

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