JuiceBoxJungle: The case FOR television?

And yes your right, I myself am a single mother with a 5 year old and a 7 year old and both watch Tv when we get home after school. Both kids are healthy and love to play outside and play gam boards as well, this year my daughter will be going to camp and what i really think its about is balance thats all.

My son is 4 and watches Sprout, Noggin and Disney but it is always done in moderation. I don't think TV is bad at all. I think every child needs down time from playing, running around, reading, drawing etc...

thogh i believe that some tv may rot brains, i also believe that it depends on what you let them watch. i have two boys, age 4 and 2, and they watch the noggin channel. it for preschoolers and teaches them values such as teamwork, proper interactions with other children and other good things. they used to argue alot but now my older son plays with his younger brother and is teaching him the wonder pets song about team work. since they have begun watching this, their interactions with each other and others have improved. so again i believe its what u allow them to watch.

Do you people hear yourselves? You talk about T.V. like it is a person, a nanny or grandparent. Their is nothing good about T.V. OMG! I said it! T.V. is for drolling zombies. Brain activity takes a dive when ANYONE sits in front it. Just call it like it is. T.V. is not good, at all. How do we think children were raised before T.V.? They read, played outdoors (OMG germs!)and actually helped with Chores (OMG Child Labor) You T.V. freaks need a life.

I have read most of the posts and agree with high_D. Our TV is on from about 6:30am to about 10:00pm. That is just the way it goes at our house. My kids watch Handy Many, Sesame Street, Little Einstiens, iCarly, Drake and Josh, SpongeBob, Johnny Test....Blah Blah Blah!!! We also get stuck watching many episodes of How it's Made, MythBusters and Deadliest Catch! My kids LOVE CSI:LV and they are also watching Twilight over and over. We as a family ar TV watchers and when the kids are watching something we don't want to watch we read and when we are watching something they don't want to watch they go play. Simple as that. We watch TV and neither one of my children are Obease nor do they eat dinner in the living room.

LOL! No TV at all seems just cruel to me, to both parents and kids! Limits are good, sure. (After all they should be playing and doing other stuff). But as a mom, you sometimes just need 10 minutes when you can't supervise them as closely and you would rather have them watching a show than trying to climb inside the washing machine! And I think my kids would feel weird if they had no idea what the other kids were talking about when they mentioned Dora in preschool. They even watch shows in pre-school!! Can't be all bad!!

Now my daughter is busy watching her new TickleMe Plant. So for at least a half an hour a day she spends some time either tickling it or watering it etc. The TickleMe Plant is the REAL plant that MOVES when you Tickle It! The leaves instantly fold and even the branches droop when Tickled!
Growing them proved to be a great family activity. So shut off the TV and grow a TickleMe Plant...you will be Tickled you did!

My daughter (18 months) spends 2-3 hours playing with me outside (gardening), about an hour watching me cook (she has vegetable washing duties), about 1.5 hour of my time with her playing and reading books, and yes, my daughter spends about half hour daily watching Kidsongs or Baby Einstein. I do not have the actual TV on during the day, only after she goes to bed. I simply don't like the ads, so I will leave TV time for when she is 3 years old or so. She listens to music all day (we attend Kindermusic classes too). I think that everything needs to be done in moderation. Mommy (or daddy) time with baby is a must.

Yes .......... i admit i m guilty i am one of those 'bad' mums who let their toddler watch tv. I switch on tv first thing in the morning and switch it off last thing at night, and so what. My daughter is a very bright and healthy and bouncy three year old and she learned a lot from TV especially from Dora. I only make sure that she watches appropriate programmes like Disney Channel, Dora and baby TV and altough the TV is switched on it does not mean that she stays glued to the set she plays, run about or draws at the same time, and for those wondering where I am whilst she s watching TV, most of the time I m in the same room and we engage in a discussion about what the characters are doing.

Are you kidding? This is sick- I'm sorry if you grew up constantly in front of the tv, but you shouldn't let your kids waste away their time and education so American parents can be even lazier. My kids watch the occasional Saturday morning cartoons, but other than that they don't miss it, which is probably due to the fact that we don't 'babysit' them with it.
It's not a matter of them having fun and discipline; I prefer to have them running outside playing games rather than staring and drooling at a screen. I'm sick of hearing of people bitching and moaning about our kids' education and then reading articles like this.

I confess I am one of "those" moms who let their toddler watch some t.v., and who cares! Anyone, with a child (or children) understands the need to turn on the television a few times a day in order to get stuff done around the house, and be able to make dinner without a kid hanging on your leg. My daughter only watches Noggin, PBS, or I will put on a DVD like Baby Einstein or her fave Wall-E. Seems to me "those" people who come up with limiting t.v. or no t.v. at all are probably over educated bores with no children, so it is easy for them to sit in the cheap seats and give their unsolicited opinions. I believe in educational programs for young children and of course monitoring how much t.v. they watch is a good thing - of course children should have plenty of other types of stimulation such as, outdoor play, story time a the public library, or socializing with other kids at the park. We are our daughter's parents and it us up to us (not so called "experts) to decide what is best for her - my hubby and I agree moderation is key and as long as she is getting stimulated from a variety of activities not just t.v. she will be just fine.

The Little Einsteins are a saving grace at my house. Our little one has to have it to go to sleep at night. We set the sleep timer at 30 mins and let him doze off with his favorite characters. And in the evenings, while dinner is getting cooked, and clothes are getting washed and all the other duties that need to be done are getting done, he is absorbed in the educational episodes. Which is why it is a saving grace!!!!!!!!

Yep, my kids watch TV, play video games and play online.
During playdates however, I rarely let them watch TV. And it really bugs me when my kids have been at a playdate at someone else's house, and all they have done is watch TV.

My son loves mickey mouse clubhouse...it's my only break if i need to work on some files and email clients when i get home...I come home early 3:30 so i can spend extra time with him...but i do still need to put in another hour or two of work...so i work for a while, play with him, work, play, work, play...if it wasn't for mickey this winner i would have gotten zero work done...now that it's getting nicer he wants to go outside in the back yard...but there is still a toss of mickey in there...thank god for mickey LOL taking him to disney in a month :)

I live with my grandson and he loves thomas the tank engine. Well he probably could watch these dvds all day long but he doesn't. his parents step in and monitor his tv viewing. the tv is not a babysitter for the kids. tv should be used for instructional purposes to help educate them for school (i.e. sesame street). so i think theres more for kids to do then watch the boob tube

Why do some commentors assume that people are Lying about how their family watches TV? Why lie? I grew up without a TV or VCR until I was 15. Boy did I miss out on pop culture references. But I could read at 3 and entertain myself for hours. My kids only watch dvds- no cable, no network. They watch about 2 hrs a day on average. We don't have cable or network because we (mom and dad) would get too absorbed and also kids don't need to see the news or the commercials.

i'm a kid.and i watch TV for at least on e hour a day! sometimes actually five hours... heh heh.i am in fourth grade and doing fine. your answer

Until a month ago, I took my little toddler with me to adult church and believe me, most times I couldn't have told you what was preached, even if my life depended on it. moved her to children's church and was told she was a little angel. How? Every Sunday, they put on their favorite character CDs and play with the kids. And the kids? They love it, learn some new things and leave you free to enjoy too. Thank God for the TV!

I just had to comment again after I read everyone's comments--it's kind of funny that someone who says we shouldn't bash people who don't let their kids watch TV would then turn around and bash people who have watched TV and do let their kids watch it. You don't know that keeping the TV away is going to make your kid any smarter than they were going to be in the first place. My kids watch TV pretty much whenever they want, just like I did and we all have turned out (or are turning out) remarkably well, smart, conversational, cultured--we are not mindless, drooling zombies. I'm not saying the TV made us intelligent, it probably had very little to do with it, which is really my point.
Just because you don't have a TV might *not* be the reason your child is well-adjusted, smart or attentive (it could just be parenting and genes). My little TV monsters are both super-smart, my older son starting watching TV just after he was a year old, a year later he was printing his name, speaking with a killer vocabulary, counting, naming all his colors (by the time he was two). Now he's 10, reads books at a high-school level and is in the Talented and Gifted program at his school for his math and language abilities. My younger son is 8 and already wants to be a mathematician, he's also in the Talented and Gifted program for his abilities. I took him to sit in on some of my college algebra classes and I'm not kidding, the kid understood some of it!
Also, both my brother and I learned to read very early, I was writing stories myself by the time I was 5 and reading things like Pinocchio and the Hobbit in my early grade school days--despite our many hours in front of the TV. I'm pretty sure I don't normally drool on myself, (sometimes when I'm asleep maybe) I go to college and haven't gotten anything lower than a "B", ever, plus I've gotten a 4.0 the last three terms (with a more than full-time course load). My brother, (who was an even worse TV addict then myself) was the youngest manager to ever be hired in his company (I think he was just 21 or 22) and he is now the Safety Engineer/Manager, (also the youngest to ever get that position).

Well, I probably have more to say, but the movie is over and my boys are running amok! I know it's a personal decision, but for me: Long Live TV (aka "greatest babysitter ever").

i grew up watching tv and i didn't end up in some god forsaken plave or in jail or flunked my SATs...and my baby has been watching tv ever since and he is almost 2 years old. TV helps me have my quiet time and it can be a learning tool for my kid. So there!