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By Mom Unplugged, February 13, 2008 3:44 pm

CJ of Resources 4 Home-Education (a great blog by the way with lots of links to educational resources!) left me a comment today with a very interesting link. The link is to a Reuters article entitled: Psychologist Warns of Educational Television Myth. Thank you CJ!

Psychologist Dr. Aric Sigman, author of Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging Our Lives is waging a battle against so-called educational television for children, what he calls “recreational junk food.” According to Dr. Sigman, the brains of young children who are exposed to screen time (be it TV, computers or DVD/video) are physically developing in a less healthy way despite any actual learning that might occur as a result of this screen exposure.

He says: “There is a definite inverse relationship between time spent watching any kind of television or screen when you are young and your ability to read and concentrate when you are older.”

He believes that the sensory complexity of TV, video and computer games (rapidly changing images, colors, noises, etc.) is having a detrimental effect on the wiring of the child’s brain and is producing children with shorter attention spans. This claim is backed up by a study that I wrote about here: Children’s Behavioral Problems Linked to TV.

Dr. Sigman also says:

Studies of brain activity have shown that a child doing simple mental arithmetic with coloured counters or beans has greater blood flow to the brain than one engaged what may look like a far more complex computer game… It may well be that your child learns from the TV that a certain country is in Africa, but that may well also come at the cost of doing something to their attention span…(w)hereas if a parent is talking to their children about geography or nature, they can learn without that risk and will physically exercise their brains in the process.

Do Dr. Sigman’s kids watch TV? “My children have candy sometimes, and television is just like candy, it’s recreational junk food…(b)ut it’s a complete myth that children somehow inherently need TV — otherwise they would be born with a television built into their stomachs, just like the Tellytubbies”.

Yet again, the old adage “all things in moderation” seems to be good advice!

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By Mom Unplugged, December 8, 2007 11:28 pm

I still remember growing up and seeing TV ads with Barbie looking gorgeous and twirling around by herself and thinking that if I had that particular Barbie, she would dance around like that and be like a best friend to me instead of a plastic doll, and my life would be perfect. Well, Santa did occasionally bless me with that wonderously miraculous gift of the moment, but the wonderous gift never did what it seemed to in the ads, and it never changed my life.

How do we explain to kids that what is in the ads they see, is not what would come in the package under the tree? The easiest way is to have no TV, so they see no ads.

Barring that more radical approach, the book Unplug the Christmas Machinehas some good suggestions for how to teach your kids about TV commercials:

According to this book, studies have shown that children under the age of 5 cannot distinguish TV commercials from actual programs. (Thanks for the link Dana!)

The authors suggest that parents watch at least one hour of TV with children, in order to discuss commercials.

+ Have young children call out “commercial” whenever an ad appears.
+ Talk to children (especially older children) about what is being advertised and how the product is made to seem appealing.
+ Have older kids count the number of commercials in one hour, or even have them time the length of each commercial.

Here are some ideas that grabbed me from the website PBS Parents: Children and Media:

+ For Grade Schoolers:

“When watching TV with your child, question the commercials.Voice your skepticism by posing questions such as these: Who do you think created this ad? What do you think the message is? What might the advertiser not be telling us? Do you think you can believe what you see? Start with obvious targets—ads promoting high-fat foods, for example—then move on to more subtle ads, such as those promoting a cool or attractive lifestyle. Explain how advertisements are often meant to make people feel that something is missing from their lives. “

+ For Pre-Teens:

Try muting an ad and have your child tell you what he or she thinks the ad is saying. Or…have your child close their eyes and tell you what he or she thinks it is showing.

There are so many more wonderful ideas grouped by age at PBS Parents: Children and Media, that I shall just have to link to them by age here:

Preschoolers
Grade Schoolers
Pre-Teens
Teens

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Quote of the Day:

“Adolescents, youths, and even children, are easy victims of the corruption of love. Deceived by unscrupulous adults, who, lying to themselves and to them, draw them into the dead-end streets of consumerism.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, quoted today while talking about Christmas (heard on tonight’s NPR All Things Considered)

Sorry this is so “heavy.” I am not Catholic, nor do I usually get into religion on my blog, but I did think this was a quote worth thinking about, no matter what one’s beliefs.

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Read all the Christmas/Holidays Unplugged posts here.

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By Mom Unplugged, November 19, 2007 11:25 pm

Tonight I heard on NPR’s All Things Considered an interesting story that fits right in with Unplug Your Kids so I absolutely have to report it for those who might have missed it. Sorry to postpone my next Christmas/Holiday Unplugged post for anyone who really cares, but I’ll get it up tomorrow morning or evening.

The National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) has just released today, a new study on the reading habits of Americans: children, teens, and adults. Here are some of the findings:

++ Americans are reading less - teens and young adults read less often and for shorter amounts of time compared with other age groups and with Americans of previous years

- Less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers, a 14 percent decline from 20 years earlier.

- Among 17-year-olds, the percentage of non-readers doubled over a 20-year period, from nine percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004.

- On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading.

++ Americans are reading less well – reading scores continue to worsen, especially among teenagers and young males. By contrast, the average reading score of 9-year-olds has improved.

- Reading scores for 12th-grade readers fell significantly from 1992 to 2005, with the sharpest declines among lower-level readers.

- 2005 reading scores for male 12th-graders are 13 points lower than for female 12th-graders, and that gender gap has widened since 1992.

- Reading scores for American adults of almost all education levels have deteriorated, notably among the best-educated groups. From 1992 to 2003, the percentage of adults with graduate school experience who were rated proficient in prose reading dropped by 10 points, a 20 percent rate of decline.

According to NPR, an earlier NEA study was criticized for only considering adults reading literary works, fiction, poetry, and drama. This time the study also included all ages, and all reading materials, including newspapers, magazines, and even the internet. The results were the same.

There seems to be a decline in pleasure reading beginning in middle school and continuing on through high school and adulthood. People read less and less…and therefore, read less and less well. This affects academic and economic performance, as well as civic and political contributions.

Of course the obvious culprits appear to be electronic distractions, however some speak of a positive “New Literacy” among today’s youth, “a literacy not limited to books.” Dana Joya, Chairman of the NEA debunks this claim. Apparently all the kids tested engaged in the same sort of electronic activities, but those who READ BOOKS, did better on the tests.

Other interesting stats from the study :

55% who read below “the basic level,” were unemployed.

Only 3% of prison inmates are proficient readers.

(and I have to say I have not read the complete study so as to be able to exactly define the terms “basic level” and “proficient,” but at least this gives you a general idea).

The final tidbit that caught my attention from this report was that the NEA found that socio-economic status did not have an impact on the amount that children read, rather the defining characteristic, was the number of books in the home.

Links:

NPR story: Reading Study Shows Remarkable Decline in US

NEA: 11/19/07 New Reading Study Summary (and link to download full report)

Photo courtesy of morguefile.com and photographer jeltovski

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By Mom Unplugged, November 13, 2007 7:29 pm

Here I am, ruminating in my corner about Christmas and fussing to myself about the annoying day I have had (running late…then a glass fell and exploded all over the kitchen/dining area requiring extensive and immediate vacuuming…running really late…then forgot it was son’s “Snack Day” so had to rush to grocery store on way to school…running really, really late, etc, etc…all day long). Meanwhile, it is Children’s Book Week this week and a good part of my blog is about … children’s books!

Oh well, I blame Pluto and my biorythms.

I discovered that it is Children’s Book Week by finally catching up on some of my blog reading and finding this interesting post at Not Quite Crunchy Parent. MC Milker cites an interesting statistic in her post:

“…60% of children’s books sold are entertainment tie-ins or based on licensed characters.”

I find this fascinating, yet not surprising. In this day and age it is pretty obvious that a child can see the movie, watch the TV show, buy the plush toy and the action figures, go to McDonald’s and get more toys, and read the books all tied in to the same commercial character.

I guess this is all a form of “branding.” However the flip side is that if it takes Sponge Bob, Care Bears, or Transformers to entice a child to read, I suppose these books do serve some purpose. But there are so many other WONDERFUL children’s books out there, that you don’t have to settle for boring, silly, and commercialized.

Even if you have spent only several minutes reading this blog, I think you will probably have figured out that my preference leans towards what I call “Unplugged Books,” books that do not tie in to TV shows or movies. As MC Milker points out, these books can be harder to find. Walmart doesn’t usually carry them, and even at a “real” bookstore like Barnes & Noble or Borders you might have to know what you are looking for when you go in, or at least be prepared to spend a lot of time digging around.

Of course, root around your local library too. Sometimes a good children’s librarian will put interesting, high-quality, lesser-known books on display. Those displays can be a good place to start.

Where I live, our only non-religious book sources are Walmart, Kmart, and a tiny, poorly stocked bookstore. Our library is pretty small too, so I end up buying a lot of books online.

My tricks for finding “Unplugged Books” online are the following:

- Find some online toy stores that sell “natural” or “Waldorf” toys and see if they sell books. Many of them do. I can guarantee that you won’t find any Sponge Bob or Scooby Doo at those stores (or save time and check my Unplugged Book Stores list).

-These types of “natural” stores often have links to other similar stores or websites, and those links might lead you to books. Look for a “links” section in the main page index.

- Find an interesting-sounding recommended title on a blog (such as mine!) and pull it up on Amazon. Look at the section labeled “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” and any “Listmania!” links that might appear in the left sidebar. I often find wonderful books I had never heard of, simply by following these links. Also, check for other books by the same author. I guess this is the online equivalent of browsing at a good library. I love it!

- There are a lot of blogs out there that often write about children’s books. You won’t find these bloggers recommending anything too mainstream either. The blogs I am familiar with that often recommend children’s books in the posts or sidebars are the following:

Painted Rainbows and Chamomile Tea

Wildwood Cottage

A Wrung Sponge (the blog author, cloudscome, is a children’s librarian)

The Rowdy Pea

The Owl and the PussyCat

Jen Robinson’s Book Page

If you know of other useful children’s literature blogs, please tell me about them in the comments.

- Of course, I must humbly mention that I also write a lot of reviews of children’s books. You can find them by clicking my category “kids’ books” (right sidebar, “What I Write About” drop-down menu). You can also click the subcategories to help find the kind of books you are looking for.

- Lastly, in case you missed it earlier, I should once again direct you to my list of Unplugged Book Stores (top right sidebar). These are stores that sell non-mainstream, “Unplugged Books.” Please check the list regularly because I am always adding new links as I find them.

I hope you find this advice helpful in your search for great children’s books. It takes a bit more effort, but trust me, the results are really worth it! Have fun!

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By Mom Unplugged, October 9, 2007 8:55 pm

There is a new study out which finds that children who watch TV for two or more hours per day from a young age (2.5 years-old), are more prone to behavioral problems and poor social skills when they are older (5.5 years-old).
The study was conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, and was published in the October issue of the journal Pediatrics. It is based on a nationwide survey of the parents of 2,707 children.

Here are some of the findings:

-Children who had been sustained, heavy (two or more hours of TV a day) TV watchers from ages 2.5 to 5.5 had problems in the areas of social skills and behavior. Problems with aggression and difficulty paying attention were also commonly found in this group.

-Children who didn’t watch much as toddlers, but who were heavy viewers by age 5.5 demonstrated problems with social skills.

-Children who watched TV heavily at age 2.5 but who had reduced their TV viewing time by age 5.5, showed no significant social or behavioral problems.

I think that the last point is one of the most interesting findings in this study. Even if a child was a heavy viewer as a toddler, as long as viewing is significantly reduced by age 5.5, then the negative behavioral and social effects seem to be alleviated. In other words, preschool and kindergarten age is still not too late to reduce a child’s TV viewing and see improved behavior. Reducing or eliminating the TV, even after the toddler years, can have a positive impact on behavior and social skills.

Today’s Phoenix newspaper (The Arizona Republic) had an article about the study, that added a few bits of interesting information. The Arizona Republic reporter interviewed Jill Stamm, a psychologist and co-founder of New Directions Institute for Infant Brain Development in Phoenix. According to Ms. Stamm, TV’s short bursts of programming and commercials trains an infant’s brain to “scan and shift” rather than to pay attention for a long period of time. Once this brain pattern is set, it can inhibit the ability to learn later in life. She says: “What the brain gets wired for is quick hits of salient information. The brain gets used to that, and that’s what it wants.” Ms. Stamm says that the brain is adaptable and by reducing or ceasing TV viewing altogether, particularly before the age of 5, the brain will rewire itself and repair the damage.

There is also mention of a former Phoenix school teacher who says she could pick out the heavy TV viewers in her class simply by their behavior. They were the kids who couldn’t sit still and had short attention spans. She also said that “their vocabularies were limited and their writing less descriptive.”

Additionally, the study gaged the effects on 5.5 year-old children of having a television in the bedroom. 41% of the parents surveyed reported that their child had a TV in their room. Not surprisingly, the study found that having a set in the bedroom was linked to sleep problems.

LINKS:

Read the summary of the study at the Pediatrics website, here.

The Arizona Republic Article: TV Bad for Kids, New Study Reports