Leche, Baby!

We have been very reluctant to expose our son, now two, to television. Some research has shown that excessive TV watching by infants and toddlers can have negative effects, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children under two not have any screen time. With so many infant “media products” out there, like Baby Einstein, it is hard to know what to do. We don’t have a TV in our house at all, so it is not part of our daily routine and therefore has been easy to keep out of our son’s life. But, I think he is at an age where he will really enjoy and possibly benefit from some of the PBS-like shows for kids out there.

We started by showing him short video clips, mostly from YouTube. The videos are short (2-5 minutes) and some even have fun soundtracks that kids like to dance to. The nice thing is that my son can just call out anything he’s interested in (lately: elephants!, tapir!, helicopter!, choo choo train!) and I can find a good video of it in a flash. One very large word of caution is that you have to screen the videos before you show your child. A quick search of “elephants” might take you to a video of an elephant gone mad at a circus, killing its trainer, a “wildebeast” video might show one being devoured by a crocodile (let’s not traumatize the kiddies), “helicopter” is often a crash. But, if you are willing to do a little research, you can find some great videos.

Here are some of his favorites:

Italian cartoon called “La Pimpa”

A helicopter ride over Hawaii

“Steam Train”

Curious George

The “Planet Earth” series from the Discovery Channel has some of the most amazing cinematography I have ever seen. I bought the whole series, which we play on my laptop and watch for about 20 minutes at a time. He loves it and so do I.

If you have suggestions, please let us know!

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