Toddlers and television

I knew I was one step ahead of all of my friends with young children when I plopped my newborn son in his bouncy seat right in front of Barney and Dragon Tales and ordered him to stay there and watch. Because the cover story of last week's Newsweek magazine was "Why TV is Good for Kids" . I've always been an advocate of quality television, and in fact I think my child has learned better behavior from educational television than from me-- not to mention problem solving, Spanish, the alphabet, and even reading skills (I always keep the closed caption on). The subtitle of the article is "Guilt Free TV"-- but I've never felt guilty! The article discusses the research involved in creating an educational show for toddlers including why certain shows keep a child's attention and how educational components of a program are tallied. The follow-up article blasts television for kids. You can decide for yourself. I think that as long as it's not being used like heroin, quality educational television is for certain a beneficial component to a well-rounded toddler's schedule of activities.