My 6 year old boy, E, loves TV. He always has. He began watching Barney when he was just barely a year old. It evolved to Sesame Street and many of the other PBS shows like SuperWhy and Sid the Science Kid. I felt like everything that I would read online about kids watching TV was negative. It was bad for them, it would lead to obesity and possibly ADHD in the future. I had a constant struggle because E just wasn't interested in much else. I would try and limit his TV but I always let him watch more than what was recommended. He liked watching TV, learning about ABCs, numbers, etc... And I didn't want to force him to play with toys. After all, he has never been a "toy kid".
Fast forward to now.
E is so intelligent. He was writing when he was 2. He was reading when he was 3. Now that he is 6, he can do math in his head and read books that should be way beyond his age. He thrives in school. At his pediatrician appointment today, the doctor told me that he can tell that E does well in school just by spending 5 minutes examining him.
I think back on all of the time and energy that I spent feeling guilty about letting him watch TV. So far in his life, it has turned out to be an enormous benefit. Now I find myself trying to get my 3 year old, who is very artistic and creative, interested in watching TV on PBS. She is not. She asks for it, watches a few minutes at best and then wanders off to play. This is good, too. But I do worry with how well she will do in school because she could not be less interested in her letters and numbers. She enjoys having books read to her so that is what we do now.
The moral of the story is that every child is different. They come with different interests and different ways of learning. And that motherhood guilt is rarely productive. Children will never go without challenges and struggles. And as mothers, I think we only have so much influence and control. Our children will not be perfect, no matter what. But ew, who likes perfect people anyway?!
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