April 3, 2013  |  3:00pm
The Child, the Tablet and the Developing Mind

Interesting article from the New York Times.

A report published last week by the Millennium Cohort Study, a long-term study group in Britain that has been following 19,000 children born in 2000 and 2001, found that those who watched more than three hours of television, videos or DVDs a day had a higher chance of conduct problems, emotional symptoms and relationship problems by the time they were 7 than children who did not. The study, of a sample of 11,000 children, found that children who played video games — often age-appropriate games — for the same amount of time did not show any signs of negative behavioral changes by the same age.

So… watching videos = bad, playing video games = good…? My kids don’t watch much television, but Luke (age 8) does play 30+ minutes of video games a day, usually on his iPod. Half of it is chess, and the other half tends to be Angry Birds or one of the Lego games.

I’d rather he played outside or read a book, but at least he’s not watching TV. Right? I should feel good about that?

What do you think?

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June 8, 2012  |  5:42am

I know this is making the rounds, but dang, I seriously teared up at this.

“Did you ever grow anything / in the garden of your mind? / You can grow ideas / in the garden of your mind. … All you have to do is think / and they’ll grow.”

Fred Rogers passed away almost a decade ago, and his show was at times corny and silly and, by today’s hyperactive standards, boring. But we occasionally watch today’s children’s TV shows on PBS and other channels, and not once in my kid’s lifetime has a single character or host ever had a message as directly in support of curiosity and intellectual growth as Mr. Rogers did.  Or did we miss that episode?  Maybe that’s why I was so glad to hear Neil deGrasse Tyson’s comments about curiosity.

Some folks want to blame Mr. Rogers for their own mistakes, but this is absurd. Grow up. And stay curious.

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February 5, 2012  |  11:00am

Oh, Lego Friends…

I agree there is a problem here.  I just don’t think the problem is Lego. The problem is society, and the toy marketing industry.

Go ahead and complain about Lego. Should they should be better than this? Sure. But that is tremendously unlikely to happen in a profit-driven world that features major opportunities like this. I’ve worked in marketing. This is a huge opportunity for Lego.

To be honest, my kids are immune to the Lego Friends advertising because they don’t watch television.  Occasionally they watch PBS when in the care of their grandparents, but there are no toy advertisements on that channel.  So perhaps my outrage is less than it would be if I saw those ads frequently.

Maybe the solution is to stop letting your kids watch television, which is far more responsible for negative gender stereotypes than the toy industry.  After that, give your kids the toys that you think they should play with, and then play with them in the way you think they should play.  And whenever your kids repeat or mimic stereotypes from the world around them, take the time to discuss why the stereotypes are wrong. This is hard work, frankly, but it’s the only proactive option I see before us.

(Reblogged from sparkamovement. Video transcript available here.)

(Source: lipsredasroses)

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December 12, 2011  |  11:00am
Last Airbender
Luke: [age 7, after watching an episode of 'The Last Airbender' Nickelodeon cartoon online] "Hmm. I wonder what happens when a Firebender farts? Does fire shoot out of their butt? They never show that in the cartoon, but I bet they go through a lot of chairs."
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October 30, 2011  |  8:31am
Watch a movie tonight
Mom: "I wish I could play right now, but I'm really not feeling well. I just need to rest."
Luke: [age 7; sweetly] "That's okay, Mom. Maybe we should just relax and watch a movie tonight."
Mom: "Have you already used up your TV time for today?"
Luke: "Well... yes, but you're not feeling well."
Mom: "Hmm. Are you just trying to use my tiredness to your own advantage?"
Luke: "Of course! What else did you expect?"
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October 24, 2011  |  8:05am
I'm a little teapot
[Scene: Luke, age 7, is watching the TV game show "Jeopardy"]
Luke: "What are they doing now?"
Me: "This is the final round, so they give them extra time to think about it."
Luke: "But why are they listening to I'm A Little Teapot?"
Me: "What?"
Luke: "This song. They're playing I'm A Little Teapot. You know... 'short and stout, this is my handle, this is my spout'?"
Me: "That's the Jeopardy theme song."
Luke: "Huh. It sounds like they stole it from I'm A Little Teapot."
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