The debate about whether a preschool child should be allowed to watch TV or not has been going on for ages. Some say absolutely No to TV at this young age, others are very enthusiastic about highlighting the vast benefits of TV exposure at the “formative years”, others choose an in between approach. I must say, I belong to the last group, and I’ll explain why.
It’s true that the first four years of the child’s life are the most important ones in shaping his mental, emotional and social skills. A parent’s role in this stage is providing the child with many chances to explore his world through interaction with his surroundings. Some people say that a child glued to the TV screen or computer monitor will deprive him from such chances.
From my point of view, guided by an adult, be it a parent, an older brother or sister, or a teacher, the software and TV programs can do help the child a lot in his “exploration mission”.
First the parent has to be engaged with his child, and not be lured to leave the kid staring at the screens, in order to get a few minutes of quietness to get delayed chores or duties done. On the contrary, the parent should share some of the time his child spends watching TV and guide him to make the most of his time in front of the silver screen.
The parent can enhance his child’s creativity by asking him questions like, what you think will happen next? Does the character in the show have special powers? Who is there family?...etc
Have you ever wondered why does your little child wants to hear the same story over and over again? Research has shown that children feel good about them selves when they hear/read a story that they know, they feel smart and happy. The parent can enhance his child’s self confidence by asking him questions about characters in his favorite TV show.
The parent can help the child learn new vocabularies, numbers, colors,…etc, while watching TV by asking questions like: what is that number? Do you know what color her dress is? What is he holding in his hands, is it a cup?
A parent can even use his child’s favorite TV show to enhance his motor skills! The parent can point to a character doing some physical activity and encourage his child to imitate it.
The child can learn about accepted and non desired behavior through TV, as the parent applause the desired behavior some character does or say that a certain act done by one of the show characters is bad and explain why to his child.
The parent can take the chance to teach the child cooperation, by giving him easy chores like covering the TV set after the end of the show for example.
Watching TV doesn’t have to be the child’s quiet time away from his parents. On the contrary, it can be a special time for both the parents and their kids. Also it shouldn’t substitute for physical activity. The parent should turn the TV off from time to time and take his child playing outdoors, making crafts, …etc.
As a rule, the TV SHOULD EXTEND NATURAL PLAY AND NOT SUBSTITUTE IT.
As for computer use in the preschool phase, I think it needs a new post.
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