The impact of TV on toddlers

[danniellabella]

I'm not sure if this would be better in the TV section or here so Mods please move it if you wish.

I want to talk about the impact that TV has on toddlers. Mainly because one of my 2 year old's fave shows is Dora and Diego.
Well, I noticed yesterday, and again today that she was counting to 5...in spanish!

I don't know if I should stop her watching things like this at the moment while she's still trying to learn to speak, I don't want her getting confused and speaking spanish instead of english. What are your thoughts?

[Rouge]

Nah she doesn't really know what she's saying at this point. And she won't be getting confused. Think about children in bilingual families they turn out to be pretty bright sparks

[~clover~]

I've let mine all watch kids shows from a young age. They do pick up alot of stuff.
i have heard that parking them infront of the tv as a small baby has a worse affect, as the motions on a tv are too fast & it can affect the way the pathways in the brain develop.
I don't know much about it, but do have a friend who used to park her DD in front of the tv for hours on end (all day) from only a few weeks old & her DD was a much later developer than any of mine. Still is. But that could just be her too & have nothing to do with the tv

[danniellabella]

Nah she doesn't really know what she's saying at this point. And she won't be getting confused. Think about children in bilingual families they turn out to be pretty bright sparks

I actually think she does know what she's saying because she actually counts objects in spanish, not just saying things for the sake of talking.
I'm certainly not saying I don't think she'll not be smart - on the contrary, I know I'm probably a bit biased but I'm proud of the fact my DD could count to 10 at 13 months old and at 25 months old can count to 5 in spanish, I'm just not sure if she'll start thinking its normal to talk spanish instead of english.

[Rouge]

No no I don't mean she doesn't know it's counting. At that age it's mostly mimicking is what I mean. I don't think she'll get confused. DD did a similar thing where she counted in spanish and italian but sadly she forgot it eventually until she hit school and was learning languages again.

[~clover~]

Dora speaks mostly english, so I don't think you'll have that problem unless you want to follow through with it. I don't think she'll learn counting past 5 or 10 anyway, coz Dora doesn't go that far. & by the time she's in school she'll have forgotten most of it, as my girls have.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I think a bit of TV is good for children age 2+. I hate Dora, so it isn't on, but DS adores Thomas (I don't, but can live with it). DS can name different engines, different types of engines, talk about the difference between steam and diesel engines - and makes up stories about them. It's great for him as a base for knowledge and imagination. He recogises numbers and colours from watching Thomas too. I think he may be colour blind, so anything that can help with colours is useful.

I talk in French or Italian (or both, with English thrown in) when cooking, we count and talk in German... DS isn't confused as to the English language. Exposure to languages early is great as it primes the brain to hear sense in other languages when you hear them as adults.