If you want to raise a boob, then just park that diaper- clad butt in front of the tube. And no amount of educational videos can do anything to change the fact that TV is not going to raise a sharp, well-adjusted kid for you.
One new study found that a popular DVD series that’s supposed to help kids learn to talk is a complete sham.
Researchers monitored 96 infants and babies under 2 years old. Some were randomly assigned to watch Baby Wordsworth DVDs for six weeks, while others formed a control group.
The TV-watching babies didn’t learn more words, didn’t learn faster and didn’t do better than the tots in the control group, according to the study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Other studies have found that babies who watch "educational" videos actually learn fewer words and score lower on tests, too.
But hey, it beats hiring a babysitter, right?
It’s not just the tots, either. Hours in front a TV or computer can take its toll on older kids as well. Another new study in that same journal showed that TV-watching teens have a harder time forming emotional bonds with their parents. That’s no real shocker. After all, that’s already enough of a challenge at that age. Throw in time spent on computer, and you can kiss those emotional bonds goodbye.
According to the study, for each daily hour spent watching TV, the risk of low attachment increases by 4 percent, and for each daily hour on the computer, it ups the odds by another 5 percent.
Kids who did homework and enjoyed reading, on the other hand, were more likely to have higher levels of attachment to their parents, according to New Zealand researchers.
If you have a kid, unplug the tube and keep it that way throughout childhood — and whatever you do, don’t ever put a television in a child’s room.
Raising Cain over raising kids,