When the toddlers I care for have had (what I’ve decided is) enough TV I often tell them their favourite characters are going to sleep. If they ask for TV when I don’t want them to watch I’ll say again that so-and-so is sleeping.
Should we encourage children to believe the characters on TV have lives we can’t see? Should we molly coddle them with these ideas when we really just want to say “no”?
I’m ok with limited TV for children but definitely don’t want them watching all day, or becoming less able to be entertained without the screen on. Perhaps the best way to keep TV from becoming so central is to keep the characters the children watch from becoming too real, like playmates they can’t wait to see again. Dora’s not sleeping – she doesn’t bloody well exist!
What do you think? If your young children watch TV, what do you say to them to discourage them from wanting too much?
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You might also like:
Television makes toddlers aggressive: The Telegraph
Television addicted 2 year olds don’t even know their own name: Eco Child’s Play
Why it’s really not so terrible to let your toddler watch TV: Huffington Post
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