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TV Or Not TV?

By Rick Rakauskas

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Published: 01Feb2012
Word count: 1081
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If you send your preschool child to a Montessori early learning centre, you have probably given a lot of thought to your child's education and development. One area that causes a lot of problems for parents these days is the issue of TV - and all the related technologies such as DVDs/videos, Playstations, Wiis, computer games and the like. On the one hand, you get people trying to promote DVDs that expose your child to art, music and science. On the other hand, you get various experts claiming that watching TV is harmful for children's brain development - and there's even some people who think that too much TV for young children - or even any TV at all - can produce ADHD and the like. So what's a parent to do?

Although a lot of parents would like to have the ideal of not letting their children have any "screen time" (i.e. TV, DVD, computer, Playstation, etc.) at all during their formative years. However, this is something of an unrealistic ideal, given the ubiquity of modern technology and telecommunications. You're reading this on your computer (or smart phone) screen, after all, and I'm writing it on mine. Also, once your children have gone through Montessori education and have entered a mainstream school, they are often required to use computers in the classroom, and it can be good to have some exposure and familiarity with these learning tools.

Each family will have their own policy and their own standards when it comes to screen time, and a lot of it will depend on the parents' use of computers, TV and the like. If you spend all day online and then watch TV for most of the evening in your spare time, it would be a bit unreasonable and hypocritical to restrict your children to little or no screen time. If you haven't thought about how you'll let your children use screen time, these might be some of the points that you should consider when you set your family screen time policy.

* TV, DVD, Wii and the internet are no substitute for direct experience. One of the key principles of Montessori education is that children learn via sensory experience. Screen time only caters to two of the senses (sound and sight) and leaves out touch and smell (and taste, where relevant). Screen time is also hopeless when it comes to life skills and self care, as practice makes perfect when it comes to things like pouring out a jug of water or using scissors. If you've ever tried a new cooking or decorating technique after watching a DIY or cooking show, you'll know what I mean!

* On the other hand, children do learn from what they watch. This means that you should monitor the content of what your kids see carefully. Much has been said and written about the effects of TV, movie and computer game violence on children, and how it conditions children to think that bashing, shooting and killing are the way to solve problems. This isn't to say that all computer games with a warning of violence on the rating sticker are harmful - although most of these are more suited to children who are no longer attending a Montessori early childhood centre. To take one example, the "Age of Empires" suite of games are a fun way for children to learn about different periods of history and have the same warning level as several mindless shoot-'em-up programs. The golden rule is to preview everything before your kids get it and to make sure you know what your children are watching and playing (this applies at any age, and not just to preschoolers). Don't get me started on the effects of advertisements on children and how this conditions them into a life of consumerism, pestering and "I want it now!"

* For very young children, screen time is not a good way to learn language and to increase the vocabulary, in spite of the best efforts of many producers. There is no substitute for a real adult (or an older child, as happens in Montessori classrooms) talking to or reading to a young child.

* Screen time is, on the whole, very passive and inactive. Sure, it causes no mess (which can be a bonus if you've got the in-laws coming and you want to keep the house tidy), but too much screen time stifles your children's imaginations, and it's not good for their health, either. Set a time limit for how much time per day that your children can have screen time, and having the odd no-technology day every month (or week) certainly doesn't hurt. The time limit can be extended if necessary (e.g. after four days of pouring rain when you've exhausted your library books and have nearly used up everything in the craft activity box/cupboard), but this should be the exception rather than the rule.

* Screen time is a privilege and not a right, and thus fits in very nicely to a system of rewards and responsibilities. For example, you might like to insist that your child completes certain household tasks before he or she can have screen time. Screen time can also be reduced or even withheld altogether as a consequence of misbehaving.

* Once your child has learned the names and the sounds of letters and is ready to begin forming them into words, a computer keyboard and a word processing program can be good complements to the Montessori moveable alphabet - your child can press the keys and see the letters appear, allowing them to "write" before they have the fine motor skills needed for actual writing, which comes later.

* Many activities that are encouraged via Wii and other interactive gaming packages can be done without the technology, and this is better for the imagination (and your wallet). You don't need Guitar Hero or Sing Star to pretend to be a pop musician - the old method that involves a hairbrush microphone and/or a tennis racket air guitar can work just as well. And rolled-up newspapers are even more realistic for swordfighting than the best Wii console. Think outside the electronics box and draw on your own childhood and on your imagination.

Like this parenting advice? Visit Friday's Child Montessori for more tips. (Click now to get SEO for real readers, not robots, using Semantic Writing by Rick Rakauskas).

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