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| Sunday, 26 March 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Among friend or foe, the age old question remains. It is a much debated topic amongst educationist, psychologists and child development specialists. The 'Idiot Box' as it is called after all does not seem to be such an idiot - at least in the view point of Sri Lankan parents, The Sunday Observer learns. by Vimukthi Fernando
The question that remained in me over the years, surfaced suddenly when the editor asked me to write an article on what age children are allowed to watch TV. But equally interesting and intriguing is what is going on in the parents' minds, when they allow infants and toddlers to watch TV, I find out. The age of TV exposure differs from infancy to over 3 years. While some parents are in the habit of watching TV with their infants cuddled on their laps, others deem watching TV 'taboo' for children, at least till they are two years or more. However, all agree that in today's high-tech world it is impossible to keep children completely away from TV. Even the parents who do not want to expose children to TV until two, regard passing "glances" at the magic box as "OK" for their infants. My little girl is very intelligent. She loves watching (the name of an Indian soap) and in the night if I am not sitting in front of the TV, she drags me there," said a mother (32) who was reluctant to reveal her identity to the papers. She says that the TV which is a vital part of life, helps children get familiar with the society. Being a housewife she "naturally" watches a lot of TV and has exposed her daughter to TV as an infant, she says. In agreement is Krishni Marie de Silva (25) from Wattala. An executive in the garment trade and mother of a one-and-a-half-year-old son. "My son stays up till about 10.00 p.m. until both of us, myself and husband come home. With a demanding career and household work I hardly find time to relax. So normally after dinner we relax a little in front of the TV, at the same time attending to our son. We have been getting used to it gradually since he was about eight or nine months old," she says. The benefit of watching TV is that he recognizes colours and is quick in his movements, she notes. She does not mind the quality of the program, even if late night programs are catered to adults "since he is too young to understand its meaning". Mohan Vitharana (38) a father of two girls five and three years old, says that his eldest daughter was not allowed to watch TV until about a year ago. The 'magic box' in the parents bedroom stayed 'switched off' whenever she was there. However now she is allowed to watch videos and CDs with children's programs "for a limited period. About an hour or hour and a half at a time," says Vitharana. He is assured that his in-laws both retired teachers monitor it closely. He has allowed his younger daughter to watch as well, since she is "old enough to understand what's going on" he says. As to the question why he does not allow children to watch children's programs on TV channels he says "irrespective of the state of the channel - private or government, children's programs are mostly corrupted by advertisements. I wanted to call (the name of a particular TV station) recently to stop airing an advertisement for a hair product containing stunts on a motor bicycle, during children's programs around 5.30 p.m. I will never let my children watch that rubbish" he opines. Neelika Fernando (30) from Colombo, with a new born baby has a similar opinion. "I don't think I will let my son watch popular TV in Sri Lanka even when he becomes a teen. I do not know how it will turn out in the future but at the moment, I would not advise mothers to let children, specially teenagers watch many of the channels even if they are advertised as suitable programmes for teens. However, I accept that TV can be used for good. I used to enjoy a lot of cartoon programmes. I've been amusing myself with some cartoon programmes recently when I was hospitalised for the confinement, but the language in some of the children's cartoons are disgustingly adult," says Neelika. She points out that she does not mind using the mode of television to educate her child. "I already have a lot of CDs, but they are all children's programmes from other countries," she says. Ibrahim Rizvi, (35) of Borella, a busy businessman with two sons (10 & 5) and a daughter (5) expresses a different opinion. "I let my children watch anything on TV. They have to get to know about the world. It is a difficult world that we live in, so they must get a taste of it. I do not let them watch late night films and tele-dramas. But, they watch talk-shows during the day. And both my wife and I sit together with them and comment on the programmes, so they will learn from it," says Rizvi. A primary school teacher, from a Colombo school who does "not want the press to publish" her name and Dr. Aruni Abeysinghe, from the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital, in almost the same words say that TV can be used for the good as well as bad, when it comes to children. "Though stimulation is good, over-stimulation could be detrimental, specially for children under one year. It is my view that mothers should not sit in front of the TV with children on their laps. For small children, long exposures would be harmful. The time for older children should also be limited to a maximum of one hour in front of the TV. Selecting two half-hour shows at different times, would be better than sitting through a show for one hours. Further, children who are used to audio visual stimulation, enjoy and seek the same stimulation over and over. I find most of the time, they are reluctant to read and write because they see two dimensional pictures as boring," says the teacher. There is no such age as a 'suitable age' to let children watch TV, says Dr. Abeysinghe. "It is advantageous due to the audio visual stimulation a child gets through TV. It could also be used to change behaviour, very helpful in instilling good behaviour and habits in children. However the duration and the quality of programmes a child watches needs to be closely monitored by an adult because children tend to get addicted to TV and learn bad habits and values through it as well. For instance, a child who repeatedly sees domestic violence, smoking and consumption of alcohol on TV will take it for the norm of the society. Further, a child cannot see the difference between reality and make-believe, and children specially of pre-school age tend to repeat the stunt actions on TV," she points out. Dr. Abeysinghe opines that a child will spend more time in front of the TV, if he or she is not paid attention. "Children generally need brain stimulation. This could be given by introducing different age appropriate activities such as drawing, colouring picture books, painting, pasting pictures, and getting children's help to perform household activities. If parents can guide him through similar activities or perform these activities together, that leads to a happy and healthy child with a developed brain," she comments. Meanwhile, I enjoy observing my little niece, who just turned two watch her favourite and only TV programme - an advertisement depicting a bunch of impi-bumpy children. If she is at earshot, the mite drops all else at the very first note of the interlude. Transfixed at a saintly posture in front of the TV for a few seconds - she lands on her parent's bed with a summersault and starts moving herself in perfect harmony with the jig on TV. And when she leaves with a wistful smile, I wonder what might be going through her mind. The question still remains... |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Hailing from a generation who had to wait... (Now, for how many years,
dear reader, is left for your imagination!) until that "wonderful" day when
ITN, the only Television channel in the country at the time aired their
programmes for a few short hours, seeing children growing up to the sound
and the beat of blaring TVs, I'm quite intrigued by the question, what goes
on inside an infants mind when he (or she) sees a TV. 
