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France Bans TV Shows for Babies
August 22, 2008
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.
-George Washington Carver
-George Washington Carver
"France's broadcast authority has banned French channels from airing TV shows aimed at children under 3 years old, to shield them from developmental risks it says television viewing poses at that age. The High Audiovisual Council, in a ruling published Wednesday, said it wanted to 'protect children under 3 from the effects of television.'
"....France's minister for culture and communication, Christine Albanel, issued a 'cry of alarm' to parents in June about channels dedicated 24 hours a day to baby-targeted programming. In a newspaper interview, she called them 'a danger' and urged parents not to use them to help their children get to sleep. She was referring to two foreign channels that can be seen in France on cable television, BabyFirstTV and Baby TV.
"....The ruling cites health experts as saying that interaction with other people is crucial to early child development. 'Television viewing hurts the development of children under 3 years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens,' the ruling said.
"When BabyFirstTV first aired in the United States in 2006, it escalated an already heated national debate. The American Academy of Pediatrics has said babies should be kept away from television altogether. BabyFirstTV and other companies say their products are designed to be watched by babies and parents together in an interactive manner. Critics say such channels are used as a baby sitter."
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Comments (4)
Displaying All 4 CommentsFamily Resourse agency of NW georgia
Trion, GA, United States
As a prechool teacher I agree with baning the tv programs for children under Three years old.
The parents should start having more interaction with their children, and not spect the tv do the job for them.
Children now don't pay attention to games, stories or fingers play because they are bombarded with so much tv, while the toys company are making huge amount of maney on tv. ads for children.
It also greates a bad havit to go to sleep with the tv bacause it creates dependency and lack of attention later on.
KENYA INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
NAIROBI, NAIROBI, Kenya
Bravo to the baning of that 24 hours TV programe to the under threes .Surely it is extrem madness to have such arrangements at the earliest formative stage for these tender age angels.Indeed there is no gurantee that all parents have the scientific and physchology knowhow on child growth and developement.This was a very rediculus TV programe that was going to harm a chain generation of humankind.The damage would have been ireverseable.
United States
I agree with the warning about young children's viewing oftelevision. It should come with a warning. We don't want to become a "nanny state," but when there is credible evidence that TV viewing can be harmful to young children, it needs to be carefully considered.
The act of watching television is totally passive. It is nothing more than a distraction. It leaves people who watch "educational" programming thinking they have actually learned something when in actuality they have been entertained.
Neil Postman, the late communications educator from Queens College, has written many fine books on the subject. I believe he was way ahead of his time. The two volumes I am thinking of are "The Disappearance of Childhood," and "Amusing Ourselves to Death." His thoughts are worth viewing on the printed page.
United States
I would agree to a point...those caregivers (parents, babysitters, child care providers) who would have children sit in front of a tv instead of interacting with them will put them in front of a tv regardless...so the alternative is for them to watch some horrible tv like games shows, soaps or talk shows...I would rather know that at least the children were watching tv that is teaching children something...and about the 24 hour thing...when my grandson was very sick we had to stay up with him all night and I was so grateful there was something on he liked and could watch that actually had content to it...it sometimes amazes me the things he learns from Noggin. He is child care and they do not watch tv, he only watches it in the morning after all his morning chores are complete and he can watch 1/2 hour before dinner and he never watches it alone and if he watches it with us it is only family oriented tv and we make sure to talk about what we see with him. So I do think there is a place for under three programming but only when there is parental control.
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