Education Law

Television takes away from toys

That's right, even just background television can take away from a young child's play time. Though children might not be able to understand the television program, a USA Today article reports on a recent study that shows that background television could be a disruptive influence.

While blocks, dolls, and toy cars are fun, play time is important because it helps children develop different cognitive skills. Solitary play time, that is. With just a TV on in the background of the room, the study noticed that there were some distracting effects:

In the new study, researchers say the disruptive effects were "real but small," amounting to a few seconds in many cases. For instance, kids played about 90 seconds less in the half hour with the TV on ? they looked momentarily at the screen, then went back to their toys.

But researcher Daniel Anderson, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, says he's concerned the effects could be cumulative.

"It's that situation that I'm most concerned about, when you look at TV as being a disruptive influence hour after hour, day after day, week after week, year after year," he says.

BoardBuzz knows the importance of early childhood education, and in one survey the article mentions 14 percent of parents said the TV is always onin their homes. So BoardBuzz wants to remind you to turn off the TV when it's not being watched. While it keeps playing, you might be wasting energy and distracting your child from one of the most important parts of their development... playtime! For more information about Pre-K, check out the Center for Public Education.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on July 15, 2008 (boomark / email).