Turning on the Saturday morning cartoons or even popping in an educational DVD isn’t going to make an Einstein of your baby, according to research. In a recent survey, 30 percent of parents reported believing that for children under 2, watching television is “good for the child’s brain.” In the current study, however, the tots who spent a lot of time between birth and 2 years old parked in front of a TV did not have better language or visual motor skills, such as drawing ability, at 3 than those who had watched less TV. Although this study didn’t find any advantages to turning off the tube either, the authors note that other research has shown that watching TV during early childhood has a negative effect on diet, attentiveness, and sleep and increases the risk of obesity.
Source: Pediatrics, March 2009