Three-month-old babies are too little for solid food. They can't sit up by themselves and many can't sleep through the night. But 40 per cent of them are already watching television, according to a study published today.
The University of Washington study, which appears in the May edition of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, is the first to identify how early in infancy babies are becoming TV viewers. The researchers also found that by the time they're two, a whopping 90 per cent of the soother set are tuning in.
I admit to scratching my head over this one. My, how times and the nature of babies has changed so radically since I last gave birth 12 years ago. At 3 ½ months, I would haven’t gotten any of my babies to sit peacefully and watch television for 5 minutes - let alone 20 minutes at a time.
By 2 years of age, mine were still constantly in motion nor could they have been left unsupervised in front of the television for 5 minutes (even with Barney on) without hostilities and chaos ensuing. I am not sure what to think of this radical change in the nature of babies. The first possible explanation that comes to mind is to question how old do you need to be before a doctor prescribes Ritalin in Kurt Cobain country?
1 comment:
I believe every word of that study.
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