The Elephant In The Living Room

Make Television Work for Your Kids

The subject of children and television is an emotive subject, one that is discussed regularly amongst parents, teachers and doctors. Is TV good or bad?

Now a new book, The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids by Dr. Dimitri Christakis and Dr Frederick Zimmerman, explore how you can get the best out of television for your children.

Dr. Christakis, a pediatric researcher at Children’s Hospital, director of the Child Health Institute and an associate professor at the University of Washington, School of Medicine., along with Michelle Garrison, MPH were lead researchers of a report by entitled “A Teacher in the Living Room: Educational media for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.” which examined top selling electronic media products, such as Baby Einstein and Learning with Leap, along with videos, DVD and computer programs that are marketed to parents of infants, toddlers and preschool age children.

“There is no scientific evidence that these products have any proven educational value for young children,” said Dr. Christakis, “These products will not make your child smarter and can, in fact, create attention span problems for your child later in life.”

Recent research by Dr. Christakis has shown that children who watch TV and videos before age 3, are more likely to develop attention problems by age 7. Christakis’ research supports the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation of no screen time (television, video or computer) for children under age 2.

“A child’s brain development is directly linked to the type of stimuli received in the first two years of life, when the brain size triples,” said Dr. Christakis. “If an infant is exposed to a lot of rapid-movement stimulation, like that found on TV and videos, their brain becomes conditioned to expect or seek it. Real life seems extremely boring by comparison.”

But TV does not have to be harmful to kids. In The Elephant in the Living Room, Christakis and Zimmerman present groundbreaking scientific evidence that television can be a powerful and effective tool for entertainment, for education, and for socialization. The secret is for parents to learn how to use television as a tool, not a crutch and to teach their children be more "mindful viewers" so the good effects will outweigh the bad.

For more information visit http://www.maketvwork.com/

The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids is available at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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