TV Time and Kids

I know there's a lot of back and forth on the subject of kids and TV. There has been for years. It happens in our house sometimes as I'm sure it does in yours as well.

Well today there was an article on Health.com about TV time and kids. Feel free to read it here. It discusses the effects TV has on young children and the potential adverse effect it has on them when they enter school.

The article focuses on a study done by the School of Psychoeducation at the University of Montreal, in Quebec. They've concluded the following:

Each additional hour of TV that toddlers watch per week translates into poorer classroom behavior, lower math scores, less physical activity, and more snacking at age 10

Apparently they conducted their study over a 7 year period on 1,300 kids and followed up with them in fourth grade to see how they were doing. The findings, they said were thus:

Each additional hour spent in front of the TV per week at age two-and-a-half corresponded to a 7% decrease in classroom engagement, a 6% decrease in overall math achievement, and a 10% increase in being bullied by peers.

They go on to discuss the actual detriment of TV itself and how the "overexposure" impacts children. Although researchers can't seem to agree on the physical effects, researchers are seeming to agree that TV is just bad.

However, the article, which I must say is very balanced and well done, does continue on to the other side of the fence, which was expressing criticism of the study. Their red flag, which is often my soapbox, was that the study omitted one major factor: what the kids were watching. The opposing Dr. said,

parents should distinguish between mind-numbing cartoons and educational programs such as Sesame Street. “Parents need to know that the best-quality shows have a curriculum,” he says. “They’re trying to teach your child something, anything from the letter k to skills like how to share or how to handle a conflict.”

Parents, it seems that the jury is still out. Once again the TV is caught in the middle; one side stating that TV is just bad bad bad and the other side saying that it doesn't matter.

My two cents: I think that both sides of the fence can agree on one thing: make sure that your children are watching stimulating, age appropriate programming. Don't let them sit in front of the TV all day watching inappropriate shows. Watch with them and work with them. The television, like any other source of media (newspaper and books included) can and should be monitored by the parents. Yes, I said parents. It is our responsibility to ensure that kids have a chance to be kids. They only have one shot at this wonderful thing called childhood. Don't ruin it for them.

Review: Elmo's Adventures in Grouchland

I know what you all must be thinking, "Elmo? Grouchland? Really?" And the answer is...yes. To be honest, I'm a sucker for all things Henson. We actually started Declan on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show at a very early age. Now, thanks to our forced guidance, Declan loved not only Muppets, but puppets in almost all shapes and sizes.

So back to the movie. the opening sequence sets the tone. It's Ernie and Bert coming on screen and talking to the audience. They talk about audience participation and, of course, they have thier jibes back and forth. It totally sets the tone for the movie. ...And they make appearances throughout, stopping the movie in the process. It really draws you into the movie.

Then we go to Elmo's room and his day consists of a great wake up song. Overall the movie is just fun and the pacing is great for younger kids....it keeps moving. Once Elmo's blankie (yes, blankie) get's whisked away to Grouchland, the movie really takes off. Grouchland is a blast (who doesn't like Oscar?).

I know this is a quick review that really skims the surface, but you really should check it out. As in most Henson productions, there are a lot of subtle details that need to be seen, so I won't ruin it. to sum it up even more simply, it's just plain fun.

Oh...and wait until you see who plays the villain. Well, I'll just say this: he used to be looking for man man with six fingers on his right hand.

'I Spy: I Love You'...An Easy Cheater Book

Please allow me to begin by stating that I absolutely love the I Spy and Can You See What I See? book series. If you have yet to do them with your kids, you're missing out. Declan spends countless hours scanning the pages looking for skulls, sandals, dinosaurs and just about anything else you could imagine. Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick have done an amazing job on the I Spy series (and a solo Walter Wick on the Can You See What I See? series). That's why, when we found the Easy Reader I Spy series, we were thrilled.

Declan grabbed the first one he saw, I Spy: I love You, Easy Reader Level 1. We opened it up, equally excited. Him for obvious reasons and me for the reason any parent would and should be excited for their child: they found a reason to learn to read! Now, please let me fill you in on something: Declan can read if he wants to. The problem is, well, he doesn't really want to, so he doesn't get practice. It's not laziness, it just is the way it is. He'd rather we read There's a Monster Eating My House (by Art Cummings) than him read Dick and Jane all by himself. Can you blame him? He's a little boy. He requires more thrills and chills than, "See Jane. See Spot. See Spot run. See Jane run after Spot."

Unfortunately the excitement that came over me, realizing that one of my son's favorite books had been paired with my parental want of educating my child, fizzled and popped from existence when I opened to the first page. I was heartily let down by what I saw: pictures of the word next to the word itself. Any intelligent kid (of which Declan is one), will realize that the book is a visual scavenger hunt. The page on the left lists the things to find in the scatter of the things on the right. So why would he read the word when he can just look for the picture of what he sees?

I understand the concept, but that does not promote reading. None of the other I Spy books are set up this way, so that tells me it is specific to the Easy Readers. That's not easy reading, it's a way out for those kids who are smart enough to find it. I guess we have to see Spot run after all.

Monsters vs Aliens

When Monsters vs Aliens came out in theaters we were on it like kids on Christmas. The concept wasn't original by any stretch of the imagination, but it was fun nonetheless. Straight out of the 50s sci fi genre, the movie tells the tale of Susan (voiced by Reese Witherspoon), a young bride to be who, you guessed it, gets hit by an asteroid, absorbs an extraterrestrial radiation, turns into a giant sized Susan and gets locked away in a secret government facility. Ok, so maybe you didn't guess that, but for all of the bad that happened to her, she gets a cool name out of it: Ginormica. Perfect.

While in the facility, Susan aka Ginormica meets a few other creatures that have been locked up over the decades, The Missing Link (aka Link), B.O.B. the blob, Insectosaurus (self explanatory name?), Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. and who leads this rag tag group of creatures from his jet pack and perfectly pressed uniform? None other that General W.R. Monger (voiced beautifully by Kiefer Sutherland).

The villian in the movie is a semi-likeable alien named Galaxar (Rainn Wilson). He is in search of the substance that transformed our loving herione, Susan into Ginormica. He's not very threatening as far as villians go, but kids get the message that he's the bad guy.

The movie itself is beautifully done. The pacing is perfect, I think the voice acting is spot on and the story is just plain fun. To be honest...I'd watch this one even if I was home alone!

Two huge thumbs up for Monsters vs.Aliens!

Crossbows and Catapults

When my brother and I were little we had a game called Crossbows and Catapults. We played the daylights out of this game. Day or night, rain or shine. We loved it.

The concept was simple. You had a small square, plastic mat and on this square you had to build your castle. The castle consisted of a single tower with a turret and a window and you also had about 10 or 12 blocks which you could position however you want to defend your castle. There was also a little flag for the top of the castle and you had about 8 or so little men too (which served no purpose really).

The objective: destroy your opponents castle using, you guessed it, your crossbow and catapult. 5 inches of plastic which could hurl and shoot discs across the battlefield and rain down plastic death for the little pointless men. The first one to get their flag toppled loses. It was awesome.

It was so awesome that I looked for this same game on ebay when the little man hit 4 years old. Building things, destroying things...what 4 year old wouldn't love it?

Much to my surprise, there was a recent revamp and re-release of the same game! Score! I snatched it up and we now play it all the time. They've dressed it up a bit though. The paint jobs are a lot nicer than the non existent ones of days past and they've redesigned the castles, added a cannon and also an extra catapult on top of the castle for added mayhem. And the castle has a rubber band loaded gate which, when hit, pops up and it 'catches' your castle on fire.

The game's instructions tried to turn it into a role playing game with movement based turns and such, but we're more primal in our destructive needs. We set it up and (taking turns) let 'er rip.

There are some small pieces to lose and I do recomend playing this on a hard, smooth surface, but the hours and hours of enjoyment are well worth it.

And who knows? Maybe someday we'll get around to reading the instructions. Maybe.

Storytime Review: Can You See What I See?

Our trip to the library this afternoon was fanTAStic! We tracked down some educational DVDs and a few other books, but the find upon finds was one of Walter Wick's Can You See What I See? books.

We do have the On a Scary Night edition and I must say, it is still in the top 10 chosen bedtime books since last Halloween.

These hidden pictures are a little more advanced than the typical early age look and find books, and the twelve detailed pictures are of actual hand crafted settings as opposed to hand drawn (or computer generated) pictures of the genre.

There are a total of eight Can You See What I See? setting based books, then there are a slew more of the Seymour and I Spy books out there. Each of the books in this series has a different theme (fairy tales, dreams, spooky stuff, etc.) and the text in the book, which tells you what to look for is very well done with a rhyming scheme and a loose story to follow.

All in all, these books are great for story time, day or night. They can take a little longer than your typical bedtime story, so I recommend setting a three page limit depending on time.

Two little thumbs up.