the french ban tv programming for babies

I find this article below so interesting.

I personally have battled interally with the whole tv issue in our house and with Maddie. I've always hated having the tv as background noise, we turn off the tv if there's "nothing on" (although Jim can usually find a game he could watch) and we almost never turn it on on the weekends, but... we certainly watch it and have it on when Maddie is in the room. I always thought I would be one of those mothers who didn't let their baby watch TV and when they were older they could watch it in limited amounts... but I am guilty of turning on Sesame Street at 6am when Maddie is wide awake and needs some enterainment and I can barely keep my eyes open. I have also been known to "let" Maddie watch episodes of Little Einsteins and Curious George because I just think they are SO CUTE!!! And Elmo? Dont get me started with Elmo... I think he is the cutest little furry thing thats ever been created.

The fact that France has literally banned TV shows aimed at babies says a lot. That is such a strong statement. I don't think any parent needs a study to tell them that TV watching is harmful to their childs development. If a child is watching TV, they're not interacting with the people and things around them. They're not using their imaginations. Their brains are somewhat turned off and they're turning into little zombies! I can see it in Maddie when Sesame Street comes on. She just completely zones out and stares at the TV! Scary, but true.

So this article has put me back on the straight and narrow for now. No more TV for Maddie until further notice. The guilt factor is just too much for me to live with. I know when I have the TV on and she is watching it that I should be reading to her and down on the floor playing with her - not letting her zone out into Sesame or whatever.

Read it and see what you think...





France bans broadcast of TV shows for babies

By CHRISTINE OLLIVIER, Associated Press Writer
France's broadcast authority has banned French channels from airing TV shows aimed at children under 3 years old, to shield them from developmental risks it says television viewing poses at that age.

The High Audiovisual Council, in a ruling published Wednesday, said it wanted to "protect children under 3 from the effects of television."

France's minister for culture and communication, Christine Albanel, issued a "cry of alarm" to parents in June about channels dedicated 24 hours a day to baby-targeted programming. In a newspaper interview, she called them "a danger" and urged parents not to use them to help their children get to sleep.

She was referring to two foreign channels that can be seen in France on cable television, BabyFirstTV and Baby TV.

The council's ruling aims to prevent the development of such programming on French channels. It also orders French cable operators that air foreign channels with programs for babies to broadcast warning messages to parents. The messages will read: "Watching television can slow the development of children under 3, even when it involves channels aimed specifically at them."
The ruling cites health experts as saying that interaction with other people is crucial to early child development.

"Television viewing hurts the development of children under 3 years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens," the ruling said.

When BabyFirstTV first aired in the United States in 2006, it escalated an already heated national debate. The American Academy of Pediatrics has said babies should be kept away from television altogether.

BabyFirstTV and other companies say their products are designed to be watched by babies and parents together in an interactive manner. Critics say such channels are used as a baby sitter.

Baby TV is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The three companies behind BabyFirstTV are Regency Enterprises, a film and TV production company that is a partner of News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment; Kardan N.V, an investment group based in the Netherlands and Israel; and Bellco Capital, a private Los Angeles-based investment fund.