P&K Insider

When the subject of TV comes up with fellow moms, I always hesitate to engage. Inside my head, random self-deprecating remarks abound: “Oh, I bet compared to her I let my child watch too much TV. ” Or, “I let my kids watch SpongeBob, she’ll definitely think I’m a bad mom.”

Mention TV and there’s hushed voices revealing some guilt on behalf of the parent who uses it - on occasion - as a “babysitter.” Consider yesterday. I watched four children - ages 4 - 6 - all day (two of my own, two nephews) and the TV went on around 5 p.m. so I could make dinner. Do I feel guilty? A little. On average, my kids watch the tube for about an hour or so a day…sometimes more.  There I said it.

I’ve hesitated to cover “TV” in the pages of P&K because I think there is a sort of “stigma” associated with kids - especially the little ones - and TV viewing. Somehow, I thought the story “Must See TV for Toddlers” would rub a few people the wrong way. It turns out, I may be wrong.

Earlier this week, I was  invited to the PBS/WGBH studios in Boston for a behind the scenes look at their production process.

I grew up watching PBS shows like Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. I can intuitively trust that when I flip on PBS I know any show will probably be OK. (No fear of the occasional “bad” word like “stupid” or “shut up” that other cartoons sometimes have riddled throughout a show.) Today, there’s plenty of PBS shows to choose from like WordGirl, Martha Speaks, Arthur and my beloved Curious George.

I need to make sure to tell you that the producers and staff at PBS get that TV gets a bad name in parenting circles. They addressed this quickly and quite well by reminding those assembled that its the parents privilege (obligation) to gauge their children’s viewing habits. It’s whatever we feel most comfortable with. Agreed. Although, I was eager to learn how to take the guilt out of it.

My TV strategy thus far was to let the kids kind of lead the way with their program choice. I ABSOLUTELY cancel out any ideas that aren’t for their age group (like Spiderman 3!)

But could they/do they actually learn something by watching TV?

I’m about to find out.

On to my experiment.

Watch an episode of SUPER WHY once a day and complete activities supplied by PBS. Does their letter recognition improve? Can they identify words? Can they read a story?

SUPER WHY is a breakthrough preschool series designed to help kids ages 3 to 6 with the critical skills that they need to learn to read (and love to read!) as recommended by the National Reading Panel (alphabet skills, word families, spelling, comprehension and vocabulary).

All SUPER WHY episodes are evaluated by a team of researchers led by Alice Wilder, Ed.D. The team includes a reading teacher and a reading researcher. In reviewing the episodes, the team makes recommendations in the following areas: appeal, attention, comprehension, interactivity, game play and literacy element adjustments.

The process of producing a single episode is extensive to say the least. They test it in the market three times before giving a thumbs up to move forward.

My task is before me and I plan to report on my findings in the days to come!