preschooler with Teddy RukspinEver since companies like Baby Einstein started marketing to parents of babies, claiming that their DVD’s boost brain power, parents and researchers have been discussing what is truth on the subject. 

The latest study, appearing in the journal, Pediatrics, was conducted by researchers at the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. They looked at babies who had viewed TV for about an hour a day for the first 2 years of their life. This is actually less than the average, which is unfortunately two to three hours a day.

This latest research found that children under two who watched around an hour of TV a day were not helped or hurt by the screen time. Once again, contrary to many parents’ contention, screen time doesn’t  teach your child and boost his brain power, as many brands would like you to believe. Previous studies have shown that longer periods of time spent watching TV (2-3hours per day), can have detrimental affects on children.

The bottom line is that TV is here to stay and companies continue to market a broad range of programming for young children, many shows of which are high quality. Life is a balance, so be intentional about planning what and how much your young child will watch, keeping in mind that under 2 years of age, this is not “necessary” to help your child learn.