Every parent struggles with the question “How much television should I let my child watch?” Before I became a parent I had a very definite and firm answer… “NONE”. Ah, but then reality sank in.

As a single, working parent who had to commute an hour each way to work, I like many am guilty of letting the TV entertain my child while I get ready for work in the morning and cook dinner at night. Admittedly I allowed other parents to guilt trip me when I was silly enough to admit our TV watching habits.

Recently there was an article on Yahoo that announced that Disney was providing refunds to parents who purchased Baby Einstein reporting that your child doesn’t really become a Genius by watching these DVDs. Furthermore, your child may even have issues with attention span if exposed to too many hours of TV viewing.

WHAT? I let my child watch Baby Einstein and My Baby Can Read too! But wait a minute, hold on, I don’t think I’ve ruined my kid just yet. In fact, I’ve found some pretty redeeming programming on television for Isaiah in his four years on this planet.

The thing that should be most obvious is not letting your child watch too much TV. What’s too much? Well, I think it’s subjective. Today my son’s favorite programs are Dino Train on PBS, Planet Earth on the History Chanel, and Little Bill.

As a result of my child’s TV watching habits he can name dinosaurs from A-Z, he knows words such as herbovore, carnivore, Jurrasic, Cretaceous, Biped, and Quadraped! He can also name at least ten different whale species, recognize several types of fish and coral, and tell me when there’s problem with his Gravety. Did I mention he’s only four?

My point to all of this is YES to much of the wrong TV programming is definitely not ok. But TV doesn’t have to be the villian that we paint it to be either. Use your judgement, that’s why you have it!

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