Default Style Register
Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Does Anyone Use Educational Videos?
thatdivalady 04:40 PM 05-02-2012
I know there's a debate about who lets children watch television and who does not. I personally like Sprout for some of their programming and find it helpful. Now, what are your thoughts about Your Baby Can Read and Baby Einstein implemented as a brief supplement (i.e. for 30 minutes twice during the 10 hour period) in a daycare setting? I would really like to hear providers' thoughts on both sides of the fence.
Reply
Kiki 04:49 PM 05-02-2012
I don't have TV time in my schedule at all. However, I don't completely ban it while kids are here, there are some days that we watch things, but those days are pretty rare.
I am pretty curious though, why don't people use it? (And don't take that as a 100% all of the time baby sitter thing, but the occasional use?)
Reply
Heidi 06:01 PM 05-02-2012
I would say an hour a day is too much....just my opinion
Reply
MNMum 08:13 PM 05-02-2012
There is nothing to be gained by the under 2 crowd watching television (from what I have seen in the research).

The above 2 crowd, is probably getting more than they need at home. For my own children, we try to limit TV/Movies/Computer time, but they still get some exposure. My dck only watch about 1x/mo - maybe less. Honestly, their behavior is worse when they get TV time. There's not a great time to do it, either. It would be nice for between lunch and nap, but from the research I've read, TV before sleep makes it harder to fall asleep. Instead my 3 yo's look at books for about 20 minutes, while I clean up from lunch and change diapers. It's great, they talk to each other about the books, etc.
Reply
Countrygal 05:53 AM 05-03-2012
This is just what I do and it works for me - but I do think an hour a day EVERY day is too much.

I allow educational only videos during slow times. That almost always translates to while I am making breakfast and very occasionally to while I am making lunch. I'd say we average about 1/2 hour a day, 3-4 days a week. I have a half hour period between when the first ones arrive and the last, and that is usually when the videos come on. IMO it makes a nice transition time. Then we eat as soon as the last one arrives and we're off on our day! Quite often, though, they don't want to watch a video and then we don't. That simple.
Reply
sharlan 06:54 AM 05-03-2012
My 4 & 5 yo really like the Leapfrog videos and we probably watch them once or twice a week.

I do turn cartoons on for the 9 yos in the morning before school. I've found that is about the only thing that will entertain them for more than 5 mins. But even then, they are in and out of the house 1/2 dzn times in 30 mins.
Reply
Blackcat31 10:23 AM 05-03-2012
I am not going to offer my opinion here as I don't think it is relavant to the thread.

But I do think it is important that people understand that the researchers that say TV is bad for kids under a certain age say so because of the lights, flashing, and rapidly changing screen and so on and so on NOT because of the actual programming that is being played.

So educational or HBO... it doesn't matter according to the research.
Reply
Ariana 10:33 AM 05-03-2012
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I am not going to offer my opinion here as I don't think it is relavant to the thread.

But I do think it is important that people understand that the researchers that say TV is bad for kids under a certain age say so because of the lights, flashing, and rapidly changing screen and so on and so on NOT because of the actual programming that is being played.

So educational or HBO... it doesn't matter according to the research.
Exactly this! Baby Einstein and other programs have been forced to cough up huge amounts of $$ in lawsuits because of their claims to make babies brains smarter etc. It's all hogwash.
Reply
Jewels 06:06 PM 05-03-2012
I personally don't agree at all with the your baby can read program, But I am not at all Anti TV, kids under the age of 2, have little interest in TV anyways, I have cartoons on in the AM until about 7-7:45, when breakfast is ready, then it is off for the day(except for the 5 yr olds, who watch a little during quiet time) But the kids never stay in my room watching the cartoons, they are out playing, but when my kids wake up in the morning they love a morning cartoon, and I find nothing damaging about it. At breakfast though the TV is off, and does not come back on. I loved morning cartoons when I was a child, and after breakfast would then spend the days outside alllll day. I do not think TV will damage my child, hahaha. And on the weekends, and friday nights, they can get a bit of screen time if we are home, and in the morning when my husband and I really love to be lazy.
Reply
Hunni Bee 06:34 PM 05-03-2012
Really early in the morning, while breakfast is being made and the SA kids coming and going, the Center tv is on PBS. Not my choice, but my kids see very little of it.

I have a few dance videos that my kids really like, and we do those occasionally. But my classroom tv is on no more than 30-45 minutes a week, if that.

When the first words out of their mouth at 7 am this morning were, "Can you turn on the computer?", I made the decision to leave that off for the rest of the week.

What kids definitely don't need more of in their lives is flashing, talking screens. My 2-year-old nephew is completely addicted to Nick Jr. and I really could slap his mother. I really wish he went to daycare so at least he'd have other friends beside Dora and Diego
Reply
Lianne 05:45 AM 05-04-2012
Originally Posted by MNMum:
There is nothing to be gained by the under 2 crowd watching television (from what I have seen in the research).
The children may not be benefiting from watching bits of tv but I sure am since I can make lunch without worrying about what trouble they're getting into. And, a happy, stress free provider equals happier, well adjusted children.


I am a tv daycare. It's on a couple times during the day to make my life easier. Yes, I said it. I'm putting my needs and sanity first. In my life, the world does not revolve around the children and I'm not trying to create perfect little geniuses with perfectly planned childhoods. I'm trying to create real children who live in the real world where there is tv, where adults have needs and wants, where the can handle life's letdowns and problems and where children often have to wait to receive the things (tangible or otherwise) that they want and even need sometimes.

I've been doing childcare professionally for 20 years now and not one of the children I've cared for has been damaged by watching appropriate tv. Although I guess the studies are correct 'cause none of them are geniuses, either

MNMum, my comments are not directed at you at all. Rereading my post, it looked that way so I wanted to reassure it it wasn't. I'm venting at society's view of children & tv in general
Reply
countrymom 06:23 AM 05-04-2012
I'm a tv daycare. Its on all day. Do they watch it, barely, right now the tv is on and they are playing with the dolls in another room. I really think its a noise thing with them.

Yes, there are people who use it as babysitters, like my sister who has the 4 yr old dd, she was obsessed with spongebob at the age of 3 and started to talk like him and guess what, she has speech issues (there was a study a bit ago about how bad s.b. is and "suddenly" there was no more s.b. in the house, but the damage was done)

we have pbs or treehouse on and leap frog videos. But like I said, no one here sits infront of the tv and watches it.
Reply
My3cents 06:26 AM 05-04-2012
Originally Posted by Lianne:
The children may not be benefiting from watching bits of tv but I sure am since I can make lunch without worrying about what trouble they're getting into. And, a happy, stress free provider equals happier, well adjusted children.


I am a tv daycare. It's on a couple times during the day to make my life easier. Yes, I said it. I'm putting my needs and sanity first. In my life, the world does not revolve around the children and I'm not trying to create perfect little geniuses with perfectly planned childhoods. I'm trying to create real children who live in the real world where there is tv, where adults have needs and wants, where the can handle life's letdowns and problems and where children often have to wait to receive the things (tangible or otherwise) that they want and even need sometimes.

I've been doing childcare professionally for 20 years now and not one of the children I've cared for has been damaged by watching appropriate tv. Although I guess the studies are correct 'cause none of them are geniuses, either

MNMum, my comments are not directed at you at all. Rereading my post, it looked that way so I wanted to reassure it it wasn't. I'm venting at society's view of children & tv in general
I think most providers feel the same way- at least the ones that I have talked with. Stimulation is everywhere and the focus should be on teaching children how to deal with that and not eliminate it. Thanks for posting and keeping it real-
Reply
Country Kids 06:36 AM 05-04-2012
This month we are watching 1/2 an hour a day of dinasour train because we are learning about dinasours. Some watch it some don't. It is amazing though because the ones that do watch it actually understand some of the things we are talking about more and are soooo excited to tell mommy and daddy about it at pickup!
Reply
newtodaycare22 10:30 AM 05-04-2012
I only have preschoolers, so no little ones (in regards to the research about kids under 2 and stimulation, etc).

We watch 30 minutes a day-when I'm cooking lunch and getting ready for nap. We watch PBS kids, leap frog videos, or Dora. Everything is educational and since I have 6 kids with no assistant, it's a great time for them to wind down after the park and allow me to took/set up cots.

I think in a 10 hour span, 30 minutes is completely fine. On a rainy day, maybe we'll do more. No parents have ever had an issue.
Reply
EntropyControlSpecialist 11:25 AM 05-04-2012
Originally Posted by Kiki:
I don't have TV time in my schedule at all. However, I don't completely ban it while kids are here, there are some days that we watch things, but those days are pretty rare.
I am pretty curious though, why don't people use it? (And don't take that as a 100% all of the time baby sitter thing, but the occasional use?)
We do not watch TV at all.

On occasion, we will watch a 2 minute YouTube clip (of a tornado ... seeds growing ... etc.).

We do our learning through interacting with one another and reading books.
Reply
DaisyMamma 04:46 AM 05-05-2012
I have no problem with tv at all, however I dont think we watch all that much during daycare hours. when I do turn it on they usually lose interest after about a half hour.
Reply
thatdivalady 09:24 PM 05-05-2012
Originally Posted by Lianne:
The children may not be benefiting from watching bits of tv but I sure am since I can make lunch without worrying about what trouble they're getting into. And, a happy, stress free provider equals happier, well adjusted children.


I am a tv daycare. It's on a couple times during the day to make my life easier. Yes, I said it. I'm putting my needs and sanity first. In my life, the world does not revolve around the children and I'm not trying to create perfect little geniuses with perfectly planned childhoods. I'm trying to create real children who live in the real world where there is tv, where adults have needs and wants, where the can handle life's letdowns and problems and where children often have to wait to receive the things (tangible or otherwise) that they want and even need sometimes.

I've been doing childcare professionally for 20 years now and not one of the children I've cared for has been damaged by watching appropriate tv. Although I guess the studies are correct 'cause none of them are geniuses, either

MNMum, my comments are not directed at you at all. Rereading my post, it looked that way so I wanted to reassure it it wasn't. I'm venting at society's view of children & tv in general
I definitely respect the opinion of everyone who posted. I just wanted to say that I very much appreciate the posts of those who use television as well. Honestly, in my personal life, I have let my daughter watch Sprout everyday for a decent amount of time. I have watched it help her language and at 18 months she had a vocabulary of approximately 30 words. Now, at 20 months she is pushing 50. Now I do not attribute it ALL to television, just to say that I can't believe that television is the sole responsible cause of bad things happening to children. I really don't like Nick Jr. by the way. I brought this thread up because I had a father call about a spot for his daughter and he was completely against television in daycare. His current daycare was providing it and he wanted to switch. Not only did I want to find out his complete views on the matter, but since I allow television twice per day I wanted to be sure that I honored his request and was able to. It turns out that he was just upset about the daycare putting Disney movies on during the day.
Reply
Former Teacher 08:46 AM 05-06-2012
I am not much of a TV person. In fact at home I rarely have it on. I do DVR Judge Judy though I only use TV for noise so I keep it on the music channel.

As for TV in childcare, when I was at my former center, I must admit the TV was on more often than not. It was on from 630-830 (arrivals). Then depending on the weather it was on from (1130-1215 after lunch but before nap-classes were ALWAYS combined). THEN it was on from 530-630 (departures).

My current family that I nanny have 2 tvs. When the boy was 18 months old (when I started, he is now 4 years!) every time I turned on the tv he would drop whatever he was doing and run to the tv just to see what was on. Didn't matter what it was. I could put on the news and he would sit/stand there and watch it. I remember that the TV was and still is a great tool for me when I want to go potty- the kids are in the SAME spot

Now the only time I have the TV on is in the morning for when they (the boy and his 2 year old sister ) wake up. Then once breakfast is ready to be eaten tv is off until nap. At nap I allow the boy (depending on how good his day is) pick a show on demand and then I watch Food Network. Once I watch Food Network they are both soundly sleeping
Reply
DCP 11:29 AM 05-07-2012
I personally do not like tv and would prefer not to have ANY in my house LOL however I do use it Theme related a couple times per month to enhance the theme I am on.

It maybe an actual movie on a rainy day or a related educational video. Children learn through various methods - so I try to use various teaching methods as well. I have alot of videos that have taught the kids things far faster than I could of so in some cases I find them useful.

During quiet time I also use it (sprout only) for the older children that do not nap or Mom doesn't want them to nap. It keeps them calm and occupied while the others in the room next to them sleep. Parents are happy that I do this as if they do fall asleep it is never for long and I am ok with it as long as certain programs are on.

There will always be a debate but I do believe with some kids with the right program it can actually be beneficial!
Reply
SunshineMama 11:36 AM 05-07-2012
I rarely have the tv on, but if I do it's usually because the kids were out of control and I needed a sanity break for myself. I put on something educational like leap frog numbers or phonics, and the older ones (2.5 yrs and up) love the special treat. The 1 year olds dont pay any attention to it anyway.
Reply
Creek 01:26 PM 05-07-2012
The only times we watch TV is the occasional 11:30am they're having a crazy morning and there is no way that I can get away to safely make lunch. This may not even happen once in a month though. We had a movie treat in January, one Friday morning. It was in our newsletter, totally planned. It was nice! Two kids wanted to colour and read books instead and that was fine.

I don't agree with having the tv on all the time, I don't even do that during weekends when the daycare kids aren't here. My DD, DH and I do other things. I do have the radio on a lot during the day or some CD's for the kids. Personally, I wouldn't have my DD in a daycare that had the tv on all the time. Once in a while, sure. No spongebob though please, haha. As for educational shows, sure! I've heard of a lot of daycare providers having an iPad for the kids, wow! I don't even have one for me, haha.
Reply
DaisyMamma 06:16 PM 05-07-2012
I just ordered a DVD that teaches spanish to kids. The dvds are broken down into lessons, each about 10 minutes. It's quick and easy and since I do not know Spanish I can't offer the correct pronunciation, so these are great! We follow it up with some flash cards about the words we learned. And practice talking to eachother.

I was looking at the preschool prep dvds to order, but I'm not sure what they are like. Has anyone used them?
Reply
Tags:education, video, video - learning
Reply Up