Toddler TV Watching

I know it's terrible that my toddler watches television but there is one show that she absolutely adores and which I actually find quite good. It's SuperWhy and it comes out on PBS twice a day. I usually let LilyBaby watch the show once a day, provided she is getting bored with her toys, etc. We watch it together and if you've never seen it, it's quite cute. The premise of the show is that there are four (actually five if you include the viewer) "Superreaders" who go into storybook village and adventure through a story. The four super readers each have a special power - alphabet power, spelling power, word power, and reading power - and the viewer has the power to help. As the viewer and the superreaders go through the story, each character uses his/her power to help the story progress and eventually reach its conclusion. The educational purpose of the show is learning to read through phonics. It's fun and LilyBaby tries to participate though her phonic-power isn't quite as adept as the show's target audience. So, to her, every sound is "t" or "b". I am so surprised though at the amount of words she recognizes and responds to. A couple of people tell me she's smart. My response? I hope so. We'll see. Whatever her intellectual capacity, we love her.

In regards to television, I first felt quite guilty about letting her watch. I have read that television should be banned for children under 3 and a lot of people I know don't even own a television. But, after a couple of weeks at home, I decided that letting LilyBaby sit down for a half-an-hour break (and giving myself one too), isn't too bad. It kind of refreshes me after running around with her all morning. Sometimes, I'm able to sneak in a read while she's watching. So, in the end, I go against what is supposedly "right" and here I post my guilty confession. There is a lot of inherent and rhetorical guilt built in when it comes to mothering, isn't there? I will, of course, let you know if LilyBaby's brain rots as a result of watching television and will then advocate against it as much as the next mother. Until then, though, horray for SuperWhy!