This is our newest channel????

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I can see DirecTV adding this before any other channels. They seem to be adding every nitch, religious, shopping and foreign channels they can. I guess it looks good on paper, for the news and to attract new subscribers.

Who cares what channels might actually interest the majority as after all we are already paying subscribers.

 

Hell, everybody else is ganging up on you. I might as well too.
This struck a raw nerve. Having recently seen another example of this on a local TV commercial hyping music programs in schools (band, orchestra, chorus, etc). They purported that music students did better at other subjects too, so their conclusion was that studying music made you smarter.

The more you read - the smarter you are? - No, now if you said "the more educated you are" I would concur.

Observations that smart people read more and take music programs in school is not necessarily indicative that these two activities made them smart. They were smart to begin with, I think that the correct observation is that smart people are more likely to read and take music programs than those not so smart.

This logic is about as bass-ackwards as saying that "Being a NASCAR fan will make you an idiot".

 

Trust me man..once you have kids...you'll love the kids programming and wish there was more.....thanks to channels like pbs kids, nick, noggin...etc....my wife and i actually get a half hour or hour to sit and talk about our day.

 

Fluffybear,

No offense, but you walked right into this one! Not only has the American Academy of Pediatrics said outright that TV should be avoided by children under 2 years of age(http://www.aap.org/advocacy/archives/augdis.htm), but current studies are showing that the 'Baby Einstein' videos are a scam (http://blogfromthepond.blogspot.com/2005/12/are-educational-baby-videos-scam.html).

As a parent of a preemie (70 days early, now 7 months old), I sympathize with the desire to turn on the 'tube'. Heck, while playing an audio CD on the DVD player (to listen to songs while we play together), my daughter's eyes become 'glued' to the Apex DVD logo on the TV set!

I received a couple of those Baby Einstein videos and, I have to be honest, have you watched those things? They're so freaking repetive and inane, with no opportunity to interact with the image. To my way of thinking, Baby Einstein is the adult equivalent of Pink Floyd's DSOTM after you've ingested some illicit substance. Is it entertaining...Yes! Is it educational...No! To make matters worse, Sesame Street is getting in on the action with their latest crop of videos (Sesame Street Beginnings). With products like these, the job of parenting is going to get a whole lot harder.

The whole 'pro vs. con' argument about infant TV viewing and ADD (with research supporting both sides) reminds me of the argument about whether or not smoking causes cancer...no matter what the outcome, it's not a good idea.

As Chris Rock once said (drawing a parallel about single parenting), "Just because I can steer my car with my feet, that doesn't make it a good idea!"

 

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That's your opinion...and you're entitled to it.....i disagree though. Baby Einstein and things like it are very good in moderation.....We never let the tv just baby sit our toddler....but a little doesn't hurt....in fact i think those videos stimulate their brains in ways you couldn't. They get exposed to animals and the sounds they make. They get exposed to different languages. Numbers, colors....the list goes on. You're viewing them through an adults eyes...so naturally they are repetitive....but to a child they are so much more.

 

I do...

...but I don't.

 

I am not going to debate this with you as it really is off-topic but I will say that I completely disagree with you, Baby Einstein is very much an educational product and yes, I have sat down and watched them with my child.

 

People everyone has their own way of parenting. I am a father of 2 and they love whats on tv for them. The important thing to me is that if they are happy then I am happy that is all that matters. They do not watch hours and hours of tv but they do watch it.

 

You're fun to argue with.

If you are so easily insulted, I would recommend you avoid internet forums in the future.

One way I might respond would be to point out the latest innovations in surgery. For the past several years radical prostate removal and single heart bypasses are often done using the DaVinci robotic system. The system makes the surgery much less invasive (avoiding the cutting of the sternum in the bypasses) and greatly lessesn side and after effects and radically shortens recovery time. The surgeon sits at a console that looks like a big video game with his/her hands in two control grips. Almost everyone who is able to master this skill is young. Can you guess why? One learns from everything. Play a game of baseball and you have greatly improved your spatial skills. Reading is not the only source of learning, nor does it, in and of itself, make you smarter. As another poster points out, you have cause and effect confused.

I didn't write, "anecdote;" I described your use of your brother as an example as "anecdotal." You might want to find out what the word means before you take such umbrage. It merely means that one example cannot be used to make a general statement. If one child drinks grape juice and becomes a genius, I would not necessarily run out and buy grape juice stock.

Nothing so-called about them; I'm referring to the mainstream research on the subject.

Only from your perspective. Televsion, well used, is quite capable of informing and educating. To say otherwise is to make an unfounded blanket statment. I agree, of course, that it should not be used as an unguided babysitter. No one here has said it should be. I do not deny, by the way, that some people use it that way. Happily you do not have to. In fact, there is no requirement for you to so much as have one of the dreadful devices in your home.

Not at all. One can read like the dickens and, unfortunately, be of a pretty low intellectual ability and one can read little and be quite smart. The world is quite full of examples of both. Reading is certainly an important way of becoming informed but that is not the same thing as being smart.

As another poster has pointed out, the more likely cause and effect is that people who are already smart are therefore more likely to enjoy reading.

 

so does anyone know what channel this will be on? After all, it's supposed to debut Thursday..

 

Who cares.... I need only 2 channels 24 hour sports and 24 hour girl on girl networks seriously good question though.

 

Channel? What channel?

Oh, yeah. No idea! Haven't had a "toddler" in 11 years.

 

Well, if they are going to charge ten dollars a month for it, it is obvious that it is not going to be around very long, making much of this discussion moot. They have to be crazy.

 

Yeah I know! Playboy $15.00 or kiddie crap $10.00....... Choice is simple, "Dear get the kids, I'm watchin' porn!"

 

I know you're joking (saw the smile face), but I wouldn't do either. However, yes, I'm afraid that your equation adds up.

One factor, however, is that there are lots of "free" ways of getting kid tv. Free porn is just...uh...oh yeah, all over the internet.

 

Sometimes even doctors can be full of baloney. See http://www.slate.com/id/2136372/ (linked to serious academic paper), there's no evidence that watching TV harms kids or makes them dumber.

Although $10 is wacky. Unless my 2yo wants to fork up the cash for it...

David

 

Sales slogan for the new channel:

" Come see the future of TV now. It's good enough for the whole family ! "

Fine Print:

" * PTC approved for all Adults and Children and a prime example of the only type of programming that will be available once we get our way."

 

Wow I got tired of reading the responses to the guy who dosent yet have kids. But my boy is only 3 months old and while I hate sticking him in front of the TV you do whatever works. I look forward to playing with him and we do read to him but sometimes you need what the TV can do. Its actually quite cute when your feeding your child and they seem to be intently watching the same show your watching (mostly its just the light or images from the TV).

I too always thought no TV, then when my boy was born I came to the realization that those that report that TV is bad for children and parents shoudnt let thier kids watch TV, well, THEY DONT HAVE KIDS!!!

And no I dont use the TV as a babysitter, I spent my childhood actually playing with toys and being creative and having fun without TV and video games. I'll let my child play games (hopefully together) and watch TV, but I also hope he has as much fun being a kid as I still do today!