Do You Know?

How many hours of the day does your baby spend strapped into a car seat or some other immobile seat?  How about your toddler?  Are you all to happy to have her sit in front of the television watching that movie for the umpteenth time?  Or worse, Spongebob Squarepants?!

Studies have now connected the viewing of TV in very young children with ADHD.  A baby’s brain is not yet wired to process all the input, stimulation, colors, movement, noise, etc.  If you need the few minutes it takes to grab a quick shower, take her, in her seat, into the bathroom with you and give her a few small toys to manipulate.

If you must leave her with the TV, put on a video/DVD designed for infants.  I found a precious one, “Baby Mugs,” that shows infants and young preschoolers’ faces.  It plays to a baby’s enjoyment of watching other children.  It moves very slowly so that a baby has time to follow the action.

Childhood obesity is also tied to the number of hours children watch TV.  Do you even know how many to which your wee one is exposed on a regular basis?  Do you monitor what she watches?  What she eats while viewing?  Are older children in the family making the selections?  Their choices may not be good ones for them, much less for an infant locked into a seat in the room.

Granted, we are a busy society.  We get up early, get dressed, rush the wee ones to day care (where we hope they are involved in active play for the mind and body), work a full day, get home in time to start preparing dinner for the family, help older children with homework, get baths, and then the bedtime routine begins.

How do we fit in activity that assists motor skills, strengthens heart, lungs, and muscles, and sets the children up for a lifetime of healthy living?  They need an hour-plus of daily physical activity.  Not an easy chore when we find it hard to schedule time to visit the grocery store!

Be active and have fun, too.  See you next week!