Let me preface this by saying I do not have children and I'm not attempting to tell those who do how to do their jobs!
So we just got real cable and flipping through the channels over the past week, I have stumbled upon this Treehouse channel a few times and become entranced by the ridiculous displays on my screen. From what I have gathered this is an insanely popular kids’ channel/babysitter.
Wow. I am truly shocked that this is what passes for children's programming these days. Seems like just a bunch of old acid-heads singing at the top of their lungs and making stupid faces to puppets with squeaky voices. How is this teaching kids anything more than how to be annoying?
Another disturbing feature of these shows is the almost complete lack of adults present. They all feature exaggerated, unrealistic "Grown ups" acting like kids themselves. Maria and Gordon on Sesame street were good role models for their young audience and showed healthy relationships between adults and children. They were intelligent, rational AND fun adults... behaviours that children could model as they got older. I think now TV stations are afraid to put adults - especially adult men - into shows because of the pedophilia panic. Really they should be fostering healthy, positive images of grown-ups. Kids in dysfunctional or abusive/neglectful households might learn that their situation isn't ideal and they deserve better. Where are the adults?
I grew up on Sesame Street, Square One and 3-2-1 Contact! I believe they taught me a lot of stuff as a child. They helped create in me an active brain that is always asking questions and attempting to find their answers. I fail to see how anything I've seen on Treehouse could possibly do that.
To those that have kids that watch it, what is it that you think they gain from it? Seems to me that the glut of behavioural problems we are seeing in kids these days can be at least partly attributed to garbage, low-end programming like this. Let me explain.
Obviously there are biological causes for a lot of kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. My Mom works with these kids and would kill me if I blamed a mental disorder on television!
I do believe, however, that there is a tendency to over-diagnose these conditions. Some kids have just learned that by being annoying they can get what they want or get attention or whatever. I use the word "annoying" to lump a wide range of behaviours together but I assume people know what I mean. It’s not ADHD, it’s just positive freakin’ reinforcement. These are the kids who need to and CAN learn how to focus.
Television shows with nothing but goofy, nonsensical singing and adults making strange noises and acting like kids may entertain, but they do nothing positive for the child’s development. So when the TV is not on and they are bored, they just go looking around for another shiny object to entertain them.
Television shows that promote actual learning, ESPECIALLY mathematics (IMO), help nurture healthy neurological connections in the child's brain. When they are bored on their own, these pathways are more likely to be active and actual, self-motivated learning can occur. Instead of ooooh look at that... they ask ooooh what is that? Subtle difference, but I think it's huge. One is trying to discover more about their environment while the other is simply letting their environment distract/entertain them.
One final point I'd like to make. In this day and age, with the amazing work that is being done on the biological side of psychology there seems to be a sorta societal bias to look in that direction first when dealing with problems. Not just in children but in adults as well. Everyone is so quick to jump on the latest medication. I don't want to downplay any of that stuff because it is very, very important and exciting work.
However, sometimes I think people forget about the other side of the coin, the "nurture" side. Children are very quick to imitate the behaviours of the important people in their lives, whether they be siblings, parents or television heroes. Habits can develop that will last the rest of their lives. We have to make sure the behaviours they are exposed to, especially when they are young, are the kind we wouldn't mind them emulating as they grow up.
So turn off this crap, and go buy your kids Sesame Street on DVD!!
My amateur opinion. Would love to hear thoughts, arguments.