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[quote=Anonymous]We have unlimited screen time. We have two kids, 6 years apart. The oldest one used to watch so much TV that I worried about it. Now, I think it was the right choice because she prefers to read, practice guitar, jump on the trampoline, etc. There's no forbidden fruit aspect for screen time so she seems ambivalent about it. So with the youngest, we decided to use the same approach. He is allowed to watch TV or play with apps, and he likes to, and I'm interested to see how he progresses.

Regarding their physical/intellectual development, my oldest is considerably more athletic than other kids. She is involved in a lot of sports, and is very active at home, running around and doing handstands. Intellectually, she is (like all children, right) above average. One thing I see about her that is different is that she understands the Internet and will look things up to learn about them. (She has a phone, which we heavily monitor).

I don't believe the hype that screen time stunts development.  I have heard this nonsense that the children don't develop vocabulary from TV because the portions of their brains that light up when talking to people don't light up when they are hearing dialogue on TV. Okay, but how do you explain when my toddler can sing the theme song of a cartoon? There is a leap of logic in interpreting the research-- the brain activity portion could signal social interaction, not verbal processing. So my approach is to focus on providing an enriching environment, rather than focusing on not allowing screen time.

FWIW, I also called BS on the nonsense about not feeding your children peanuts or eggs as babies because they may develop allergies. In fact with my second, his first food was egg and he ate peanut butter regularly. And now, the research is showing that babies of parents who followed the medical guidance to withhold those foods have higher instances of allergenic reactions to those foods. My point is, the advice you get from your pediatrician is based on available research, which is flawed, and very likely to change. So parent the way that you think is right, and trust yourself to make the right call. [/quote]

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