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It is very hard to put yourself in position of very young child and issue judgement on what toddlers would like. I couldn't stand Teletubies, I still can't. But

It is very hard to put yourself in position of very young child and issue judgement on what toddlers would like. I couldn't stand Teletubies, I still can't. But young kids are fascinated and my late grandma loved them too. Who am I to judge.

dhimes 11y ago
Totally with you here. My kids were at the right age for elmo and Teletubbies when those phenomena got popular. Elmo "worked," but Teletubbies blew Elmo out of the park. My youngest would stop walking and stand transfixed at the TV when Teletubbies came on. It was positively creepy. A British friend said it was very controversial because of all the child psych research that went into capturing the kids' attention. The "Tinky Winky" controversy came along much later.
- roywiggins 11y ago
  It was perfect watching when home from highschool with a fever, which does tend to reduce me to the emotional range of a toddler.
mcphage 11y ago
> issue judgement on what toddlers would like The issue here isn't really what toddlers like or don't like. The issue is, if you're going to sit your kid in front of a screen to watch something, what are they getting out of it? A 3- or 4-year old seeing 6-year old behavior in Big Bird sees a role model in how to behave. Seeing 3-year-old behavior in Elmo reinforces how they're already behaving.
- roel_v 11y ago
  2 or 3 year olds cannot learn empathy, their brains just aren't wired for it. It's like telling a wheelchair user 'here let me teach you how to run 100m in sub 10 secs'. Which is why I'm so dumbfounded by the comments agreeing with the article - it's based on the notion from 50 years ago that children are just adults who haven't been tought yet how to be adults. This is clear and plain nonsense, children and youth until ~ 25 years old (I realize I'm now antagonizing much of those reading this...) just don't have fully developed brains yet. Especially at lower ages it doesn't make sense to try to teach them things that they are physically incapable of learning.
  - mcphage 11y ago
    They can't learn empathy until their brains develop, definitely. However, they can model the behavior they see around them—and by "can" I mean "do, constantly, whether you want them to or not". So showing them a positive role model for them to learn behavior from is still beneficial, and they'll pick up on the other things—like empathy—as their brains develop.
anon4 11y ago
Except Sesame Street is (was) designed to teach children, rather than be just funny.
DrScump 11y ago
"It is very hard to put yourself in position of very young child and issue judgement on what toddlers would like" But what they like, going in, is often worst for them. If you put both ice cream and a spinach salad in front of a child, which will he pursue by choice? Being challenged is often initially uncomfortable. But that's part of the point - to learn the long-term value of delayed gratification.

dhimes 11y ago

Totally with you here. My kids were at the right age for elmo and Teletubbies when those phenomena got popular. Elmo "worked," but Teletubbies blew Elmo out of the park. My youngest would stop walking and stand transfixed at the TV when Teletubbies came on. It was positively creepy. A British friend said it was very controversial because of all the child psych research that went into capturing the kids' attention. The "Tinky Winky" controversy came along much later.

roywiggins 11y ago
It was perfect watching when home from highschool with a fever, which does tend to reduce me to the emotional range of a toddler.

mcphage 11y ago

> issue judgement on what toddlers would like The issue here isn't really what toddlers like or don't like. The issue is, if you're going to sit your kid in front of a screen to watch something, what are they getting out of it? A 3- or 4-year old seeing 6-year old behavior in Big Bird sees a role model in how to behave. Seeing 3-year-old behavior in Elmo reinforces how they're already behaving.

roel_v 11y ago
2 or 3 year olds cannot learn empathy, their brains just aren't wired for it. It's like telling a wheelchair user 'here let me teach you how to run 100m in sub 10 secs'. Which is why I'm so dumbfounded by the comments agreeing with the article - it's based on the notion from 50 years ago that children are just adults who haven't been tought yet how to be adults. This is clear and plain nonsense, children and youth until ~ 25 years old (I realize I'm now antagonizing much of those reading this...) just don't have fully developed brains yet. Especially at lower ages it doesn't make sense to try to teach them things that they are physically incapable of learning.
- mcphage 11y ago
  They can't learn empathy until their brains develop, definitely. However, they can model the behavior they see around them—and by "can" I mean "do, constantly, whether you want them to or not". So showing them a positive role model for them to learn behavior from is still beneficial, and they'll pick up on the other things—like empathy—as their brains develop.

anon4 11y ago

Except Sesame Street is (was) designed to teach children, rather than be just funny.

DrScump 11y ago

"It is very hard to put yourself in position of very young child and issue judgement on what toddlers would like" But what they like, going in, is often worst for them. If you put both ice cream and a spinach salad in front of a child, which will he pursue by choice? Being challenged is often initially uncomfortable. But that's part of the point - to learn the long-term value of delayed gratification.