For the first time in over seven months, Grace and I finally got a chance to eat out by ourselves while her mom stayed and home to babysit Bryan (well, he was already sleeping by then anyway). It was a refreshing experience I know we will get very few of.
One unrelated note: On the way to the restaurant, we saw a mother driving a luxury SUV with her child in the backseat watching a LCD monitor playing cartoon. I wonder if most parents are spending too much time and effort trying to keep their children pre-occupied with “stuff” instead of trying to get to know them, REALLY get to know them or bond with them with parent-child activities. Not too long ago, NPR had a guest from Sesame Workshop introducing their latest product, Sesame Beginnings, a DVD set for infans 6+ months to watch WITH the presence of parents. The rationale behind the production of the series, according to Sesame Workshop, is that their research showed that parents have been showing Sesame Street to young children even though the program was not produced with young children in mind. So they figured they might as well produce something more age appropriate for that age group. Makes sense, I guess.
The issue is, of course, how young is too young to get a child “hooked” on TV? This raised some serious concerns from some early childhood experts and educators. There simply weren’t enough studies to support or disprove either side’s arguements. To me, I see TV monitor and DVD players as another education medium. You shouldn’t abuse it. When used appropriately with careful measure, it can be as effective as a read-along electronic book (and there are TONS of those in the market today — more batteries down the drain).