TV and language development

In a study of infants aged 8 to 16 months, researchers found that watching baby DVDs or videos may actually delay vocabulary development.

Researchers interviewed 1,008 parents of children ages 2 months to 24 months about their children's language development and how their youngsters spent their time.

Among the babies 8 to 16 months old, the more time they spent watching baby videos, the worse was their language development, according to Reuters Health. Some examples of baby DVDs/videos watched include Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby.

Blogging

It's kind of funny that I started this blog to let everyone peek into our lives so far away; yet I haven't told anyone about it by my sister and my husband. Rafe loves it, so it achieved my number one goal, which was to make him happy with this new form of communication. But I guess I haven't really figured out yet how much I'm willing to share publicly about our lives or how much is appropriate... at the same time, I really have a hard time censoring myself. Right now I can write what I want and not worry too much about what other people think (for instance, I truly believe the advent of television was the beginning of the downfall of the American family and no child under the age of 2 should ever be in front of one; I think that most parents would feel very offended by that statement).

Speaking of television, Rafe and I love it. That's why we don't have it. We are not so good at self-discipline in that area. Periodically we rent Battlestar Galactica and end up sitting through 4 shows. In one night. Can you imagine what life in our house would be like with a tv? We'd never talk to each other. Sometimes we are so busy doing things together that at the end of the night when we would finally fall in bed, we'd look at each other and one of us would say, "How do people who watch TV ever get anything done? They must be way more organized than we are!!"