兩歲以下兒童看"教育"節目有礙身心發展
"Educational" television programmes aimed at the under-twos do nothing to stimulate them and could actually stunt their development, according to new guidelines on the subject.
Paediatricians say there is "no evidence" that television programmes for the under-twos, marketed as educational, actually help them intellectually or socially, because they simply cannot understand them.
Watching television merely gets in the way of activities that such young children do understand, and do benefit them - most notably free play and engagement with other people.
DVD products such as Baby Einstein are marketed squarely on the premiss of educating babies and toddlers, while there are numerous British-made programmes, such as In the Night Garden, aimed at the age range.
While it is not presented as specifically educational, the popular BBC programme includes simple repetition of numbers and phrases that could be regarded as such.
Researchers said that children under two learn nothing from TV but watching too much can slow their speech development, making them behave badly.
They said parents were too quick to accept the educational value of a TV programme without actually checking if their children will learn anything from it.
據英國《每日電訊報》10月17日報道，根據有關兒童早期教育的最新準則，針對兩歲以下兒童設立的“教育”節目並不能刺激兒童智力發育，事實上反而會阻礙兒童身心發展。
兒科醫生說，沒有證據能夠表明，現在市場上銷售的針對兩歲以下兒童的教育類電視節目能夠促進兒童智力和社會性的發展，因爲孩子們根本看不懂這些節目。
看電視只會妨礙兒童參與那些他們真正能夠理解並對他們有益的活動——特別是自由地玩耍和與他人的溝通。
類似於《小小愛因斯坦》這樣的教育嬰兒和學步兒童的DVD產品正在市場熱銷，同時還有大量英國製作的電視節目，比如《花園寶寶》，針對的是幼齡兒童。
BBC雖然沒有特別地播放專門教育類的節目，但風靡的一些類似於簡單的數字和短語背誦節目也可以看作是這一類。
研究人員說，兩歲以下的兒童從電視上什麼也學不到，看太多電視節目只會減緩他們語言能力的發展，使他們表現糟糕。
他們說，父母太容易接受電視節目的教育價值，根本沒有仔細檢驗他們的孩子是否真正從中學到了什麼。
