Sorry if this has already been discussed but I couldnt find many posts concerning screen time. I am really interested in Little Reader and Tweedlewink programs but both of them require screen time. How do other parents feel about this? Are you comfortable with the amount of screen time if it is for educational purposes? Is it ok for a babies eyes? I would like to hear opinions from others before i invest in these programs.
We are currently doing LR, LM, and LMs with our 5.5 month old son. We started with LR, added LM, and finally LMs. If we do all three back to back, it takes us less than 15 to 20 minutes. I believe the overall screen time is around 30 mins/day for both sessions. While the AAP’s recommendation of “no screen time before the age of 2” is at the back of our minds, we caved in because we finally accepted that we cannot replicate what these wonderful programs do without killing ourselves making all the materials.
However, we would love to add Tweedlewink and are now wondering about the additional screen time. I posted a similar question yesterday and would love to hear from other people using DVDs for early learning.
I actually struggle with this question a lot (much more than most on brillkids I think). We did zero screen time with my first daughter until she was two and only now at 2.5 have started introducing screen time, mostly via educational apps and LM / LR, as well as selected youtube videos (watching nursery rhymes and singing along), although she is allowed to watch cartoons that we choose once in a while as well now. I really think at this age physical activity and social interaction is so important, I don’t want them to get used to a matrix style life where you just sit and watch, even if it is interactive. real life is still made of real people. I also worry that TV / computers are so capturing that kids might lose interest in static books. Will kids growing up with technology ever have the patience to read War and Peace? It worries me.
But seeing the amazing results some people here have with educational software, I have relaxed my stance somewhat, although I still feel uneasy about it, I even let my 5 month old sit with us during LM and LR sessions but I make sure to make it interactive. If she didn’t have an older sibling, we’d probably wait till she’s about 18 months. But I feel they are quite good at giving feedback, with the little one she gets bored / upset quite quickly and turns away from the screen after 10-20min so I know that’s her max attention span and I switch off when she loses interest, or entertain her otherwise while the older one watches.
I am currently doing the Tweedlewink online overview course. In response to someone’s question about the screen time, Pamela indicated that the DVD lessons run to ~8 minutes a lesson.
Screen time is good but not more time. Screen time becomes a particularly important issue when discussing children’s use of media. This includes television as well as video games and non-school related computer usage. Parents of children under the age of two are generally encouraged to allow no screen time at all. Because its effect on child’s mind and especially their eyes.
I think the advice relates more to rubbish like spongebob and pokemon than tools like Little Reader.
My baby will start screen time at 3-4 months depending on his interest in it.
I’m going to use LR, LM and LMs plus free media that i’ve been collecting through my pregnancy.
We’ll get him an ipad as soon as he has the dexterity to use it.
(im still on the fence about tweedlewink)
I’ve made a bunch of picture cards and word cards for real world stimulation as the “lessons” are only a few minutes per day. I’ve got a big box of YBCR and homemade sign cards coming from my sister. My artist mother is coming home a month early to work on materials for him. 
This babys generation will use technology more than we can imagine. I think that learning the language of technology is as important as reading. This doesn’t mean that he’ll be a couch potato, plugged into a screen all day. The immediate family has diverse and active passions: dance, sport, hiking, art, mountain biking, hunting, fishing, travel and exploration. There’ll be more than enough to keep him entertained outside of a screen without even trying (but i cant wait to find out who he is and what interesting places that leads us to…).
Really you should do what you think is best. Honestly my kids get screen time. My youngest watches an assortment of videos all high quality educational value plus LR and LMus. I don’t feel guilty about it. I know it has made the difference between reading a few words and reading and comprehending a lot of words and concepts. He knows colors, shapes, sight words, and talks in full sentences. He counts forwards and backwards up to 12 in English and Spanish. He started on his screen time around 6 months. He is an active boy who gets plenty of time outside. He isn’t even close to a chubby baby. On a busy day he gets 1-2 hours of assorted videos clips from Little Pim, Sparkabilities, YouTube video clips, Salsa, YCCD, Mathtacular, and Peter Weatherall. Pass the judgement on because I am okay with it. 
lol. He loves words and reading and counting and finding shapes. He is the calmest of all my children and he has had more screen time than all of them. He is also plays alot while watching video clips like a typical youngster. I am at peace and whatever you decide to do be at peace about it, because there are very few wrong ways to go about.
Ultimately it is up to the parent. I would prefer my child to get quality educational (not edutainment) screen time than junk screen time. I personally restricted and limited tv time until my an was 2. And even now it is very limited. He does have access to apps on my iPad though. I just didn’t want him to become “addicted” to the rush and high interest of media before he had cultivated a love of books or the ability to be attentive to non stimulating things.
James didn’t see his first screen until he was 18 months (we had no tv in our home) and it was only for a short period. At almost 2 he got to use apps on an iPad. And then extremely limited iPad viewing from about 2-3. He saw his first tv time again a month before his third birthday when we bought a TV.
At 3.5 he watches an educational show about 5 times a week now which is pretty regularly for us. And I let him watch a movie several times a month.
We do as little as possible, except for really quality educational programs.
I’m with Lacy, my kids get screen time and I won’t apologize! I used to be so stringent with screen time with my oldest. He had baby signing time and a little starfall, but that was it. I tried to go the homemade route with flashcards and bits. I also tried to do mostly phonics. It didn’t take. I don’t think he would have taken to reading as well as he did if I had simply switched to a whole word method with cards. No, it was the engaging Your Baby Can Read videos that drew him in, and almost overnight he was reading. Frankly, well done videos teach better than I ever could. My kids love them, they are learning, I’m not complaining. My husband is a programmer and he spends 8+ hours a day in front of a screen. He’s healthy, and he provides for us well. Everything should be done in moderation, I just think the “no screen time” crowd have perhaps pushed the pendulum too far in the other direction. There’s a world of difference between Spnoge Bob and Little Reader, and they don’t seem to account for that. I know my kids love books more because they can read them, and it was screen media that made it happen.
While I prefer educational, I admit that on Saturdays and special occasions we also watch Disney, and Dream Works. We are also Avatar the last Airbender geeks. Hey, we’re human.
We were a lot more limiting in the beginning, but even then I think we were more liberal than most. As of now at 3 & 4, we still keep the kids ipad/laptop options limited to educational yet fun apps. I could never have taught my kids as much as they have learned without embracing technology, they just SOAK IT UP! Or, let me put it this way, it would have required a lot more effort than I was willing to put in while still running my household effectively, so the DVD’s, software, apps, learning songs, etc really did their job and continue to do so. We embrace technology in our house overall, so my view is probably a bit skewed. My son gets to play super mario on fridays sometimes and he’s scary good LOL, and we let the kids watch movies on netflix a couple times a month on the weekends. We are just careful to set boundaries and reign it back in when it gets excessive, although most kids in America are probably watching far more with a steady diet of garbage broadcast TV (which we don’t even have).
They are so comfortable and fluent with navigating computers, touchscreens, and so on. My kids are digital natives to the core and I know technology is only moving forward and becoming a more integral part of our lives with each passing day. As long as they still enjoy reading and such, I really have no issue with it, and just like I have finally converted, they’ll be reading all of their books on ereaders soon enough. It’s the CONTENT that I police heavily, and probably always will. I do want them to “bilingual” though and able to flip flop between cracking open an old dusty book or using e-learning methods.
Guns don’t kill people, right? With the right intention, TV, Software, and tablets are very powerful learning tools…or they can be the biggest waste of time ever. I like how Tamsyn’s hubby uses the terms “life hacker” and “education hacker” in his attempt to describe finding the most effective and efficient route to learning. So true!
I am also taking the Tweedlewink Overview course now and screen time/tv time was addressed by Pamela. I distinctly remember her saying that physical flash cards is still the best but for practical reasons, they made the dvd lessons which are about 8 minutes long per lesson. I am also cautious in exposing my child to TV/screen time and I limit her screen time/TV time to LR lessons, nursery rhymes videos on you tube, star fall phonics and Little Musician. I always interact with her during her screen time e.g. talking to her and pointing out the objects we see on screen and I have never left her alone during screen time. Her screen time exposure a day is less than 1 hour. Under the Tweedlewink Chart, my child falls under the infant-toddler stage and the recommended learning video time there for her stage is actually 60 minutes but Pamela (of Tweedlewink) says that the 60 minute video time can be inclusive of the lesson time (flash card sessions) which they recommend to be 30 minutes per day.
If I only have all the time in the world, I would choose to do physical flash cards but since I’m a working mom, I make do with the things at my disposal, namely technology thus, I allowed my child limited exposure to the screen/tv.
I don’t know that I would go as far as these parents, (my kids don’t have unlimited access to anything they want) but their recent posts certainly add to the discussion so I thought I’d share:
http://www.cheeseslave.com/why-we-dont-limit-screen-time/comment-page-2/#comment-270402
http://www.togetherwalking.com/1/post/2013/06/eitheror-thinking-and-screen-time.html
She shares this unschooling link: http://sandradodd.com/tv