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New Pediatric Policies Shun TV,
Tout Early-Childhood Reading
The American Academy of Pediatrics announced a new policy August 2, recommending that parents keep television away from children under 2 and that they create an “electronic media-free environment” in children’s rooms. The recommendations are based on recent research on early brain development showing that babies and toddlers benefit most from tactile human interaction such as being read to by an adult.
Susan Roman, executive director of ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children, told American Libraries that “librarians have advocated reading to children for a hundred years” but only recently has there been research to substantiate their instincts. ALSC began its “Born to Read” program in 1994 to link health care providers and librarians in an effort to promote early childhood reading as a component of good parenting. On the other hand, said Roman, the association has never favored abstinence from TV viewing. “We’re not in favor of kids being parked in front of a television; we subscribe to careful monitoring of TV use.”
