Here's how it starts: You say to yourself, “Why don't I just quickly check my
e-mail while I feed the baby?” In the midst of things, your baby's little
feet strike the keyboard. Suddenly the screen changes and your little guy
abandons the breast or bottle in favor of the tiny pictures floating in a
blue sky, or the brightly colored lines that move in on themselves in an
endless pattern.
Your baby is interested in the same things you are. Like you, he wants to tap
the keyboard and see what happens. Of course, it didn't take long for
software manufacturers to tap into this market. Knowledge Adventure created
JumpStart Baby, which is aimed at infants from 6 months to 2 years. The
company calls it “lapware,” since it's designed for babies who are sitting on
a parent's lap at the computer.
“Educational” software for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers introduces
concepts such as shapes, colors, counting, and the alphabet. The problem,
says Michael Rich, M.D., a pediatrician at Children's Hospital in Boston, is
that since a baby isn't interacting with the computer, neurologically the
brain is in a passive state. The same goes for a child watching television.
Since neural connections are made during the first two years of life through
live interactions with caregivers, the American Academy of Pediatrics has
recommended that children under age 2 should not watch any TV. Dr. Rich sees
no difference between a parent clicking a mouse and a Hollywood producer
creating a TV program: Both result in images on a screen that are passively
received.
If you're going to let your kids play on the computer, Dr. Rich suggests that
you play along with them, and judge for yourself the nature and quality of
“interactivity”. Set a time limit. Toddlers should spend no more than 20
minutes at the computer. Time can be increased as the child gets older, but
balance sedentary activity with larger doses of exercise and live
interaction. Especially during the first two years of life, nothing's more
important than relating to interactive humans.
