As a parent, you probably feel that nothing is more important than the health, well being and development of your child. More often than not, you spend extraordinary amounts of time researching products and services before you bring them into the home. The educational programming that you decide for your baby or toddler to view is no exception.

There is no question that we live in a digital age with an increased popularity of “screen media” – that is, computers and televisions – in the home. According to recent studies, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of children under the age of two watch screen media everyday and one-third (36 percent) of children under two have a television in the bedroom*.

Understanding this, it’s very important to foster a healthy relationship between your child and the television, which means appropriately balancing her TV-viewing time with other educational activities.

The television can offer positive benefits for your child’s development when used responsibly. For example, age-appropriate educational television programming has been linked to notable improvements in a toddler’s spoken vocabulary. Television also can enlighten your baby’s experience by opening up a world of imagination and images that she ordinarily wouldn’t see in everyday life.

The following pages detail helpful tips to guide you in responsibly introducing your baby to television. Remember, TV can be a positive experience for your baby if you choose smart programming, set limits and most of all, share in the viewing experience with your child.

* Kaiser Family Foundation, “Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers,” Fall 2003