See! Mom Was Right!!!

I have to admit, I love to say, "I told you so."
Recent research (you may have seen this on the news) supports moms and dads who have banned Sponge Bob from their homes.



Sponge Bob has never been allowed in our house.  It started out as a gut feeling.  The show was annoying, felt chaotic, and sometimes inappropriate.  My kids would ask to watch it and I'd just say, "No, mom doesn't really like Sponge Bob."  That would be the end of the discussion.  We'd watch Dora or Bear in the Big Blue House instead.

As my kids got older they started to question my authority.  (I hate it when that happens!)  They wanted to know WHY they couldn't watch Sponge Bob.  I had to get more specific about my reasoning.  I turned it on and sat with them through the agonizing lovely show.  I pointed out each time a character said something innapropriate to another character.  My kids also noticed how the characters treated each other.  We talked about the annoying voices and how the show just felt loud and crazy.  I shared with them my observations about kids and how they love to immitate shows they watch.  Although my kids do not agree with me 100%, they understand.  I still hear about it several times a week.  They try to convice me that shows like Sponge Bob are ok and that it's only for entertainment, that they won't actually call each other names like the characters do.  No luck.  It's still banned from my house.

Imagine my delight, this week, when I heard about a new study about how the fast pace and chaos of shows like Sponge Bob taxes kids' brains.  You can imagine my joy in telling my kids, "I told you so!"  They call it the overstimulation hypothesis.

My kids' pediatrician writes a blog for Children's Hospital.  Today, she posted about this study.  It's VERY interesting.  It makes you think about the quality of tv you let your kids watch.  It's not about shaming parents who let their kids watch tv.  It's about balancing media and paying attention to your kids' choices. 

Click here to head over to Seattle Mama Doc to read all about it.