I know there are a lot of parents who pride themselves on the fact that their toddlers never watch tv. I am not one of those parents. The tv is a source of entertainment, babysitting (yes, so I can use the restroom in peace) and education in our household. Does she watch it all day long, no not usually, she doesn’t even watch it every day. But she does watch it.
Amelia watches Sesame Street almost every morning. It comes on at 9:00, but she’s asking for it the moment she wakes up. She loves it. Today we were watching it and Ernie, Bert, Grover and another little pink Muppet were singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star…which just so happens to be Amelia’s favorite song in the whole wide universe. It’s a critical part of our night time routine…along with back rubs and we’re reminded quite loudly if we’ve neglected to do it.
As they sang it they left out the last line of each verse
Twinkle, Twinkle Little _____
How I wonder what you are ______
Up above the world so ______
Like a diamond in the _____
and so on…
She filled in every blank.
At 20 months she has a huge vocabulary, has mastered a good portion of the alphabet, knows most of the standard animals by name and sound and can count to 10. We’ve given her the foundations, but the repetition on Sesame Street has certainly helped. Moral of the story, letting a toddler watch tv isn’t always a bad thing.
