My name is BB, and I let my child watch TV

So I'm sitting on the can reading the wife's Redbook the other day (which isn't red, btw, so I'm not sure what that's all about) and I come across this interview with Helen Hunt. I've always been a fan... she doesn't work too much, but she picks her parts carefully, does quality work, and is very attractive while not really being 'hot' (the wet t-shirt scene in As Good as it Gets notwithstanding).

Anyway, in the course of the interview they asked her what it's like for her 3-year-old to see mommy on TV, to which she replied that (I'm paraphrasing) "oh, I'm a long way from letting her watch TV, so that's not an issue." Later in the same piece there's a little factoid box where she says that her favorite snack is whatever sushi her daughter pushes away.

What the fuck? (sorry, i'm too annoyed to use wtf)

I'm really tired of the holier-than-thou Hollywood types who've made their fortunes on TV and movies, yet are too good for it. Of course she was saying that her daughter doesn't watch (and won't for a while, apparently), but the subtext is that she doesn't either. But the hypocricy isn't what bothers me, neither is the toddler eating sushi... well, that bothers me a little.

There's nothing wrong with TV. Sure there's crap on TV, but there's crap on the sidewalk too -- the trick is that when you see crap, you walk around it or you change the channel. You don't have to watch Survivor or Dancing with the Stars or the O'Reilly Factor or any of the other crap that might be on. There is in fact good stuff on TV.

Ditto for the tots. There's nothing wrong with (and there's a lot right with) a lot of the children's programing. My son has learned a lot from Dora and Diego, he sings songs and dances with the Backyardigans and he's got a couple of LeapFrog DVDs that are driving me and the wife nuts, but they're helping him learn to read. That doesn't take the place of us trying to teach him and we read several books to him every day. Also, he's learning something new every day at daycare, but kids learn differently from different sources, so why not expose them to what's available.

Of course, you there are limits -- you don't want to follow the Britney Spears model and sit your toddler down in front of Jerry Springer with a mouthful of gum and a sippy cup of soda, but I digress.

Of course it's not just the celebrities. But again, it's probably reflective of the parent's viewing habits and that's fine -- you wouldn't expect the kid to watch more TV than the parents or even nearly as much, but the nose stuck up in the air part has to stop. It's fine if you don't watch and it's fine if your kid doesn't; but implying that it "rots your brain" or is "devoid of content" both shows your ignorance and is clearly you pointing your finger at me and calling me a bad parent, and I'd like to see you say that to my face.

Good for adults: Battlestar Galactica, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, MythBusters, Family Guy, John Adams, Californication, Big Love, The L Word... a lot more on Discovery, National Geographic, etc.

Good for toddlers: Backyardigans, Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, Wonder Pets*, most Pixar movies (I'm sure there are a lot of other good shows, but these are the ones we've been watching lately, and therefore the only ones I can endorse). Teletubbies is fairly harmless as well.

*Kids like Wonderpets and it teaches them teamwork and problem solving, but it can be excruciating for adults.