Questioning the French approach to banning TV for kids under 3

According to the A.P. this morning, the French government has just barred French TV channels from broadcasting programs that are aimed at children under 3 years old.

The story also reports that French cable operators that offer foreign channels with programs for babies must "broadcast warning messages to parents. The messages will read: 'Watching television can slow the development of children under 3, even when it involves channels aimed specifically at them.'"

I'm fascinated and troubled by this development. In research for my book, Into the Minds of Babes, I found that with Sesame Street, for example, some of the strongest examples of learning occurred with children between age 2 and 3, particularly in children from low-income backgrounds.

And while the jury is still out on exactly how much children under 2 can pick up and gain from TV, I did find serious research from developmental psychologists who use video to train children on new vocabulary as part of their larger endeavors to figure out exactly how children learn best. A few of those studies have found that in the few months before age 2, some children show signs of learning words from video programming if it includes repetition and social interaction intended to help them grasp what the words mean. A University of Connecticut study that used doctored versions of Teletubbies is one example.

We want children to grow up in rich language-based environments. That means having parents read to them, point out new objects, label and describe what they observe, and then give their children -- even in their first year -- a chance to communicate or talk back. Agreed, TV is not ideal for such exchanges and some parents rely on it as a babysitter far too much. But that doesn't mean that video programs can't spark new conversation, inspire grown-ups to talk to their babies about new things or, as was the case in our family, let us get our giggles, wiggles and new words out while we danced along with characters we saw on the TV set.

Do you agree? Has France has gone too far?