There are lots of children's television shows and movies that many times I'm thankful for the subtle adult humor. Honestly, SpongeBob Squarepants has never been one of my favorites, but it is a popular show whose likeness has been co-branded with many toy and game companies to bring children SpongeBob LEGO's, a "Spudbob Squarepants" version of Mr. Potato Head and his own personal version of the game Operation. Is it possible that SpongeBob Squarepants could be dentrimental to your preschooler's attention span or executive functioning abilities?
Today I read an article on MSNBC.com about a new study recently published by the American Journal of Pediatrics. 60, mostly white, upper to middle class 4-year-old children in Virginia were part of a research study at the University of Virginia. There were 3 groups. 1 group watched a 9 minute clip of SpongeBob Squarepants, the 2nd group watched Caillou, a PBS cartoon, and the 3rd group drew pictures instead of watching television. Directly after the activity, psychologists tested individually, each child's executive functioning by participating in a few multi-step activities. The study identified that the preschool students who watched Caillou or drew pictures scored the same, while the SpongeBob Squarepants group scored significantly worse.
In case you are not aware, attention span is the amount of time we can focus or pay attention to a specific activity. But many people often wonder, what exactly is executive functioning? Executive functioning is the brain's ability to help a person start an activity, but also includes the challenge of staying organized and focused without being distracted to complete the task that was started.
It should be stated that SpongeBob Squarepants is created for 6-11 year-olds, and not 4-year-olds. So, my professional background is one of science and I immediately think, 60 kids in one demographic area isn't really a large nationwide sample and if they were testing 4-year-olds, why was SpongeBob Squarepants chosen during the research study, and not another relevant show geared specifically to the preschool age group that might be more fast paced?
As parents, my husband and I have chosen to let our almost 2-year-old son watch television, typically "on demand" with shows that I initially pre-watched portions of to determine whether it was appropriate for him. Though SpongeBob Squarepants is a show I've never come to like, I do kind of feel like he got a little bit of an unfair shake in this study. What are your thoughts?
So I'll let the researchers come to their own conclusions, but here's my personal opinion. As parents it's part of our job to pay attention to the shows we allow our children to watch. I'm eternally grateful to shows like Barney, the Backyardigans, Sesame Street and Chuggington that I think promote some form of educational content along with values that my husband and I like to instill our family. As parents we decide the when and how much, as a child I let him choose from a few different shows I think are appropriate for him to view.
I totally agree with you, Keriann. It’s our job as parents to guard our kids against media that might not be appropriate for them.
I think they did the study using SpongeBob because it is so popular. Even though it wasn’t meant for preschoolers, they still watch it.
I hope the study gets a lot of attention, because even with the numerous limitations it has, at least it gets parents thinking about what their kids are watching and what effect it might have on them.
I do not feel Sponge Bob is a show for two years old. I work with Learning Disabilities in children. The kids that watch television on demand, are the very ones who have more learning problems in scchool.
For some reason, television, eating and attention span appear to go hand in hand. My children had other activities other than television, they were good students, have responsible jobs and a well rounded diet.
Is it Sponge Bob that is the problem or all child related television and commercials that is affecting learning.
Thanks Suzee for your comment! We are a media driven society and I think it is really hard to disconnect, we have video screens everywhere. I ask school age kids all the time what they do for fun in their lives and it usually involves some type of screen time through television or video games. I’m thankful that my son goes to daycare several days per week because I know when he’s there he’s being educated the good old fashioned way, on the floor with lots of great, age appropriate toys. Time will tell, and more research will hopefully shed a little light on the scenarios at hand!