I grew up watching and loving Big Bird, but a new study in this month’s Pediatrics magazine says that our yellow feathery friend may actually be the enemy. Each hour of television that children between the ages of 1 and 3 watch leaves them 10% more likely to develop attention problems at age 7.

Now I know this is a controversial study, since it seems to blame parents for kids’ problems. I’m not a scientist, and I haven’t done any studies myself, so you’ll have to take my conclusions with a grain of salt. But here’s what I think. ADD has been increasing, and many children who don’t have full-blown ADD still have trouble paying attention. Some kids, biologically, will have ADD no matter what. I think, however, that these kids are the exception. There must be a cultural component to explain why it’s becoming so prevalent now. TV seems like a good explanation.

Think about it. Big Bird dances. So does the letter D. J, on the other hand, jumps. It also jangles, jiggles, and jives. And it jangles for less than 10 seconds before it begins to jerk or to jog. When children watch this, they learn that nothing should ever take longer than approximately four blinks of the eye. After that, it’s time to move on. They’re also taught that everything should be entertaining. Letters dance and sparkle. Numbers laugh and sing. When they get to school and see a piece of paper with lots of P’s to trace, they wonder what’s up. P’s not moving. So they do. Time’s up.

Television may actually wire our kids’ brains in the wrong direction. What if attention isn’t something you’re born with, but it’s something we learn as we grow, just like we have to learn to pee before we put the snowsuit on and to go to sleep in a big girl bed without needing Mommy to lie down with us? And what if, instead of teaching it, our society is now teaching the exact opposite?

Think about life one hundred years ago. There was no television. Kids didn’t even have many toys. If they wanted to play, they had to make up games. Playing was active, not passive. It involved the imagination and it engaged the brain. At the same time, kids were also disciplined much more harshly (much of which, I think, was excessive). They had to sit still at mealtimes. They had to sit perfectly still in church. Things did not always have to be fun.

Today everything involves entertaining kids. We don’t even have plain old wooden blocks anymore. Today’s blocks whistle and sing. Kids, whose brains are still being formed at this young age, aren’t actually stretching them. What a nightmare this creates for teachers! Instead of figuring out the best way to explain a complex concept, teachers have to figure out how to keep kids’ attention.

Maybe it’s time to get serious about wiring kids for attention. A few weeks ago the Health Unit promoted TV free week, showing that it is possible to tune out. We may all need special videos for emergency time to ourselves, but if that emergency time is taking 5 to 6 hours a day, there’s something wrong. Instead of reaching for the remote, let’s reach for a book, even when kids are under a year. Let them hold one, play with one, even bite one. Let it become their friend, so that as they grow they will be drawn to books.

What if your child is older and already has problems with attention? I’ve heard of people with brain injuries who overcame them by practise. They spent hours each day drilling themselves on the areas of the brain that no longer worked, to try to build different neural pathways. I’m not a neurologist, and I’m not sure if that really works if your child has severe ADD. But for the vast majority who just have minor problems, maybe a little brain exercise will help. So turn off the television and open up a book. Or learn to recite some funny poetry. Or take music lessons. Do something which trains the brain, and maybe, in a little while, J won’t have to be jazzy. It can just be J again.

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