Fortunately for parents, young children are amazing students. They’re so good at learning, they do it even when we don’t know we are teaching them. Children learn by watching, hearing, feeling, and tasting the world around them. In a way, your home is your child’s first classroom. Every waking hour, you can bet your child is learning something.
How do children do it?
Babies are the world's best copycats.
Babies learn a lot by watching what you do and then trying it themselves. For example, babies love to copy
your facial expressions. When you smile, babies try to smile too. If
you stick your tongue out at a newborn, the baby will stick out his tongue
in return. Researchers have found that babies as young as 42 minutes old
will copy an adult who sticks out his tongue (Meltzoff & Moore, 1977, 1983).
As they get older, babies get even better at copying what they see people
do. Before they can talk, babies may hold toy telephones to their ears just
like mom or dad. If your 12-month-old child sees you brush your hair, don’t
be surprised when he later grabs the brush and brushes his own hair. In
fact, researchers have found that 12-month-old children can remember and
copy some actions they see up to four weeks later, even if they haven’t had
a chance to practice them in the meantime (Klein & Meltzoff, 1999).
You're not your baby's only teacher.
Every person your child watches might be teaching her something.
Young children can watch and learn to imitate anybody they see. This
includes family members, babysitters, neighbors, and even strangers. We
try to make good decisions about who we invite into our homes—our
child’s first classroom. Yet most of us invite strangers into our homes
every day. We watch these strangers when we turn on our televisions. So
does your child.
Most American children watch a lot of television. On average, children
under six watch three hours a day (Rideout & Hamel, 2006). Babysitters
and caregivers often use television and videos as an activity to occupy
children and the television frequently remains turned on during other
home activities, such as mealtimes.
Do children learn from watching television? And if so, what are they
learning?
Do young children imitate what they see on
television?
Meltzoff (1988) set up an experiment to see if
babies would imitate what they saw on a television
monitor. Meltzoff tested 120 children, ages 14
months and 24 months. Half of the children (60)
watched a 20-second video of a stranger on
television playing with a new toy. The toy was
made of two cubes attached by a small tube, so
that it looked like a small dumbbell. On the
video, the person pulled the toy apart in a
special way three times, showing the children an
action to copy. The other half of children (60)
was split into two groups: One group did not see
any video, and the other group watched a stranger
on television playing with the toy without taking
it apart. The researcher investigated three
questions:
1. Would the children who saw the person on the
video imitate the behavior and play with the toy
in the same way?
2. Would the 14-month-old children imitate the
behavior even if they didn’t see the toy for 24
hours?
3. What would the other children, who didn’t watch
anyone take the toy apart, do with the toy?
Here's what happened:
With the 24-month-old children who saw the video,
18 out of 20 (90%) took apart the toy just like
the person on television. Of those who didn’t see
the person play with the toy, only four out of 20
(20%) took apart the toy on their own. This is a
clear indication that two-year-olds can learn from
watching someone on television.
With the 14-month-old children who saw the video,
13 out of 20 (65%) took apart the toy. Of those
who didn’t see how to play with the toy, only six
out of 20 (30%) took the toy apart on their own.
Although these findings aren’t as strong as with
the 24-month-old children, they are statistically
significant and suggest that very young children
can learn by watching television.
One group of 14-month-old children did not see the
toy again for 24 hours. Even with this delay,
eight out of 20 (40%) remembered and imitated what
they saw the adult do with the toy. Only two out
of 20 (10%) took the toy apart on their own.
This research shows that children as young as 14
months old will copy some of what they see on
television, even when that person is a stranger,
and children two years old are even more likely to
copy what they see on television.
What are young
children learning from television?.
In the research presented above, in just 20 seconds of watching TV,
children as young as 14 months old learned how to do something new.
Think of what they might see in one hour of TV. This doesn't mean that
young children will copy everything they see on TV. Other research shows
that if the activity is too complicated, children will not imitate it.
But with more actions or small parts of complicated ones, young children
can—and will—try to imitate what they see on TV. Additionally, as
children get older, they get better and better at imitating what they
see (Barr & Hayne, 1999).
Enjoy the amazing learning abilities your child possesses. Babies and
young children are incredible copycats, learning by watching you and
everything around them!
Helpful Parenting Tips
Our children are watching and learning from us every
day. They watch how we talk, how we eat, how we react to situations, and
how we relate to others.
Treat your home as your child’s first classroom, and the people inside your home as your child’s first teachers. Young children are active learners from the start!
Remember that children watch and copy the things we do. It’s never too early to provide positive examples.
Think about what television brings into your home. What does your child see, and what might your child copy later?
Limit how much television your child sees and co-view television with your child when possible.
Enjoy the amazing learning abilities your child possesses. Babies
and young children are incredible copycats, learning by watching you!
References:
Barr, R., & Hayne, H. (1999). Developmental changes in imitation
from television during infancy. Child Development, 70(5),
1067-1081.
Klein, P. J., & Meltzoff, A. N. (1999). Long-term memory,
forgetting, and deferred imitation in 12-month-old infants.
Developmental Science, 2(1), 102-113.
Meltzoff, A. N. (1988). Imitation of televised models by
infants. Child Development, 59, 1221-1229.
Meltzoff, A. N., & Moore, M. K. (1977). Imitation of facial and
manual gestures by human neonates. Science, 198, 75-78.
Meltzoff, A. N., & Moore, M. K. (1983). Newborn infants imitate
adult facial gestures. Child Development, 54, 702-709.
Rideout, V., & Hamel, E. (2006). The media family: Electronic
media in the lives of infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their
parents. Menlo Park, California: Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation.
Also available in print from our store.
The information on this
Spotlight is the property of Talaris Institute and
protected under U.S. copyright and other laws.
try to make good decisions about who we invite into our homes—our
child’s first classroom. Yet most of us invite strangers into our homes
every day. We watch these strangers when we turn on our televisions. So
does your child.
Our children are watching and learning from us every
day. They watch how we talk, how we eat, how we react to situations, and
how we relate to others.
