In praise of kids' television

Critics claim TV damages our children's social skills and their health. Instead, we should be celebrating the wealth of good entertainment it offers them

'I grew to love CBeebies': Susanna Rustin with her daughters Gloria, seven (centre) and Rosie, four. 
  

When my first child was tiny, I grew to love CBeebies. Being woken up too early, coming down to a cold, empty sitting-room, there was nothing nicer than the stroke of 6am and the start of the BBC children's day – usually with Tikkabilla, inheritor of the round, square and arched windows remembered by everyone who grew up watching Play School on television in the 1970s.

In the Night Garden, aimed like Teletubbies at the very youngest audiences, began when she was 18 months. From these toddler shows, big on repetition, talking creatures and songs and dances, she moved on to dramas such as Grandpa in my Pocket, science show Nina and the Neurons and Numberjacks, in which a gang of cartoon detective digits living down the back of a sofa solve maths-related problems.

These days we have more channels at home and both daughters watch a good deal of Disney Junior. At seven, the elder one has moved beyond CBeebies' official two-to-six age remit and would watch more CBBC, for those aged six to 12, if her younger sister would have it. But back then it was CBeebies all the way, or at least most mornings and evenings. Some lunchtimes too.

Figures suggest these viewing habits are normal. Our kids, now four and seven, watch around 17 hours a week, average for children their age in Britain. They are part of the majority who watch mainly with adults (us) and on the family's main set (the only one in our home). They are not among the 14% of four- to nine-year-olds who watch TV on their own after 9pm. Like most under-12s, ours spend more time watching TV than on the internet. Some of these hours are spent watching DVDs rather than live broadcasts.

But as new BBC director-general Tony Hall settles into his job, he could be forgiven for thinking people are not that bothered about children's TV. Rather than celebrating it as an area in which the British are world leaders – unlike drama, where the best series seem now to come from the US and Denmark – we often denigrate it.

There were a few nostalgic mutterings when, last year, the BBC moved all children's programmes off BBC1. But while many adults will wax lyrical about the hits of their own youth – Bagpuss, Mr Benn, The Magic Roundabout, Crackerjack, Animal Magic – there is less enthusiasm for the modern equivalents. In general, we seem to prefer tales of the harm that technology does to children – by inhibiting language, social development and concentration, by turning them into overweight couch potatoes or shopaholic pests.

I know people who don't let their preschool kids watch any TV. My daughter's nursery sent home a letter explaining the benefits of a DVD after lunch following parents' complaints , while government-funded Steiner schools cite "growing evidence that too much screen time is detrimental".

The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends that under-twos watch no television and the US department of health cites the reduction of "screen time" as a goal. No such official advice exists in the UK, although campaigners, such as psychologist Aric Sigman, believe it should, and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health recently voiced concerns. Research published last month suggested a small increase in behaviour problems in seven-year-olds watching more than three hours of television a day, but found no evidence of a link with attention disorders or of problems associated with computer games. The authors cautiously suggested that a "narrow focus on screen exposure" could be unwise.

But even among the majority who are relaxed about children's television (23% of parents were concerned about TV content last year, down from 31% the year before), there is a kind of coolness. Unlike children's books, theatre and films, children's television is ignored by critics. Stars such as presenter Cerrie Burnell and Justin Fletcher win plaudits for promoting awareness of disabilities. But even a recent launch such as Sarah and Duck, on which hundreds of thousands of pounds of licence-fee money was spent, or new Disney series Sofia the First hardly merit a mention – unless they become controversial, as Sofia did last year when there were complaints that Disney's first Latina princess is too white. I remember looking in vain in 2008 for the rave reviews I felt sure the gorgeous 3rd and Bird deserved.

But does evidence support the idea that watching television can harm growing brains and bodies? Does it damage children's relationships, or make them less creative? Would most kids, in Britain as well as in the US, where children watch far more television, be better off with less of it? Would most of us prefer our children to be more like Roald Dahl's Matilda, now star of a hit musical, the odd one out in a telly-addict family who prefers hours in the library?

In a studio at MediaCity in Salford, CBeebies' newest presenter, Cat Sandion, and Sid Sloane are recording a song to link between programmes. "It's bigger than a rabbit and a cow and a pig," sings Cat as she waves an arm, trunk-like, in front of her face and sways. "It squirts water when it gets hot," sings Sid. "Have you guessed what it is! Yes, it's an elephant!"

It is not the most thrilling script, but they make it charming. Sandion, who trained at the Brit school in Croydon, says incessant smiling on camera is good for her face muscles.

In a corner of an open-plan office nearby, about 40 staff are crammed in to a session on how to make the move to the screen. A few might do it: new CBBC presenter Katie Thistleton was channel controller Cheryl Taylor's PA until she was asked to audition.

The man who oversees all this and a budget for programmes of £111m last year is BBC children's director Joe Godwin. He says concerns about TV are nothing new. "People have always worried about these things. When I was growing up, people said: "Don't sit in front of the TV for too long or you'll get square eyes." Don't forget in the 70s there was a programme, Why Don't You?, that said 'Why don't you just switch off your television set and do something less boring instead?'"

But when I start rattling off a list of current anxieties related to screen use – obesity, poor literacy standards, junk-food advertising, sexualisation, online bullying – Godwin says he has "every sympathy for people with concerns about children and media. "I'm not saying it's easy. Being a kid is really tough and it's absolutely valid to say that, after school, you can just laugh and look at silly things."

But the more he talks, the more his Reithian vision of children's television as wholesome and nutritious shines through. The BBC won an Emmy kids award in February for the Newsround special documentary My Autism and Me. "Our purpose under a skin of entertainment is an improving one," he says. "It's education with a small e."

Godwin's digital team are, if anything, even more concerned to emphasise this. "We've got this pastoral care thing in our head, that we shouldn't be keeping children online longer than they should be," says executive producer Rachel Bardill. Having dipped a toe into role-playing games a few years ago, the BBC decided against doing any more. Instead, its websites invite kids to sample what she calls a "broad range of shallow experiences, with play times of 10-12 minutes – quite snacky, quite regular". The first children's mobile app will launch this summer.

However, reassuringly auntieish they are to someone like me, who likes it when the channels shut down at 7pm and tell you it's bedtime (unlike some commercial channels, still blaring out cartoons at 11pm), Godwin and Bardill don't claim to be representative of their industry. Godwin won't name them, but says there are children's programmes with "no respect for the audience, no understanding".

Quality is variable, and no one denies that some programmes are unsuitable for children. Alison Parkes, lead author of last month's new research, suggests more data is needed to gauge the impact of screen violence. David Buckingham, professor of communications and author of Material Child, says the key point with children's programmes is how much care has gone into production. "Has it been thought about in terms of what children can understand? Does it stimulate their imagination? Does it talk down to them?"

He says fears about technology are age-old but agrees there are judgments to be made by parents all the time. "It's a question of who else is around to help kids make sense of things. One of the dilemmas parents face is that there are things in the world kids need to know about, but which aren't very nice."

Even those such as Dr Ari Brown, author of the American Academy of Paediatrics policy recommending no TV for under-twos, agree that "high-quality" television has educational benefits. But when I ring and put it to her that entertainment can also be a benefit for kids, as well as parents trying to make the tea, she insists that very young kids are always better off doing something else.

"Kids need time to move around and do other things and interact with humans. Talk time is extremely valuable," she says, offering as an example the choice between plonking a toddler in front of the TV or on the kitchen floor with a saucepan and a spoon.

Even if there is a correlation between screen time and language delays, as some studies by US psychologists have shown, this doesn't mean TV is the cause. It may be that the children have fewer opportunities to do other things and are therefore watching more TV. Compared with many other activities, watching television is cheap.

With budgets of leisure centres, playgrounds and youth clubs under huge stress, we should be glad the BBC has protected its youngest audience from the most severe cuts.

Sloane left CBeebies last month after 11 years as a presenter. The day before he left, I rang him. He told me he thinks kids today are smarter than ever, and said he would miss the connection the work gave him to his own childhood

Good-quality children's programmes are an asset to be treasured and the idea that there is always something better to do than watch TV or play computer games is, I think, rubbish – part guilt about not giving our kids enough time and attention, part snobbery about popular culture not being worthy of serious attention and part nostalgia for a more innocent past when playing in the street was thought to be safe.