Two dimensional synapse development, lower motor skills? Have your child help with the chores, or take your infant along and talk about what you are doing - they take twice as long and are twice as fun! Turn off the boob tube and sit with a puzzle to learn the shapes. Want to learn colors? Sort laundry! So now there's an option that says 'this is educational' but it is still equally bad for their brains. Want passive and unable to sustain their attention span, plunk them down. Sara Bishop, Racine, WI, USA

Almost 30 years ago we became parents and although we watched TV, we did not put our daughter in front of it or use it as a baby sitter. She began to watch when she became older and peer conversations revolved around what was on. We never gave her a TV in her own room until about three years ago: there were enough of them elsewhere in the house. I think as it is basically a passive medium, young children have little to learn from TV because they are not interacting with other people and the programs can talk down to them, limiting the development of children's vocabulary. Carlyle Braden, Croydon

This TV channel is evidence that most adults these days are completely devoid of anything even vaguely resembling creative thought when it comes to raising children. If your options as a parent come down to watching TV or not watching TV as a legitimate parenting tool, then you are failing your child in the worst way possible: You are imposing your limited world and perceptions on a mind and spirit that, given a third, fourth, fifth, sixth... option -- which it is your responsibility to provide for them -- could lift itself beyond the media-driven shopping mall that we currently refer to as acceptable human life. Selling your child's eyes, ears and minds to corporate interests is not parenting, it is abuse and abandonment. Les Kozaczek, Brattleboro, Vermont, USA

As every mother knows, to get all those essential chores done, to get the opportunity to shower, requires someone to look after your baby. With the change in society where families used to all live together, with grandparents and aunts and uncles all under the same roof, childcare was never a problem. Now with women needing to not only go to work but manage the housework too, a little TV never hurt. In fact, I would go so far as to say that some programmes have actually helped my two year-old with his vocabulary. What is important is that TV does not become a passive activity. Watch TV with your child and talk to him about what you see and what's happening and it can be used as a learning aid rather then be the demon babysitter. Akta Chipalkatty, London

With my educational background and experience in early childhood/child development, I can say that despite the "issue" that under-2s should not be exposed to television, a majority of babies/children are plopped down in front of the tube for hours daily - that is just the state of our society. I do believe that this network does a justice to parents who opt for not only participatory viewing, but those that object to exposing their children to the evils of marketing (from what I understand this programming is commercial-free). Additionally, I do not understand the controversy. If you do not wish to expose your children to television - just don't. On another note, I do object to the intentional skew of this article - the quotes selected for print are quite misleading, eliminating representation of the population of parents who would in fact view and participate with their children on a regular basis. Sondra Sutton, Grand Junction, MI, USA

Please complete the form below and your contribution will be considered for publication. Please restrict your response to 250 words. It may be necessary to edit your comments. Please include your name, town/county/state of residence and e-mail.