Parenting: Hey Bear!

Ok, we will probably get some flack for this, but we don’t care. We including the baby, love Hey Bear! videos.

I know people will say you shouldn’t have her have screen time for development reasons. She won’t be able to tell 2D images from 3D images apart was one thing I read. They followed it up by saying show her picture books…in which the images are 2D. And of course, we read to her daily. In fact, baby girl has no more room for books in her room…and she has three bookshelves!
My mom plopped me in front of Sesame Street back in the early 70s three times a day.  I turned out fine…I think.
The thing is that  Nola Nerd Baby doesn’t really watch it when its on.  She still plays with her toys and looks and talks to us.  It’s a comfort to her and it is now something familiar to her. When she does watch it, she ususally falls alseep. If she is throwing a tantrum, it helps settle her.  Now for the last one we use that has a last resort, but it has worked.
It, however,  let us learn some things about her.  She loves round yellow shapes.  When she sees them during the video she smiles and squeals with delight. We sing or hum along with the songs now (in the one above which is our go to video, its mostly classic lullaby fare.)  The last couple of days shes been trying to imitate us.
The one negative thing about Hey Bear is the ads that run during  the course of the vdeo This is not Hey Bear! Productions’ fault.  YouTube needs to do a better job with pairing up ads to its programs.  We are watching for free so we don’t mind ads, and the creators deserve money for their work, but show us ads for diapers or baby food not skin disease medications for seven minutes.
We don’t play these videos all day.  In fact, usually in the morning when we are getting ready for work is the only time she really watches it. And then she smiles when it comes on and plays in her bouncy, while I make her milk and talk to her.
Not everything has to be a learning experience for a child. Somethings can just be a routine.  Somethings can just be fun. The smile on her face when she sees the logo proves that she is having fun.