Families: Thank Heavens for Television ; Children's TV Has Been Blamed for Many Ills, from Poor Language Skills to Rising Crime. American Experts Now Say Children under Two Should Watch None at All. but Why the Moral Panic? It's Only Entertainment Says OLIVER BENNETT

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Every morning, before I go to work (in truth, a short commute from kitchen to downstairs office), I put my son in front of the television while mum and I take care of business. He's almost two, and television- and video-watching already seems to be one of his skills. The clever boy has even learned how to turn on the TV, after which he gets up so close to the screen that he must be able to discern every dot. There he stands as if in a trance, his eyes reflecting back a sickly miasma of colour, noise and action. In it all goes: Cartoon Network, Teletubbies, emetic purple dinosaur Barney and weird Swiss penguin Pingu.

It's extremely useful, in order to carve a bit of time …