As a parent, you may be concerned about the amount of television your young child watches. Most pediatricians agree that very young children should not watch an excess of television, and some even feel that children under the age of two should not watch any TV at all. Unfortunately, that may be an unrealistic expectation for many of us, especially if there are older preschoolers in the house. For most families, occasional viewing a few favorite programs is nothing to be concerned about.

Since you should only allow your toddler to watch a few programs, you should make sure that they are high quality, educational programs that can help your child to grow. There are some wonderful children's television programs on the air today, most of them airing on PBS, Noggin, Nick Jr. and the Disney Channel. Some examples of great, educational children's programs include Sesame Street, Blue's Clues, The Backyardigans, Bear in the Big Blue House, Dora the Explorer, Reading Rainbow, Mister Rogers and yes, Barney.

Unfortunately, just about every children's program has a huge merchandising department behind it, so even if you watch only commercial free children's programs, don't be surprised if your child points frantically at all of the Blue's Clues or Dora the Explorer toys next time you're at the toy store. Toddlers will instantly recognize their television heroes and they will want to own any and every thing that has their likeness on them.

Many parents who don't allow their children to watch television will instead let their kids watch DVDs. I don't see the point in allowing a toddler to watch a 90 minute kiddie DVD movie-- that's worse than television in my opinion. Of course there are some exceptions, but even G-rated movies may contain scenes that aren't suitable for young children. Still, most children's educational programs also have DVD versions of their shows available-- great if you don't have cable or are never home when these programs come on. The Sesame Street "Elmo" DVD series is highly recommended, as are the Blue's Clues and Dora DVDs. For the youngest children, you can't go wrong with the Baby Einstein DVD series. As for movies, view them privately in their entirety before you allow your toddler to watch them-- and then only let them watch them occasionally. If the child gets bored, turn the DVD off.

Shows that toddlers should definitely not watch? Spongebob Squarepants is not suitable for very young children, as are most of the shows that air on the Cartoon Network (some shows, like Scooby Doo, feature scary or complicated themes). Most superhero themed shows have too much violence as do the old classics like Tom and Jerry. When in doubt, it's best to stick to network programming that is devoted to preschoolers-- there will be plenty of time for your kids to catch these other popular shows when they are a little older.

So is it bad to let your toddler watch TV? It's only bad if you rely on television as a "babysitter" or if you park your child in front of the set all day long. Otherwise, as with most everything else, moderation is the key.