The Barsness twins rarely watch TV. Their mom, Zoe, doesn't like the way it transforms and transfixes kids.
"The kids, they become zombies when they start watching it, and all activity stops, she said.
Two-year-olds Rhys and Annika get limited tube time for good reason. Research shows toddlers who watch TV can fall behind in their language skills.
"We found that having a TV audible to a baby results in them speaking less, their parents speaking to them less and them having fewer conversations with adults," said Dr. Dimitri Christakis From Seattle Children's Hospital.
Dr. Christakis recommends that babies under 2 avoid TV and that parents carefully monitor what toddlers, like the twins, watch and keep it to a minimum.
"Quite honestly they don't really ask for it and notice that it's absent. Even though we have a big screen TV sitting there on the wall in the other room, in their world it's rarely on," said Zoe.
Instead of TV, the twins like books read aloud by their parents.
And these days, libraries are doing more than ever to get kids interested in reading.
As part of a Tacoma Public Library program, every child who reads 10 books over the summer gets free admission to Point Defiance Zoo.
"Kids who are more interested in reading are more likely to be successful in school," said Maria Pontillas of the Tacoma Public Library.
But it takes parents to get the ball rolling.
Studies now suggest that parents read 1,000 books to their children before they ever start school
"Kids who enjoy and want to be read to are more likely to want to learn to read," said Pontillas. "So as a parent, the best thing you can do to help develop that love for reading is to read to them and get them excited about books so that when they do go to school they're excited about learning to read and want to learn to read."
In the long term, early readers are building a foundation for a lifetime of learning.
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