TV Parenting Programs for Families of ‘90s Supply Experts, Cozy Reassurance

These days, when Cindy and Tom Roberts’ son throws a tantrum, the first-time Burbank parents use advice passed on to them by one of the country’s pre-eminent pediatricians: Just say no.

“Two-year-olds are really pushy,” Cindy Roberts said. “He’d go over and turn the volume up on the TV set, turn it down, change the channels. He used to slam an antique table against the wall to get attention, even if I was already giving him attention. If I hadn’t learned to say no and set limits, I would have had to remove everything from the house.”

The Roberts’ furnishings--and perhaps some of their sanity--were saved because they did something an increasing numbers of new parents are doing: turning to television for advice. In this case it was to “What Every Baby Knows,” Lifetime’s ACE Award-winning parenting series hosted by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton.

With the Family Channel’s veteran program “American Baby” and the newer “Healthy Kids,” and Lifetime’s new “Growing Up Together,” premiering June 8, the series is part of a TV genre that could replace the coffee klatch and Dr. Spock as a primary source of information for parents of the ‘90s.

Featuring cozy talk-show formats and regular families as guests, the series serve two purposes. Not only do they share information, tips and ideas from experts, they help remind moms and dads that, as Cindy Roberts put it, “you’re not the only parent on Earth.”

Each of the four parenting series tries, in some way, to provide the support that in a simpler time might have come from midwives and grandmothers. “Parents need to be assured that they are doing the right thing,” said Judith Nolte, host of “American Baby” and editor for 21 years of the same-named magazine on which the show is based. “I think the best service we provide is to reassure parents that they’re probably doing a good job.”

This encouragement comes not from old wives’ tales, however, but from pediatricians and other experts.

“In general,” said Dr. Loraine Stern, a Los Angeles-area pediatrician who has appeared on “Healthy Kids,” “the things I like about these shows is that the information is authoritative and not controversy-oriented.”

“Healthy Kids” is produced under the guidance of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which must approve “every word, even the commercials” on the show, according to its host--fashion model Kim Alexis.

While the series are all geared toward parents of infants and toddlers and may at a glance seem interchangeable, each has a different slant, said Stern.

“(‘What Every Baby Knows’) deals with parents’ feelings and provides a forum for dealing with parents’ fears,” she said. “Healthy Kids” is devoted entirely to health issues, while “American Baby” is “very much like the magazine, with more of a range of topics than ‘Healthy Kids,’ ” Stern said. “Growing Up Together” also features more general topics.

Upcoming segments of “American Baby,” for example, which began its 10th season in April, include a repeat of the 13-week “The First Year of Life,” an ACE-Award winning 1985 series dealing with emotional and physical development from a child’s first week of life to its first birthday.

“Healthy Kids,” taping a second set of episodes this summer, will include updated information about immunizations.

“What Every Baby Knows,” kicking off its sixth season this summer, will spend 26 episodes on the road, looking at the different ways American families raise their children.

And “Growing Up Together” promises to answer questions ranging from “How long should I breast-feed my child?” to “Why won’t my toddler sleep through the night?”

Stern pointed out, however, that the shows provide such information with varying degrees of skill: “One of the problems I find with any informational TV show is that the average three-minute segment isn’t always an appropriate time to really delve into an issue.”

Stern also voiced concern about the hosts of “Healthy Kids” (Alexis) and “Growing Up Together” (“Entertainment Tonight’s” Leeza Gibbons). While both women have small children of their own, “Just being a mom isn’t enough,” Stern said. “They should have other qualifications besides being pretty.”

Despite the shows’ shortcomings, the consensus seems to be that the more information available to parents, the better. “Anything that will educate the general public is worth it,” said Rosalind Brown, director of the North Valley Child Development Center for the YWCA of Los Angeles.”

“Growing Up Together’s” Gibbons agrees. “There really is a huge deficit in television programming (and it) is finally getting attention.”

“What Every Baby Knows” airs Monday-Saturday at 9 a.m. on Lifetime; “Growing Up Together” airs Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on Lifetime beginning June 8; “American Baby” airs Mondays and Fridays at 12:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. on the Family Channel, and “Healthy Kids” airs Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30 p.m. on the Family Channel.