How to Regulate Your Child’s TV Watching

Television is a fact of life, and there are few families that don't have one, or that never watch one. Television can also be educational, informative, and uplifting. But, let's face it - the vast majority of what is shown on TV is pure drivel - it is far from uplifting or educational, and often portrays behavior that would be quite unacceptable in most social circles. Even worse, it often portrays that behavior as normal, or even desirable.

Furthermore, time in front of the TV is time NOT spent in physical activity, nor in conversation. In other words, watching television is a largely passive, solitary, activity that undermines healthy social behavior and promotes obesity and other "couch potato" disorders.

Television certainly influences behaviors. If it didn't, advertisers wouldn't spend so many billions of dollars on their tiny, 30-second slices of it.

So, short of throwing the TV out of the window, how can you limit your child's exposure to it to reasonable amounts? Here are some suggestions:

1. Start with your own behavior. If you spend 4 hours a day watching soaps and sitcoms is it any surprise that your child does too? The biggest challenge for a parent is to be a good role model. It is not what you say, it is what you do that will most influence your kids!

2. The problem with most adults and children is that they have got so addicted to television that in its absence they don’t know what to do. Again, you will have to find alternate activities first for yourself, and then for your children. Think of things to do that are healthy and pro-social. The best ones would be to take up some sport like swimming, hockey, football, etc or revive your interest in hobbies such as dancing, painting, scrap-booking, collecting stamps and coins and so on. There is no dearth of what you can do but the bottom line is to do something, not just sit and watch others doing. Even if you feel like relaxing it is a good idea to pick up a good book to read. It will exercise your brain as it relaxes your body. How about listening to your favorite music?

Your local recreation center or the adult education center will have many programs and classes to offer at any time of the year. You can make a deal with your child that if he attends one of his favorite activities, you will offer some incentive.

3. It helps to discuss the matter with the child and come to an agreement on rules of television watching, such as, no TV before school and during meals. You may even like to fix one day of the week as a regular TV-free day.

4. Another way is to opt for pre-schedule television, which allows you to watch only what has been pre-booked. This way you won’t spend time in channel surfing and the family can together decide what is worth watching.

5. You may want to use television time as a reward for other activities, such as completing household chores, or getting homework done. You will need to draw up some sort of chart to keep track of all this.

6. The best way to monitor your child’s television watching is to watch together and then talk about what you viewed. Initiate discussion on the program or its values, its quality of acting and scripting. You can even discuss the commercials that will help your children to be less naive and gullible when it comes to advertising. Take practical examples and show them how some of the toys and foods don’t live up to the hype when you actually go and buy them.

7. Don’t turn off the television abruptly. Give sufficient warning, and try to time it with the end of the show.

8. You can nip the evil in the bud, so to say, if you stop subscribing to the expensive cable and satellite channels. You can spend the extra money for other activities. This gives you quality time with the family and helps you bond better. A family outing or a home-cooked pizza turns out to be much more fun than watching others do similar things on the screen.

Also, remember not to overdo it. Be selective. Find the good programs and watch them. The rest of the time, do something more active or more sociable. Very soon you will wonder how you and your kids ever found the time to watch so much of it.

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Dr. Noel Swanson is a frequent contributor to Yes Parenting website and also has a free newsletter on children's behavior problems.