Your Child and TV

Most parents complain that their children watch too much television. In this age and time television is a fact of life. One doesn’t come across families that don't have one, or that never watch one. While there is nothing wrong with television per se one has to be selective when it comes to watching television and how much of it you can allow your children. Television is educational, informative, and uplifting. At the same time, a lot of what is shown on TV is nothing but drivel. It is nowhere near uplifting or educational, and shows certain behavior that is quite unacceptable and undesirable in most social circles. But, children are too small to discern the difference and make intelligent choices.

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. If not TV then what? First for yourself, and then for your children, find alternative activities that are healthy and pro-social. The obvious ones are taking up some sports or hobbies - football, hockey, swimming, karate, dancing, painting, scrap-booking, collecting stamps, coins, or butterflies, model railways, woodworking or cross-stitch - the list is endless. But, yes, you actually have to DO something to make this work! If you really just want to relax and chill-out - what about reading a good novel, or even a graphical novel (aka comic book) while listening to your favorite music?

You will find your local recreation center or adult education center very helpful in finding the right program or class for you. Don’t forget to offer some sort of incentive to allure your child towards an activity of his/her choice and be generous in praise. After all, you are taking them away from an addiction, and it is not easy.

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. Watch television together - and then talk about what you viewed. You can discuss the program itself - its values, its quality of acting and scripting - or you can discuss the commercials. Doing the latter is a very valuable exercise as it helps children to be less naive and gullible when it comes to advertising. See if you, as a family, can figure out what strings the adverts are trying to pull to get you to want and buy their product. Do the toys and foods live up to the hype when you actually go and buy them?

7. Remember to be reasonable and fair while turning off the television. Wait till the show is over and give some reasonable warning.

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.

All said and done, beware of going to the other extreme. Don’t become overly critical of the television either. Remember, excess of everything is bad. Be selective. Find the good programs and watch them together. Engage in physical activities and be more sociable. Very soon you will wonder how you and your kids ever found the time to watch so much of television.

Article Source: http://www.articles.ask-me-about.com

Dr. Noel Swanson frequently writes for Yes Parenting website and also has a free newsletter with heaps of expert parenting advice.
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