How to Regulate Your Child’s TV Watching

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.

Besides the garbage that is fed into your child, television eats into the time your child would have otherwise spent in physical activity or in meaningful conversation. Watching television has turned normal healthy individuals into ‘couch potatoes’ since it is a largely passive and solitary activity that is detrimental to healthy social behavior.

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.

If parents could have their way, they would probably want to throw the TV out of the window, but that will not solve the problem. So, look at the problem in the face and do something to limit your child's exposure to it to reasonable amounts. Here are some suggestions:

1. The best place to start is from here and the best person to start with is you. Take a fresh look at how much time you are spending in front of the television screen. If you spend 4 hours a day watching soaps, you can’t blame your child for watching too much TV. As a parent, you are required to make some personal sacrifices only to set the right example for your children. Remember, children learn by examples not by sermons.

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?

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. Television watching timings will have to be regulated. You can speak to your child and mutually agree to avoid watching TV at specific times, such as before school, or after 9 pm, or during meals. Fix a day of the week as a regular TV-free day and dedicated to outdoor activity.

4. You may even think of cutting down on your channel subscriptions. This way you will watch only what has been pre-booked. You save time on aimless channel surfing, and the family can jointly decide the programs that are actually worth watching.

5. You can draw up a chart to use television time as a reward for other activities, such as completing household chores, or getting homework done.

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. If you can afford to cancel your expensive cable and satellite subscriptions, you will be able to use the extra money for other activities, and there will be less programs to watch. This will do a lot of good to you as a family. You will be able to go out together. You will enjoy a home-cooked pizza on a special family night instead of the usual couch potato routine.

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.

Article Source: http://mylilpeanut.com

Dr. Noel Swanson's website provides free expert parenting advice - just sign up for his newsletter and get a free chapter of his book, The GOOD CHILD Guide. Why not discuss parenting issues with other parents on a parenting forum?
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