As if we weren't already buried in news about the dangers of television and violence, a new study shows why it’s best to keep your kids’ tube time low. The University of Michigan reported that 3-year-olds who watch more than two hours of TV each day are three times more likely to be overweight than kids who watch less.
The researchers added that all those junk food commercials only added to the problem of compromising children's personal health and wellness. Children who watched two or more hours of TV also had more behavioral problems. Parents should include in their kids’ TV monitoring the total time TV is on in the house, not just the time kids actually watch it.
UM offers the following family ideas: Keep the TV off during meals; have lots of conversations in your home; read more to your children; don’t use TV to reward or punish your kids, or as an electronic babysitter; encourage your children to play or stay active; and get those TV sets out of your kids’ bedrooms.
By the way, a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that children ages 6 months to 6-years-old spend more time watching TV, DVDs and playing video and computer games than they do looking at books with their parents or on their own. So we all can fall into that too-much-TV trap.
Sheryl James is a former EduGuide editor from Brighton, Michigan.