Taming the Television

Television is one of the hardest things to regulate in my home. If I'm not careful, it can completely take over my day. When I was pregnant I'll admit, Pixar, Disney, and PBS were my best friends. But get ready kids! We're breaking the bad habits.

Why Bother?

It's no secret that television can have a dramatic affect on children. A recent study found that kids who watch more than 2 hours of TV a day show a decrease in 

• vocabulary skills
• math skills 
• classroom engagement 
• attention span 
• physical prowess
• and are more likely to be victimized by classmates.

That's pretty drastic! What parent wouldn't want to help prevent that? When I did a personal inventory of our family screen time, I realized that most days I fall above the recommended 72 minute limit. Perhaps I didn't notice because I justified that we were watching mostly educational programming. But pure and simple, television is a passive activity. Observing life is not nearly as productive as living it. In short, TV is no substitution for hands on learning.

How Do I Start?

Take a survey. 

A great way to start is to survey your family television time. Fill in hour by hour what your family watches. It's like counting calories, you might be surprised by what you find. It will also help you realize exactly how much TV you are going to have to cut out of your daily schedule.

Set rules.


Involve your kids when setting limits. Ask them about what they think is important. They can help you determine what the rules should be. Before you begin enforcing the rules, prepare some alternative activities to help prevent a power struggle during TV "off" times. Finally, remember that modeling is one of the best ways to justify rules. If you have your own personal television rules, it will them understand that you're not trying to be oppressive, but healthy.

Healthy Viewing Habits

Once you've got the rules down, now you can star to refine your viewing habits. The following suggestions are ones that have proven to decrease the negative affects of television on children.

Watching TV together:
 
Talk about what you watch. The other night, a Victoria's Secret commercial came on. We could have quietly changed the channel and left it at that, but we decided to use it as a teaching opportunity. Even though Little "L" is too small to understand, we covered his eyes.

"Oh no! They are not being modest! Everyone close their eyes!"

At first he resisted, until he saw me and my husband doing it ourselves. After that, he was happy to participate. If we hadn't been there watching with him, we would have missed that opportunity.


TV Talk

Children are exposed to a lot of good and bad through television. Sometimes violence, immoral behavior, stereotypes, and bias can sneak into their programming. As adults, we can easily determine what to think about these exposures, but children have difficulty distinguishing realistic behavior from irrational action. TV time can be an opportunity to discuss values with your children. Look for the following issues and talk about them.

• Expose the values portrayed in programming. For example: do characters value their peers more than their family?
• Point out violence. Talk about how serious this kind of behavior is in real life. 
• Counter stereotypes. Discuss issues such as prejudice and judgement.
• Look for political and social bias. Maybe characters use emotionally loaded words, trying to give positive or negative connotations.

TV and Mealtimes

Mindless eating is a real problem; and lets face it, television doesn't help. Most commercials advertise high sugar snacks, fast food and other low nutrition items. Studies have shown that these kinds of commercials have a huge impact on children's food preferences and actually increase their caloric consumption. The best way to combat this is to not let television disrupt mealtimes. When you eat dinner as a family, you can reinforce ideals of healthy living. 

(Click here for an article on the effects of TV on youth diet.)


 
TV Free Week

Try a family experiment and unplug the TV. You can choose to do it for a couple of days, or even a week, but make a determined commitment to avoid it completely. This used to be easier, before everyone had an I-phone in their pocket and a tablet sitting on their nightstand, but you can do it! With a little bit of planning, you can turn it into a fun family adventure. Here are a few ideas to help you:

• arrange family activities in the evening
• go to the library
• buy new board games
• take walks, get outside
• choose a hobby or craft to work on together

You can find all sorts of productive and fun activities to do as a family. I'll admit, it is going to be hard, but, once your time is through, you'll be amazed at how productive you were, and how much fun you had. You could even challenge yourself to make a better rule about how much television to watch.