As the mother to three young children I understand the convenience that TV watching can bring to our often crazy days. The children become instantly engrossed in the flashy images and jingly songs, and I am free to scurry around the house cleaning up or to make a quick phone call without chaos in the background. I am also reminded each time we visit the pediatrician for their yearly check up that they should not watch more than two hours of TV a day. I am aware of the negative effects of watching too much TV and do my best to follow those guidelines laid out by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
However, I can understand how TV watching among children can become excessive. Television is easy entertainment, it’s convenient, and kids love it. The amount of TV children watch is associated with various factors within the home and family environment. Parental influence plays an important role in TV viewing habits. Things such as the parent’s attitude towards TV and the accessibility of TVs in the home take part in shaping a child’s viewing habits.
Given the importance of the parental role in TV viewing among children, a recent study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity investigated the association between parental concern for child TV viewing and TV viewing by the child. Researchers in Australia studied a group of 1128 children and found that children of concerned parents watched more TV than children whose parents were not concerned.
The authors suggest that parents are able to recognize the fact that their child is watching excessive amounts of TV, hence their concern. However, the researchers found that the parental practices of concerned parents may unintentionally contribute to the high amount of TV viewing in the child. Offering sedentary behavior, such as TV watching, as a reward was one factor associated with parental concern. This practice appears to be in contrast to the parent’s concern for TV watching and could actually increase the amount of time the child watches TV. The frequency in which the child ate dinner in front of the TV was another factor associated with parental concern, and studies have shown that this behavior is related to the amount of time spent watching TV. So, despite the fact that concerned parents seem to recognize excessive TV viewing in their child, they may benefit from learning strategies to help reduce the amount of TV viewing in their child.
Activities Other Than TV Watching
While I am not offering professional advice on how to decrease TV watching among children, I do have a few activities that I use when I need a few minutes to get necessary chores done around the house. Going outside to let the children burn off some energy is one of my favorites, but my children are still young and it’s not always practical if I am not able to monitor them. In the list below are ideas for keeping them occupied in the house.
Puzzles
Card games
Make a fort
Coloring- books, paper bags, big and small sheets of paper
Blocks/ LEGOs
Mazes- I print these from the internet
Books
Stickers- with a sticker book or paper to put them on
Sock toss- let them toss their rolled up socks into a box
These are just a few activities that can entertain children and let you save that precious TV time for an occasion when you really need it. A simple search on the internet is also a great resource for many more children’s activities.
Sources:
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;107/2/423
Pearson et al.: Are parental concerns for child TV viewing associated with child TV viewing and the home sedentary environment? International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical
Activity 2011 8:102.
doi:10.1186/1479-5868-8-102