TV and Your Kids

Q: We got cable television a month ago and my two teenage daughters seem addicted to MTV. I see their behavior deteriorating. They have no motivation to do anything else and they seem more tense. Is the extra television watching the cause of this? A: Guest Expert, Anat First, PhD, answers: Unfortunately, I can't give a clear-cut answer to your question. Researchers are divided on this issue. Some claim that television is the most important factor in our media culture; that many of our images and much of what we learn and know comes from our media environment.

Elisha Avshalom, a musician and Waldorf educator, spoke with WholeFamily Parent Center Director Ruth Mason about the influence of television on children. Here's what he had to say: When thinking about television and children, it's important to consider factors beyond program content. The content is actually the most superficial part of television; there are deeper considerations. It's not just the content of television programs that may be harmful to our children; the very process of watching may be harmful as well. When a child reads a book or is told a story, he has to use his imagination to create the images he hears or reads about.

A year ago, my husband and I held our breaths and took the plunge. For years, I had been thinking that life would be better -- if not easier -- without television. I'd always limited our children to an hour-and-a-half a day, but it took a long time for me to build up the guts to get rid of the tube altogether. After all, it was a great diversion during the witching hour or when I was dying for a rest in the afternoons. Mostly, the kids watched videos, which most people think are more benign than many children's television shows, though I'd always felt that the focus on content missed the point.

I came home from work one afternoon to find my 12-year-old son chipping away at our full-frost freezer which was so overloaded with ice that we couldn't fit another package of anything in it. My son was going at the ice with gusto, banging with an assortment of implements -- a screwdriver, a can opener and a corkscrew. He was happy. The floor was a mess, there was ice and water everywhere, but for the first time in weeks, there was room in the freezer.

Two years ago, my husband and I took a radical step: We got rid of the TV. Sort of. I could see that my then seven-year-old was becoming addicted. Television was always his first choice activity. I was getting tired of the daily fights when it was time to turn off the tube after the kids' allotted TV-watching time was up. I'd been considering taking this step for years but the day my son said he didn't want to come swimming with me because he would rather stay home and watch TV, I decided to take the plunge.

What Steps Can You Take To Limit The Effect Of Television On Your Young Child's Attitudes And Development? * Make A Television Viewing Plan For Your Family One of the easiest ways to fall into the "TV trap" is simply through lack of attention. When we don't evaluate and choose TV viewing times the amount of television watched in our houses adds up quickly.

Television Is Great For Parents Let's face it. We all need a break. Having a young child under your feet, needing your help or demanding your time can make it difficult, if not impossible to get things done. So we use the built-in babysitter. It's easy, it's free and it works. Is TV Good For Young Kids? While the TV may be a good thing for us parents, the fact is that the results of numerous studies conducted over the past decade show that spending a long time watching television is not good for kids.