Any-Mom » The Evils of TV

The Evils of TV

11.15.2010 | Author: OrganizerMom | Posted in Pick Your Battles

When I was a kid, the first thing my father did when he got home from work was to turn on the TV. He kept it on during dinner and gave it his full attention. If we tried to talk, we were shushed. My mother was forced to eat at the corner of the table so my father had a clear view of the TV. (Can you say “dysfunctional”?)

Because of this, as an adult, I developed an intolerance for the TV as background noise. My attitude toward the TV is that if you want to watch something, you go watch it. Then you turn off the TV and do something else. You don’t leave the TV on during dinner, you don’t leave the TV on all day, you don’t leave the TV on while the kids are playing.

Many families I know don’t have this same sensitivity to the TV. Countless times I have been at someone’s home where the TV seems like another guest at the party. Sometimes this guest gets attention, sometimes it’s ignored.

I have pretty strict rules at home for the TV. My son is only allowed to watch TV for one hour a day. We’ve had this rule in place since he was old enough to want to watch it. To enforce this rule, we choose a one hour program to watch or we set the kitchen timer for one hour and we turn off the TV when the time is up. The beauty of the timer is that it puts the blame for the end of TV time on the timer, not on the parents. Yes, as parents we enforce the hour time limit, but only because the timer said the time is up, not because we have arbitrarily directed our child to turn off the TV. It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one.

Some of my friends think I’m a TV Nazi, depriving my poor child of his inherent right to soak up endless hours of screen time. I, on the other hand, think my friends are doing their children a severe disservice by all this TV time. For example, when my son goes on a play date, I expect him to PLAY. I can’t tell you how many times I have picked him up from a friend’s house only to find out that they sat around and watched a movie for two hours. Not to mention the fact that other parents let my son watch PG-13 rated movies without asking my permission.

But the science is on my side. Numerous studies have linked an excess of TV watching with childhood obesity. Now a new study has uncovered a link between hours spent watching TV and mental health and social behavior. As reported in Time magazine, kids “who spent more than two hours a day in front of a screen were more likely to have emotional difficulties, hyperactivity or problems relating to other people, compared with kids who had less screen time.” (October 25, 2010)

So yay for me. I’ve been doing something right. Now I just have to convince all my friends.