How often and how much television should my child be watching? As a parent I know how useful the television can be especially when we need to do the cooking, cleaning, emails or just to have 30 minutes of peace! My daughter loves to watch the television almost as much as my husband does, so I do have to keep an eye on how much she is viewing. We went through a stage around 6 months ago when Lila was ill, so I allowed her to have more television than normal. Once she was feeling better we got stuck in a habit for the next few days of her demanding to watch and crying when it was switched off. So I decided it was time to go cold turkey, I had seen an article about a family who had stopped television for their children for 1 month, so I decided 1 week would be a good start! I told Lila that the television had broken so that I didn’t use it as a punishment towards her. Day one in the morning and evening she cried and moaned as expected, day two she only asked in the morning and for the rest of the week didn’t mention it! I noticed a difference in the length of time she played alone, used her imagination more through play, whilst still giving me time to get on with my jobs. I was really surprised by the outcome and it took away all of the upset and confusion that she felt about how much and when she was allowed to watch it. The television was fixed the following week as life does get in the way and sometimes you do need to make a phone call in peace or you need to cook for friends coming for dinner, but it is nice to know that without the television she wasn’t a monster! I will definitely be having television free weeks going forward. So how much television do the health experts recommend; there are a lot of conflicting views on the subject and many studies that have been carried out. I will put the links to some interesting ones below. The American Academy of Pediatrics (APP) recommends that children under the age of 2 years should not watch any television due to the importance of brain development in the first year. Watching the screen will not help a baby to grasp the concept of real life objects and they will not be able to process or to make sense of the images that they are seeing. The APP further recommends that children above 2 years watch no more than 1-2 hours per day. I think as a parent you need to figure out an amount of screen time that you feel comfortable with and that fits into your routine. Below I have listed some of the positive and negative effects that can be associated with watching too much television; Negatives; •Poor concentration •The risk of obesity and weight gain due to less physical activity and snacking while watching •Poor social development and lack of communication with others •Language delay can occur when children are not interacting, talking and listening •Behavioural problems due to age inappropriate programmes that include violence or frightening images. •Watching too much television can take time away from important play such as; creative, role-play, gross or fine motor and exploratory play Positives; •Watching educational and interactive programmes can encourage problem solving, maths, science and literacy skills, whilst music and movement shows can encourage dancing, singing and physical activity •Bonding time with parents •Programmes can expand a child’s knowledge of certain subjects which they ordinarily wouldn’t see for example; wildlife or animal shows or other countries, cultures or places •Television can promote language and listening skills by initiating discussions, taking on other people’s points of view and from asking questions •Finally watching television can be beneficial to both parent and child to rest, have time out and to restore energy for more play! healthland.time/2011/10/18/why-educational-tv-for-babies-doesnt-exist/ whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp?slug=ADHD%20Toddlers telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/10138281/Letting-children-watch-hours-of-TV-improves-academic-ability-study-claims.html theguardian/society/2012/oct/09/ban-under-threes-watching-television
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 10:22:45 +0000
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