TV may seem like a good thing for toddlers as it would help them develop their brain. As kids grow older, disadvantages may also seem to increase. As soon as the kids are glued on TV, they won’t feel like getting up from their seat and eat anything served on the table. Worst, they may end to up becoming overweight, or even underweight as they won’t pay attention to food.
I have two growing kids. Both girls. One is in the first grade while one is approaching her toddler years. With my younger one, I don’t see any problem. She only runs to TV when she hears the TV ads, otherwise, she’d rather do her own thing like scribbling on Ate’s old notebooks.
However, my eldest is just like her father. A day won’t pass without having them watched their favorite TV show. They both have the habit of hiding the remote control so that no one can take it from them as they enjoy the show. There was even an instance when my husband kept the remote control in his pocket, forgotten about it and mistakenly brought it to work. Poor me, desperately looking for it only to find out the next day that it was all along in his pocket!
So, how much do you allow your child to watch? I made my own house “TV” rules:
- She can only watch for an hour during school days provided she is done with her homework.
- She can’t watch anything without my guidance, if it’s not on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.
- Putting it on Cartoon Network is strictly not allowed. I have yet to learn how to lock that channel and the rest of the inappropriate ones.
- Movies on DVDs are okay during the weekends.
- I sometimes allow her to watch on week days but limited to one hour only in one condition, she has to finish her dinner without a fuss.
I’m sure you’d ask me, does this work? Not really. She still wins most of the time just not to have a discussion. I guess I need to revise my TV rules. Anyone?
It’s really difficult to discipline kids on their TV habits. Looking at your rules, I think that they’re pretty doable. I can’t think of how to revise them :).
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that’s a great TV rules Mitch! you raise your kid with discipline. my nephew can’t take his eyes off the TV sheesh!
I do admire your vigilance when it comes to house rules, tv time included. I am a square eyed monster and come from a family as such. Except for my mom, My brothers and I are like our dad, who loves to watch the television. I just would like to point out somethings based on my experience and observations of other people who are tv addicts as well.
1. Not all people who are glued to the tv most of the time may become overweight or underweight. It is a person’s lifestyle who makes him as such. If one has poor eating habits like eating too much for one’s own good most of the time,on irregular hours like late evening snacks or skipping meals, prefer fatty food and junkies and do not exercise, hates brisk walking and taking the stairs, and glued to the tv most of the time, then one should not be surprised if extra pounds are gained.
2.Though it is true that the television is a major destruction when it comes to school work, others find it helpful to stay long hours in front of it. There had been a lot of informative shows and documentaries, both local and foreign that invaded the boob tube that people, including kids prefer to just watch them than learn them in school. Though some kids’ parents blame the tv for their poor grades, some kids, I included, have gained a lot by befriending it. Because I grew up in a family who watch mostly English or American movies, tv series, award giving bodies and documentaries, it had helped me a lot to be fluent in English, that some people, even Americans , at times tend to get surprised, considering English is not our first language.
3. It is true and I agree that as parents we should guide our kids choice of programs, but we have to admit that some parents, professionals even, choose programs who feature the same trash every day like the local telenovelas where the plots had been so common
that one would know where the story goes, who will die and turned out alive in the end, whose kid turned out to be the real kid of the protagonist and the evil doer whose character refuses to die no matter how many times the story says this sinister person is already dead. The lack of creativity of the shows seen and sadly chosen by parents greatly affect their kids way of thinking. And the thinking of the society and the future as well.
It is really very hard to be parents especially nowadays because of the too many distractions they have to compete with, the television included. What rules may have worked for other families may not work for others as well. The television may be just be a piece of metal but it can divide or unite family members. Though a firm sense of focus and determination may help, at times we just have to hope that the things we believe in will ultimately help our kids to be better individuals when they grow up. And that the most important thing is we did our part.