Reducing Children's Exposure to Television

Isn't it time your child took a television timeout? It is amazing how many hours a day, hours per week and hours per year young children spend camped in front of the television. The exposure may be constant access to the family room high definition or the lad may even have a personal television in the bedroom. Television is not entirely bad for kids as there are some creditworthy educational shows for children to view. Rest assured nine out of ten shows usually involve brainless activity and seem to be the ultimate waste of time. As a parent, we should provide good alternatives to excessive television viewing. There are several things children can do to reduce exposure to television

Physical Activity

Instead of heading for the television to take a break from homework or studying, kids should engage in some physical exercise or play time. Have them head out to the back yard with a soccer ball or go out to the sidewalk with the jump rope. This much needed break will get the kids socializing with other neighborhood friends and give their minds a recharge before they head back indoors to resume school work or preparing for the big test.

Hobbies

Perhaps the youngster needs to reduce daily television viewing from two or three hours a day to only one. There are two hours that can be spent adopting a new hobby. The hobby could be taking an art class, purchasing a telescope, or even learning to play an instrument. The new found time spent learning a skill or craft can prove a worthy investment as it will strengthen the child's confidence and perhaps create new opportunities in college and the professional world.

Employment

Kids skipping television obviously cannot be sent into the national workforce but they can perform little errands around the house and neighborhood to make extra money in the spare time. Try to convince your bored child to take the extra time on Saturdays to mow lawns, deliver newspapers, or raking leaves. Perhaps they can shovel the neighbor's driveway with or without compensation (depending on how much you like your neighbor). The little tots may want to take the Saturday afternoon to set up a lemonade stand or do odd errands around the house for an allowance or reward. The world is their oyster if you point them in the right direction, just say no to television.

Family Time

Just saying "no" to television means mom and dad need to set a prime example and "walk the talk" as well. Take the new found time to get back much neglected family time. Pull out the board games, card games, or even play some interactive games that will have everyone laughing together. On occasion our household will hold a talent show for the kids of whom they get up and perform concerts, dance routines, and even magic shows. These fun family assemblies are much more entertaining than any prime time television show and provide opportunistic for filming family videos that will be treasured for years to come.

No matter what you recommend to your child when it comes to staying busy, make sure to support their hobbies and extracurricular activities. Do not replace television with excess video gaming or Internet access. Such television replacements can be potentially worse for your kids given the violence and sensitive content found in video gaming as well as the predatory dangers found on the Internet.