Ten Intriguing Activities for Turn Off the TV Week

This year, National Turn Off the TV Week is scheduled for April 21-27, 2008. Families across the country will be taking command of the remote and switching the boob tube off. It's important; according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (http://www.aap.org), most American children watch three or more hours of television per day. The recommendation of pediatricians in this group is a maximum of 1 to 2 hours daily. Excess TV viewing has been linked with everything from obesity to aggression to poor academic performance and even the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder. Some families, though, are reluctant to pull the plug even for one week, because they don't have an alternative plan. Here are some practical suggestions to take the place of those TV hours.

Reading Fun

Take some time to reconnect with literature during National Turn Off the TV Week. Try these suggestions:

Read aloud from books that are a little beyond what your children could read on their own. This will open doors to literature and provide some motivation for reading. You can check with your librarian for suggestions, or hunt down fables, myths, legends, or classic stories such as Alice In Wonderland in their original forms.

Spend some time reading poetry together. There are some delightful poems by authors such as Shel Silverstein that will appeal to a wide age range with their humor. Once you break the ice with fun poems, try out some descriptive poetry or some epic poems, such as "Hiawatha."

Try choosing an exciting book, like an action story or a mystery, and reading just the first chapter or two together as a teaser. Many children will get interested in the story and will pick up the book on their own to find out what happens.

Play Some Games

Resurrect family game night while you've got the television turned off. Dig in the family closet for forgotten board games or head out to the variety store and grab a deck or two of cards. Games will build social, thinking, and academic skills. Here are a few more ideas:

Play Charades. The silent pantomimes will challenge your family's creativity and thinking skills. For young players, choose simple and easily-enacted categories of words, such as animals. For older or more experienced players, play Charades in its original form-where titles are to be guessed as they are acted out.

Try out some word games, like Twenty Questions or I Spy. These will build reasoning and vocabulary skills. Try choosing a category and thinking of as many examples that belong in it as possible. Make up alliterative sentences where all words begin with the same sound, or try to create rhyming couplets.

Try Your Hand At Writing

Put pen to paper while the television is turned off this week. Here are some ideas suitable for all ages.

Write a letter to distant family members or friends. Young children can dictate their correspondence. Older children and adults can write a letter each evening. Written communication skills are indispensible for academic success, and children need every opportunity to practice them.

Make a round-robin story. Start the story off by writing a few sentences to set the scene or perhaps introduce characters and a problem. Hand the story off to another family member to add to it. Keep adding by allowing one person at a time to pick up where the previous one has left off. Who knows? Maybe your creation will end up in someone's favorite book pile!

Share a Hobby

This is the perfect week to work on a family hobby or pastime. Perhaps you enjoy scrapbooking, but never seem to find the time to indulge. Maybe your photographs are sorely in need of organization. Is there a parent-child craft project that you can share? The most important ingredient here is your time and attention spent with your children.

Add Some Kitchen Magic

Cooking with kids is an amazingly productive pastime. Your children will not only benefit from the culinary skills they will pick up, but they will also strengthen reading comprehension, math, and the ability to follow directions. Practice with teamwork, learning about the satisfaction of a job well done, and getting the reward of eating the finished product are all perks of working with your children in the kitchen.

And there you have it! Ten great ways to spend time with your children during National Turn Off the TV Week (April 21-27, 2008). Your family has everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose except an unproductive television habit. If you'd like further information, please visit http://www.aap.org/family/smarttv.htm and http://www.tvturnoff.org.