« A Simple but Powerful Children's Gift Idea |
Main
| Keep Television Out of Your Young Child’s Bedroom »
Keep Television Out of Your Young Child’s BedroomPosted by: Connie McCarthy on Dec 07, 2009 in Technology, Sleep, Parent Involvement, Kids Learning |
“Should I get my child their own television for their room?” Whenever I am asked this question my answer is always a resounding “Absolutely not!”
I say this because:
- Using a TV for reward or punishment gives television too much importance.
- Watching TV as a family allows parents to monitor programs, and limit length of time spent in front of the TV.
- Watching programs together gives parents the opportunity to start conversations on what they see. For example, “What would you have done if you were that child?”
- Watching together allows parents to look for programs that can excite your child’s interests, and encourage reading (a story dramatization, wildlife or nature adventures, science, or history programs.)
- Having a television in your child’s bedroom can over stimulate your child and delay needed sleep. (“Just five minutes more please"…)
- American children watch an average of 3 to 5 hours of TV each day. In my opinion this is 2-4 hours too much!
For a young child TV time can be fun and even educational. However, letting a young child watch unsupervised television for hours on end is a bad idea.
Posted by - Catrina on Dec. 27, 2009
I don't care what other parents say, my kids have a T.V in their room and have done since the day they were born and will always have their own T.V.However, they are limited to 3 hours a day and half the time they are playing outside or reading. My 8 year old prefers to read at night instead of watch T.V