Saturday, February 27, 2010

Kids and Watching Television:


You know television could be educational and could be harmfull if abused. But I guess in our case, maybe Skye is too young and not ready for it. No, I know she is definitely too young for it.
I have seen it with my own eyes. According to me Tv is a very harmfull tool, Skye has been watching it for a while, then it started to get worse, mind you, she is not even two yet and she keeps asking to watch Barney shows over and over again.

First of all, she loses focus and becomes like a vegetable in front of you. Secondly she does not interact anymore, when her friends visit, she stops playing with them just to watch TV.

Thirdly, she is not imaginative and creative anymore like she used to be, she stopped playing by herself, then at last she gets tired and cranky quite easily, not to mention the constant night wakings.
Lately, TV has been a noise in the background...
Well I have to say... Not anymore, Michael and I have made a decision: banning the tube for a while until she grows up a bit and even then she can watch but with moderation.
Guess what, it has been more than a week now and she is brilliant, happy, more interactive, more playful, she always finds something to do and play with, we spend more time together. I have to admit we are a happier family without the screen switching on to shut us down from each other.
Another proof is I have seen it with one of the children as well. Now I am not sure if some are more sensible than other to Tv or not but I know a 5 year old who is very drawn back on himself, never plays with other kids, is never outdoors and watches more than 5 hours a day. Is it related to watching too much TV? I wonder.
Then again, I know another 5 year old who barely watches a couple of hours a week and is so interactive, happy and hyper.
A coincidence, you tell me...
I mean I tried to watch a few times while Skye was around, comedy series to be on the safe side, no violence or bad language but then Boom! Suddenly out of nowhere, you get a commercial right in the middle of the day and right in the middle of the show about a horror movie or a gruesome violent movie full of blood, what am I supposed to do? Except try and make a giant leap to the remote control to switch it off or change the channel or anything but those images. Watching the news is not better, have you seen the news lately? You know what I mean, so there you are, we will stop watching for while until further notice...

Did you know that children and adolescents spend 22 to 28 hours per week viewing television, more than any other activity except sleeping. By the age of 70 they will have spent 7 to 10 years of their lives watching TV.

It's no secret that sedentary behavior contributes to obesity and chronically poor health. But sedentary behavior, and more specifically television-viewing, is related to blood pressure.
Children who consistently spend more than 4 hours per day watching TVare more likely to be overweight.
Kids who view violent acts are more likely to show aggressive behavior but also fear that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them.
You might think we are exaggerating but I don't think so, for now this is what is best for us, until then, we will see, we will cross the bridge when we get to it.


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