Health, Taken Seriously

I’m sure by now you’ve heard the statistic that the average American child watches 4 hours of TV each day. This is according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The AAP advises that children under two watch no TV and that those over two watch only about an hour per day (although my pediatrician said 30 min). Even more startling is that the average child will spend more time in a year watching TV than in school (900 school hours vs. 1023 tv hours).

I have to admit that I’ve been very weary of television. Children’s programing often seems developmentally inappropriate and commercials scare me to death. I don’t trust advertisers with my innocent child’s young mind. Children under 8 don’t understand that commercials are used to sell a product, and children under 6 don’t know when the program ends and commercials begin. The AAP says that American children see on average 40,000 commercials each year. And we all know what these commercials are selling–junk food, toys, and certainly not things that I want my children nagging me for (although that’s exactly what the commercials are designed to do). That’s why in our house, my 3 year old doesn’t watch programs with commercials. Only DVDs or shows recorded on PBS.

But television isn’t all bad. It can be educational and entertaining. I have seen TV teach my son things, from how to use sign language through the program Signing Time to letters on PBS’s new show Word World. I also have really enjoyed using TV as a time to bond with my child. He gets so much more out of his shows when we watch them together and talk through them, when I point things out and ask him questions. And he doesn’t end up watching too much TV if we watch it with him because we can’t tolerate much more than 30 minutes of most of his programs. That’s not to say that I haven’t turned on a DVD so that he can be occupied while I get something done, like cook dinner. I just think it’s important that those times aren’t very frequent and that TV doesn’t become a babysitter.

I certainly get a lot of weird looks from friends and family about how we’ve decided to let our son watch TV. People are surprised that he’s never watched a movie. Family members may find it inconvenient that they can’t plop him in front of the tube when they watch him. But all in due time. He will watch movies eventually. And with a dad that loves computer games, he’ll be getting plenty of screen time that way soon too. In the meantime, I’d rather take him outside to throw the ball for our dog or watch him play with his trucks or read him a book than watch TV. And when he does get to watch a show a few times a week, it is quite a treat.