Televisions have become essential and irreplaceable in most households for a long time. Children are very fond of watching TV and some parents are happy about that because it may stop their children playing around and destroying things.
Watching TV is a good way to enlarge your children's knowledge as they will get to know more about music, new ideas, countries and cultures all around the world. Small children will get used to colours, shapes and even learn about the alphabet and learn how to count. Besides, it also stimulates the children's curiosity and encourages them to find out about new things from books or ask their parents. In addition, children will learn about different emotions, virtues and ways to deal with things in a normal life from stories on TV. They will know what is considered good and what is bad in society. Moreover, television also supplies children with updated information about the outside world so that they will be more confident when going to school and meeting other people.
However, it's not right to say that watching TV doesn't have any bad effect on your children and you can let them watch TV as much as they want. Watching TV occupies a large amount of time which your child needs to discover the world himself. Small children need to have more active knowledge which is found out by themselves, rather than passive knowledge which is told to them. Besides, your child's body is growing and it needs movement and activities. Sitting still and watching TV too much will make your child become weaker physically. In addition, most children want to eat junk food when they are watching TV, which will result in extra weight for them. To make it worse, television programmes may be full of advertising, adult material and violent scenes, which will have a bad affect on your children's growing minds.
As a parent, you should control your children's TV watching by setting up a period of 'permitted time' per day when your children can watch TV. Besides, you have to choose the right channels for your children and lock all channels which may not be good for them to see. You shouldn't let the television be on all day; turn it off right after the desired programs end. Encouraging your children to take part in outdoor activities and reading books is needed to help fulfil their bodies' growth. In addition to all that, you should never place a television in the dining room and especially in your children's own room!
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Child Care