Child Behavior: How to Regulate Your Child’s TV Watching

By Dr. Noel Swanson. in Children on April 15th, 2008

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by Dr. Noel Swanson.

Most parents complain that their children watch too much television. In this age and time television is a fact of life. One doesn’t come across families that don’t have one, or that never watch one. While there is nothing wrong with television per se one has to be selective when it comes to watching television and how much of it you can allow your children. Television is educational, informative, and uplifting. At the same time, a lot of what is shown on TV is nothing but drivel. It is nowhere near uplifting or educational, and shows certain behavior that is quite unacceptable and undesirable in most social circles. But, children are too small to discern the difference and make intelligent choices.

Another consequence of excessive TV viewing is that it consumes quality time that would otherwise be spent in physical activity or social interaction. Watching television makes lazy viewers of active doers. Instead of playing games in the playgrounds, children become passive spectators. It adversely affects healthy social behavior and turns active children into obese ‘couch potatoes’.

Television certainly influences behaviors. If it didn’t, advertisers wouldn’t spend so many billions of dollars on their tiny, 30-second slices of it.

Ask any parent and they would most likely want to throw the television out of the window, but that doesn’t serve the purpose. You can’t throw the baby with the bathwater. So, let’s be sensible about it and take positive steps to limit your child’s exposure to it. Here are some suggestions:

1. The best place to start is from here and the best person to start with is you. Take a fresh look at how much time you are spending in front of the television screen. If you spend 4 hours a day watching soaps, you can’t blame your child for watching too much TV. As a parent, you are required to make some personal sacrifices only to set the right example for your children. Remember, children learn by examples not by sermons.

2. If not TV then what? First for yourself, and then for your children, find alternative activities that are healthy and pro-social. The obvious ones are taking up some sports or hobbies - football, hockey, swimming, karate, dancing, painting, scrap-booking, collecting stamps, coins, or butterflies, model railways, woodworking or cross-stitch - the list is endless. But, yes, you actually have to DO something to make this work! If you really just want to relax and chill-out - what about reading a good novel, or even a graphical novel (aka comic book) while listening to your favorite music?

You will find your local recreation center or adult education center very helpful in finding the right program or class for you. Don’t forget to offer some sort of incentive to allure your child towards an activity of his/her choice and be generous in praise. After all, you are taking them away from an addiction, and it is not easy.

3. It helps to discuss the matter with the child and come to an agreement on rules of television watching, such as, no TV before school and during meals. You may even like to fix one day of the week as a regular TV-free day.

4. Pre-schedule television - ie. People can only watch what has been pre-booked. This cuts out aimless channel surfing. Instead the family will have to look up the TV guide and find something that is actually worth watching.

5. You can draw up a chart to use television time as a reward for other activities, such as completing household chores, or getting homework done.

6. The best method of getting rid of all TV woes is to watch television together - and then initiate discussion on what you have viewed. This will help your child to evaluate the program and learn something from it. If you discuss the commercials, it will help your children to be less naive and gullible. As a family, you can figure out what tricks the advertisers play to make you want to buy their product. You know that most of the toys and foods don’t live up to the hype created around them.

7. Be fair when it comes time to turn off the television. Give some reasonable warning, and try to time it with the end of the show.

8. If you can afford to cancel your expensive cable and satellite subscriptions, you will be able to use the extra money for other activities, and there will be less programs to watch. This will do a lot of good to you as a family. You will be able to go out together. You will enjoy a home-cooked pizza on a special family night instead of the usual couch potato routine.

Also, remember not to overdo it. Be selective. Find the good programs and watch them. The rest of the time, do something more active or more sociable. Very soon you will wonder how you and your kids ever found the time to watch so much of it.

About the Author:

More information on children’s behavioral problems is available from Dr. Noel Swanson’s website, packed with tips and help on solving Child Behavior Problems. Sign up for his FREE newsletter and 1 hour audio too.