As more kids become telly addicts, studies show that being glued to the goggle box is a health hazard — and it’s affecting family life. (…)

Before you become a parent, you have lots of lofty ideas. You’ve read that too much TV is bad for children, and decide that when yours come along, you’ll lay down some rules. You will play with your kids; you will take them for walks. And you will never, ever, allow them to vegetate and watch continuous TV.

Pretty soon, though, you discover that parenting isn’t all child’s play. Babies are demanding, toddlers need your full attention, and there are days that you can’t get anything done. The ironing mounts, the dust settles, and it is just so tempting to turn on that box in the corner in order to get a few moments of peace.

The children grow. They start school, and come home exhausted. You let them ‘rest’ by watching TV; and before you know it, it’s rarely, if ever, off.

Then the pestering starts. “Everyone else,” you are told, has a TV in their room. Plus a computer, electronic games and a Wii. You feel mean. And if you work, and carry guilt about it, it makes you feel better to give in to those demands. And it certainly makes your life easier.

In the UK, four out of five children aged five to 16 years now has a TV in their room. They watch it before school, during mealtimes and, for many, it lulls them to sleep.

Research has consistantly shown that too much indiscriminate viewing is bad for children. And it’s worst of all for the younger ones. This makes the results of the recent National Childhood Poll carried out in Ireland by Barnardos seem just a bit scary. Three out of 10 five to nine-year-olds has a TV in their room; as do one in seven one to four-year-olds.

This is very worring for Imelda Graham, Barnardos co-ordinator for their external clinics.

“I’m not anti-TV, but I am anti-bad TV viewing,” Graham says. “And I don’t agree with children having a TV set in their rooms.

“Young children should be supervised. If a young child is watching alone and something scary comes on, it can be alarming for them. If it’s beyond their capability to understand, they really do need someone with them.

“Pre-school children should be watching much less than two hours of TV a day — and it is hard to control that if the TV is in their room.

“It’s not great for their health either. Bone density can be affected if they are not out being active. There’s a connection with obesity too; and it’s about more than being a couch potato. If you eat meals in front of the TV, you associate the TV with eating. And that’s not good.”

At seminars, people often ask Graham about the organisation’s position on televisions in a child’s bedroom.

“I feel that when they ask, they are getting permission to say ‘no’ to the children,” she says. “The children may be putting pressure on them, saying their friends have TV in their rooms, and they want one too. They want someone to say, ‘it is OK to say no to a child‘.”

Graham thinks that, used properly, TV is great for family interaction.

“If parents watch TV with their child it can build up a wonderful link,” she says. “And you can plan your viewing using Sky plus or video. If something interesting comes on you can say, ‘yes, we can do that.’ Or you can read up more about a subject. TV can be a great tool.”

Used badly, though, TV hampers learning. John Carr, General Secretary of INTO, the union representing primary schools, worries that TV watching affects literacy standards.

“It is worrying,” he says. “And many teachers will say a child has their own TV.

“If they are spending time watching TV rather than reading, they are not going to improve their literacy.

“The older generation would have spent time watching TV, but it was a communal activity. If you had to fight for it, and there were just two channels, you’d end up bored, and maybe go and read a book. Now kids have multi-channels in their rooms.

“Some children are coming to school tired. They are up late watching TV. The quality of sleep is affected, and with the addition of Xboxes, Wiis and computers, their brains are getting wired.” (…)

Source: Irish Independent, Ireland
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