TV time for kids
By Emmett Sullivan
A Good System
One idea is to use a token system for children. Each kid gets 12 tokens per week, each redeemable for a certain amount of TV time. The kid is responsible for setting a timer for their minutes and they learn to be very reliable about turning it off or turning in another token when their timer sounds. The family can decide on the amount of time, and it would be up for reevaluation at any time.
Sucked In
Kids get sucked into watching too
much TV and end up watching for hours.
TV Timer
The TV is a device that you plug your TV into, and it turns off at the time it is set to. This can work well because the child can not fight against the timer.
Time Spent Watching TV
Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680.
TV and Violence
The average child will watch 8,000 murders on TV before finishing elementary school. By age eighteen, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders.
TV and Health
Overall the research proves that too much TV is bad for kids' health. Besides the exposure to violence, if you are watching television all the time, you do not get enough fresh air or exercise, and that is one cause of obesity. It is also not stimulating for your brain or teaching you to interact with people face to face.
What Do You Think?
It seems obvious that parents should limit their kids' TV time. What do think you would do? I say limit time until kids are eighteen.