National TV Turnoff Week: April 20-26

Parents as Teachers takes a simple approach to parenting: in our view, parents are the experts on their own children. They know what makes their children “tick”: what frustrates them, what encourages them, and what makes them smile. As their parenting resource partner, our role is to offer child development information that helps parents understand their child’s behavior and progress. In turn, this helps parents make good decisions.

Sometimes those decisions are not easy. Consider this: preschool children are the single largest television audience in America, spending more time watching TV than any other single activity except sleeping! And while the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 1 to 2 hours of television viewing per day, the average U.S. household’s TV is on between 4 to 6 hours every day. Could your household make it through TV Turnoff Week?

Little children do not watch television like adults.

Different learning style

Toddler and preschoolers experience TV differently because they don’t learn like adults. Small children are active learners; they need to move, maneuver, smell, touch and repeat as they learn. Television, primarily a visual experience, offers little opportunity for interaction.

Different viewing patterns

Preschoolers have different viewing patterns due to their cognitive and linguistic growth. They pay more attention to what is showing on the screen, and the constantly changing stream of pictures, words and movements is difficult for their young brains to assimilate.

Different filtering skills

Little children don’t have the skills or experience yet to distinguish reality from fantasy; that comes from interacting with other people and playing with toys they can touch, feel and manipulate. But even the gruesome violence of TV isn’t the most damaging, say researchers. That kind of drama may desensitize young viewers, but it is the glorified violent acts by superheroes that are more of a concern for children.

Think watching TV is a passive activity? Think again. Both a child’s body and mind are

actively at work as he watches TV. Muscles are tensed, the cardiovascular system is at its peak, and the young brain is working to digest the flurry of motion, sounds and images flashing before it. This combination of inactivity and tension is physiologically demanding.

It’s not all bad news!

Developmental researchers have also found that viewing positive, pro-social television can increase the pro-social attitudes and behaviors of children…especially when parents watch with them. Educational and quality TV programs can promote children’s intellectual development and imaginative play; the key is parental involvement.

TV Turnoff

The average child in the U.S. watches 4,000 hours of television before he starts kindergarten. Could your child go a week without TV? Could you? TV Turnoff Week can be an opportunity to test your resolve!  

Smart TV viewing

·         Be timely: Set time limits for how much TV will be allowed, and keep it turned off when no one’s watching.

·         Be choosy: Be selective not only about what children watch but what adults in the home watch, too.

·         Be vocal: If something looks unrealistic, say so. Or ask, “Do you think that could really happen?”

·         Be innovative: Use TV to expand a child’s world. Watch shows about new places, people or things.

Pat Simpson is the Marketing Communications Director at The National Center for Parents as Teachers.  Based in St. Louis, Parents as Teachers National Center is the resource and backbone of Parents as Teachers, parent education and early childhood development program serving parents throughout pregnancy until their child enters kindergarten, usually age 5.  The nonprofit National Center oversees more than 3,000 programs offering Parents as Teachers services nationwide as well as in several other countries.  For more information about Parents as Teachers, visit www.Parentsasteachers.org.