April 26 - local celebration of TV Turnoff Week at the Dow Center, Hope College, Holland.
National TV Turnoff week is April 21-27.
Family Fun Night - TV Turn Off Event
FREE! At Hope College's Dow Center
Hope you'll come and join Kindermusik of Holland as we will be there with music and movement and more of the fun ways of being together that you all know so well from your classes.
When my oldest two were little we watched some TV and since the children were always with us they watched too....I distinctly remembered feeling some kind of uncomfortable twinge perhaps in my gut, but it was a physical feeling I had, during some programs' violent moments, during particular portions of the newscasts, and during some suggestive commercials. When I figured out that the twinge of discomfort happened every time I watched even mildly questionable content through the eyes of my children I could no longer sit through the viewing.I knew my non reaction was in fact a condoning of what I saw as a perfectly fine way for adults to behave...especially in front of children. I negotiated with my spouse that we move the TV into the bedroom. That was the first step. It took just a couple more years for me to get the TV moved into the garage! Now I am TV-FREE! and I can't imagine it back. I enjoy the time I now have to read and especially to have conversation with those that I love. I strongly recommend it!
Once the communications company called to ask why we had phone and internet service through them but not the cable. I said "Well probably because we don't own a TV". The silent moment was long and then he gasped and echoed: "You don't have a TV? What do you do then?" My daughter was eavesdropping and she sang out loud enough for all to hear: "WE READ! WE READ!" I told him he should try it and he cleared his throat and said "Oh, I don't think I could do that."
I hope you have the courage to try it...for a week...for longer...for your children....for yourself.
TV Use Pervasive Among Tiniest Tots
Almost two-thirds of kids under 2 watch TV daily, study finds
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay News) -- Parents don't seem to be heeding expert pediatrician guidelines that urge a ban on TV watching for their very youngest children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that children 2 and under watch no TV at all.
However, a new study finds that on a typical day, only 37 percent of children between zero and 2 years old watch no television, and as many as one in five youngsters under 2 even have a television placed in their bedrooms. More than half (54 percent) of these tiny tots could turn on the TV themselves............Most often, parents interviewed in the study said they put a TV set in their kid's room because it freed up other TVs in the house for parental use.
"There is a growing body of literature showing that TV in the bedroom is related to a host of negative outcomes. I would strongly urge parents not to put TV in a child's bedroom," said Vandewater.
"There's this belief that TV is helpful to children and may soothe them, but TV activates the brain and actually makes it more difficult to sleep," explained Lucas.
Read the whole article here.
From the American Academy of Pediatrics
1. CONSISTENT, FREQUENT TV VIEWING CAUSES BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS
Consistent, heavy television viewing (more than two hours a day) throughout early childhood can cause behavior, sleep and attention problems. In the new study, "Children's Television Exposure and Behavioral and Social Outcomes at 5.5 Years: Does Timing of Exposure Matter?" researchers assessed data from the Healthy Steps for Young Children national evaluation effort pertaining to the effects of early, concurrent and sustained television exposure at age 2.5 years, and again at age 5.5 years. The effects of having a television in the child's bedroom were measured at age 5.5. Sixteen percent of parents reported
that their child watched television more than two hours a day at age 2.5 years only (early exposure), 15 percent reported that their children watched more than two hours of television daily at 5.5 years only (concurrent exposure), and 20 percent reported more than two hours of television viewing daily at both times (sustained exposure). Forty-one percent of children had a television in their bedroom at age 5.5. Sustained television viewing was associated with sleep, attention and aggressive behavior problems, and externalizing of problem behaviors. Concurrent television exposure was associated with fewer social skills. Having a television in the bedroom was associated with sleep problems and less emotional reactivity at age 5.5. Early exposure to television for more than two hours a day, which decreased over time, did not cause behavior or social problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no television viewing for children under age 2, and no more than two hours of daily media exposure for ages 2 and older.
From the Center for Screentime Awareness:
Screens & Young Children
SCREEN-TIME Fact Sheet…
Screens & Very Yong Children
5. Research now indicates that for every hour of television children watch each day, their risk of developing attention-related problems later increases by ten percent. For example, if a child watches three hours of television each day, the child would be thirty percent more likely to develop attention deficit disorder.--D. Christakis, Pediatrics, April 2004
1 comment:
Thanks so much for helping spread the word. Wonderful post...and I love your cable company story!
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