Go ahead, roll your eyes. Say what you like. But we are raising our kids without a TV.The following statistics are from Norman Herr, Professor of Science Education, California State University, Northridge.
Did you know that greater than 99% of Americans have a TV in their house? That 66% of Americans have 3 or more TVs in their house? And that the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV a day which adds up to two months (24 hours a day) a year? What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? A lot, actually.
The average American youth spends 900 hours a year in school. And 1500 hours a year watching TV. By the time a child finishes elementary school they have seen 8000 murders, and by the time they are 18 they have seen 200 000 acts of violence. The number of Americans surveyed who believe that violence on TV can trigger violence in real life: 79%. Now can we understand why people riot for no reason? Why kids join gangs? Why vandalism occurs?The average American, by the time he reaches age 65, has seen two million 30 second commercials. The percentage of people who think that ads aimed at children are too materialistic: 92%. Now can we understand why we have overflowing landfills, trash-filled oceans and massive, cement-block shopping centres?
Fast food is the number one ranked commercial aimed at kids. Now can we understand why obesity and diabetes are running rampant amongst our children? Why teens choose fries in the cafeteria instead of vegetables?
There have been over 4000 studies done on the effect TV has on children. A parent spends on average 3.5 minutes a week in meaningful conversation with their child. Children watch TV 1680 minutes a week. 53% of 4-6 year olds choose to watch TV over spending time with their father. Now can we understand ADHD? Childhood health problems? Psychological problems? Motivational problems?
Television-watching promotes racial, ethical, sexual, and body image stereotypes. 75% of American women think they are too fat. Now can we understand anorexia, bulimia, OCD, depression and anxiety?
The statistics mean that it is time for a change. The majority of parents agree that there is a problem with TV content and hours watched. I don’t see a whole lot being done about it. What are YOU going to do to protect your kids’ childhood innocence?
My oldest child is 8. We have never had a TV in our house. We don’t watch movies either. The kids play with toys, read books and play outside. Coming up with things for them to do on rainy days is more challenging than turning on the TV but much more rewarding. Obviously it’s a lot harder to remove a TV from the house than to have never had one before. If you are interested, try some baby steps:- Limit the time watching TV per day. Set a timer.
- When you are done with the TV turn it off
- Don’t allow children under 2 to watch TV at all.
- Watch only movies instead of TV. (Eliminates advertising and allows for parental previews).
- Lead by example
- Join Parents Television Council
And this article doesn’t even touch computers and games…
Interesting links for further reading:
1 Hour Of TV Can Shorten Life by 22 Minutes
Watching TV is Bad For Children
Children’s Computer and Television Time Linked To Psychological Problems
Turn Off Your TV
My kids watch very little TV, too. I find that not spending time watching TV makes them more creative and more independent. They can just play and play for hours.
There used to be a time when TV was part of our routine, but I chose to stop it because our son was getting really addicted to it, throwing tantrums every time we turned it off and not knowing what to do with himself if he had to play independently.
Good article! Another benefit of not having a TV in the house is that it saves electricity! (Plus, then when the kids do get to watch a movie its a real treat, the way it should be. )
Thanks for your support! Children learn a lot from what they see and when they see too much they learn too much. The innocence of childhood is a precious thing and once it's gone it's gone.
Physical, social, and mental stimulation are vital to children's health and all of these together are only there during natural play.
We were TV free with my daughter until my twin boys came into our lives. Spending 100+ days a year in the hospital = TV and at times way too much of it. I have no regrets about it though. I love our family and believe that my daughter is a better person because of our adventures in raising medically fragile kids.
Abbey, I have great respect for parents who face such huge challenges as you did. At times like that you certainly go into survival mode. I am sure your daughter has learned valuable life skills such as empathy, care and love from your experiences. Thanks for sharing.
Such compelling info! Good for you for being a TV free home! We're not TV free, but Baby doesn't watch it.
We have a no TV during the weekdays and only watch netflix on the weekends. I think for our family that is the balance that we wanted. They get so excited Saturday mornings and are bored of it by the afternoon and go and play outside!
I was not raised t.v free but my grandmother (I lived with her) always made sure that the programming had some sort of lesson in it weather it be Barney teaching shapes or pokemon teaching you to never quit and trust yourself. She did make sure that I played outside and did arts and crafts when it wasn’t tv time. I mostly grew up on the old shows like the price is right, columbo, hawaii 5-0, and all those other old shows. I also grew up on animal planet, discovery, and NatGeo. Tv isn’t all bad it just depends on what you are watching and how long you watch it. If something is on that you don’t like they did invent a remote and the ability to change the channel.