Whats Wrong with Watching TV?
The problem is not necessarily that our children watch television. The real concern lies in three areas: how much our children are watching, what they are not doing while they are watching and what programs they are watching. How much time? Children age 6 and younger spend an average of two hours per day using screen media (television, computers, video games), according to a study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. That is significantly more time than they spend reading or being read to. Forty-three percent of children under the age of 2 watch TV every day. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that children under 2 should not be watching any television. What they are not doing When children spend time in front of the tube, they spend less time engaged in healthier activities such as exercising, interacting with their parents and participating in experiential learning. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) now considers obesity in kids an epidemic in the United States. In
