Your Children's TV Viewing Habits May be Harming them

[Janita Jennell]

As a Pediatrician in Bourges, I would like to express a few thoughts on a much-discussed subject, on which parents in Bourges and St. Doulchard will definitely have your own opinion: television.

Television, I think it is quite justified to be characterized as an important issue due to its influence on all our children and that is why as your pediatrician in Bourges, I will speak about it. With this article, I would like to draw your attention to a few points that will help you make the decisions about using television in your own family in a more aware way.

TV is now part of everyone's life. Children are often, from their earliest years, great consumers of television programmes: in St. Doulchard and Bourges, unfortunately, the relevant data are not systematically collected, but in Italy statistics say that the average exposure of a child to TV is 2 hours and 40 minutes a day. The big "notification" difference from the past, i.e. compared to our own experience during our own childhood, is that children today grow up WITH television.

If we remember that children learn by imitating everything they hear or see around them, then we will realize how important it is to see who really "teaches" our child: are we, familiesin Bourges and St. Doulchard should worry about this.

Let us be clear: the television medium also offers positive things. It allows us and our children to get to know a whole lot of things and, indeed, many programs are well made to entertain us, to teach us, to make us play. But we cannot overlook the fact that television can also be held responsible for several problems, psychological, social and even medical, which we do not know in depth.

Many of you who visit my medical practice in St. Doulchard, perhaps, have already noticed the negative influences that the scenes of rampant violence have, which are relayed especially in the evenings, about how easily or not the child can fall asleep, but also maintain a peaceful sleep. Many of you would wonder about the appropriateness of certain programmes when they are aimed at specific age categories. Not to mention, of course, the television bulletins of "news", with all the raw and often repulsive realism that the screens emit, as well as the enormous confusion between reality Pediatre Bourges and exaggeration, or the deliberately falsified news.

In short, surely we realize the clear (though usually insidious!) ability of television to have an in-depth effect on human behavior. So let me try to list a few thoughts that may be useful.

Central idea

All the views that follow are nothing but thoughts based on common sense. They are NOT intended to make you... throw your TV in the trash (who would dare to do that after all? ). The intention is to redefine the right role of television: that is to say, the role of television. a useful means of culture, information, relaxation and entertainment, available to all.

Suggest to the children programs suitable for their age!

This does NOT mean that one urges them to watch only serious and instructive broadcasts, but we should identify some that are appropriate for their age!

For example, among the countless children's (cartoons, etc.) are preferable those that have slower rhythms, few protagonists and stories with a simple plot, which are closer to the psychology and the verbal - linguistic abilities of the child. Those children's that are filled with constant fuss, frenzied action and confused plot, are definitely to be avoided.

It is equally certain that horror films (also known as thrillers) and broadcasts with violent scenes should be avoided. If necessary, then adults should ALSO refrain from watching them!

Watch television with the children because this is a way of helping them to judge and filter out what they see on the screen. Only in this way will they have a more active attitude towards the image, the emotions and the various television messages. Commenting together on the programmes could be a wonderful meeting opportunity for the whole family and a good occasion to extend the discussion to many other topics.

Don't use TV as a punishment or a reward

Punishing or rewarding a child with television means giving it a symbolic value that it normally does not have. Let it be known to all that the more you forbid a program, the more attractive it becomes in the eyes of children! On the contrary, our educational goal must be to teach the use of television as a free, conscious, and voluntary choice, avoiding making it seem like an inevitable solution.

Do not use the TV as a baby sitter

Such tactic (to put the children in front of the screen to keep quiet), although "convenient" and economical, it may later become uncontrollable. Moreover, when the child is left alone with the TV, he/she often resorts to eating food, sweets and drinks, thus increasing the risk of becoming overweight.

No TV before school

TV in the morning steals time and brain concentration both when taking breakfast and during school. It can be observed that young children wake up and get up earlier than necessary just to see TV, or even arrive at school late, already tired and where a little appetite, just so as not to lose any part of their favorite show.

No TV until the moment when they fall asleep With the

sole exception of the rare circumstances, i.e. when programmes specifically aimed at children are broadcast, if our children do not receive television stimuli and can instead enjoy some time of calm before going to bed, they will sleep for surely calmer, and you should generally not allow them to have loud programmes.

TV MUST remain switched off during eating and schoolwork

If we think about it well, we will see that very often the time of breakfast, lunch or dinner, as well as the cooperation with the child during the performance of his school work, are precisely those moments when parents meet more with children! STEAL IT FROM US! Besides, breaking the child's attention between the study and the television stimuli certainly does not help his concentration or his performance on any particular subject.

Do not allow your children to use the remote control

Zapping has one major drawback: it generally allows us to easily omit all descriptions, dialogues, analytical thoughts, instead favoring continuous action. Constant jumping from one show to another leads to a flawed understanding (in that by definition based on fragmentary and partial listening, which lets us "catch" only the most superficial and simplistic messages) and addicts us to a particularly superficial attention. Let's not forget then that the child is based on fragmentary and partial listening, which leaves us to "catch" only the most superficial and simplistic messages) and addicts us to a particularly epidermal attention. Let's not forget then that the child it could at any time identify programs that are completely unsuitable for this.

Do not put the TV in the bedroom

The TV should be controlled and its use subject to rules set by the parents, otherwise, control of what exactly the child sees and for how long he sits in front of the screen will be completely lost.

Nor is the risk of children being removed from their parents, abandoning the one golden opportunity for dialogue with them, and it goes without saying that it is very difficult (even impossible) not to give up a TV in the children's bedroom when it already exists in yours...!

Use the video recording feature

The video recording feature will allow you to create a collection of videos and will help you to always judge the various TV programs before recommending them to the child. Another advantage is that you can decide at the most appropriate time to watch a videotaped by you.

Instead of watching TV, read to your child

Get used to it in reading, reading stories to children, encouraging them to participate in sports and events, in meetings with their friends, etc. These are all ways to reduce that sick appetite just for television. When you are on vacation, it is advisable to completely forget about the existence of television, thus contributing to the realization that TV it is not at all necessary and that the tele-dependence comes mainly from external circumstances rather than from the endogenous power of the television device.

Beware of viewership conditions

Avoid the child taking unnatural (or even pathological) postures as he looks at tv (e.g. lying face down supporting his jaw with his hands) and check the distance between the screen and the children (it is advisable to be at least 3 meters, although this also depends on the inches of the screen). We should also make sure that the child's position is central to the screen, the image does not have much contrast, the room is not completely dark, there are no special reflections of bright objects or windows on the screen and the sound is not too loud.

If you have any additional questions regarding children’s television viewing, feel free to contact me at www.pediatre18.fr