New York Resident

Once favorite pastime for the entire family now has its limitations
by Victoria Pericon

We all have fond childhood memories of sitting in front of the television with our families enjoying our favorite programs. Television can not only be entertaining but can also be instructive for adults and children alike. Increasingly, however, studies are indicating children are watching television much more often than is generally considered to be healthy. Ari Brown, M.D., pediatrician and co-author of Baby 411, cites the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends that no television or video use should be allowed before the age of two. Thereafter, the child should be allowed no more than two hours of television viewing per day. “Part of the reason is that TV and all media are sedentary activities,” says Dr. Brown, “[another] part of the reason is that even educational media is a passive form of learning.”

According to some experts, excessive television viewing among children can lead to many problems, especially when television takes the place of healthy physical activity. Decreased exercise in children can lead to childhood obesity, which results in many chronic illnesses that have recently begun to appear in young children. Another concern is that too much television can be a substitute for reading, which is vital to a child’s intellectual development.

Television can also be an isolating experience if it is used as a child care tool. Watching television unsupervised, the child could be viewing programs with content that is too mature, frightening of violent. Francois Thibaut, Director of the The Language Workshop for Children, believes that when television viewing is in moderation, and the program is carefully selected, television can be educational, “especially if the program watched leads to a conversation between the child and the parent.”

There is wide disagreement whether children should watch any television at all. While Sam Reich-Dagnen, mother of five year-old twins and founder of Braincandy videos (www.braincandykids.com), (which in addition to their DVD line, can be seen on Time Warner Cable Pay-Per-View) does not advocate putting children in front of a television for hours on end, she does find it helpful to have the child watch television for an occasional fifteen minutes. “The catch is making sure that the content you put that child in front of is good, enriching and engaging—content that creates a ‘lean forward’ experience and keeps your child actively participating.”

Mike Wasserman, M.D., general pediatrician at Ochsner Clinic Foundation (www.ochsner.org), agrees with the belief that television should be off limits to all children under two years of age. However, Dr. Wasserman includes in that ban all videos, DVD’s and video games. He also recommends that older children should restricted to 90 minutes of television per day. And most of that viewing, according to Dr. Wasserman, should come from “high quality” shows found on PBS, Animal Planet, Discover Channel and The History Channel.

The discussion regarding children and television continues. There are certain points on which most people do agree. Experts as well as parents believe that it is important to encourage children to engage in physical activity. It is also helpful to set specific guidelines for the amount of time your child is allowed to watch television, especially on school nights when homework has to be done and children need to be in bed at a reasonable hour. Finally, watch the programs your child is watching with him so that you can monitor the content. “Parents should always preview a program before letting their child watch,” says Dr. Brown, “and, ideally, should sit down and watch the program together.”