Too much TV?
It could be any household, any evening, anywhere: fights over the remote, battles about unfinished homework, another skirmish lost against reality TV, tired parents wondering if it’s ever okay to use the television as a babysitter.
In the words of one mother, this ‘stressful electrical appliance’ has gone from the small box in the lounge room to the screens of portable media players, the Internet and the sides of city buildings. In the short space of one generation, TV has become on demand, surround-sound, high-definition entertainment that requires purpose-built rooms in our homes. And with 97 per cent of kids watching, it’s a weighty issue for most parents.
TV is a storyteller and a window on the world. The stories it tells can shape children’s attitudes and behaviours for better or for worse. And, like any window, it’s easy for our kids to miss the bigger picture beyond the frame. TV is a tool: what our kids get from it depends on the programs they watch, and how we help them to learn how to use it.
How much do kids really watch?
Here’s a quick quiz. If we gave our kids their annual TV allowance all in one hit, guess how long it would take for them to use it up? A week? A month? In fact, while doing this may make us the most popular parents in the universe, if we put our kids in a room at midnight on New Year’s Eve and let them begin their twenty-four-hours a day, seven-days a week, non-stop TV marathon, we wouldn’t actually see them again until midday on 8 February! That’s because every year, on average, our children spend thirty-nine, around-the-clock days watching TV.
TV, young children and the bad news
In the first years of our children’s lives, the biggest and most important goal is to establish loving, healthy and responsive relationships between our infants and those who care for them. We also need to provide plenty of time and space for them to use all their senses, and to explore the places, objects and people around them. In these early years, kids have to figure out what it means to be a boy or a girl, what it means to be them, and how they will relate to their world. And the most powerful way to do this is not through a screen. It’s through their real life experiences. We might not yet know exactly what impact TV has on growing brains, but we do know that kids under school age watch more of it than kids in other age groups. We also know that many young children copy the aggressive and stereotypical behaviour they see on TV, and that they can’t easily tell fantasy and reality apart. We know that TV viewing can affect how they eat and how they play, and that it takes away from the time they spend playing.
What TV can do for our kids
Before you banish the TV to the shed, take heart. Despite these concerns, there are many things TV can offer our children. Good quality children’s programs can:
• show kids different cultures and amazing things about the natural world
• help children’s vocabulary to grow
• show kids how to be caring towards one another
• inspire them to solve problems in creative ways
• fire their passions and interests
• lead them to other learning activities.
Picking good TV for young kids
Choosing good children’s TV starts with finding programs that match their development and are rated as appropriate for their age group (keeping in mind that ‘G’ doesn’t always mean ‘Good for kids’). Picking good TV means remembering that kids need to feel positive about the world around them, so the world portrayed on TV needs to be a world they can trust in.
Children need to see positive role models. They need to see people caring for each other and respecting each others’ differences. They need to see ‘their’ stories being told: stories about kids like them, dealing with problems they can relate to and solving them in constructive ways.
They also need to see a diverse range of male and female characters, not stereotypes. And they need to see people making a positive difference in this world.
Negotiating the rules
Establishing rules for TV watching caused headaches for many of the parents we spoke to. Yet those who had the firmest guidelines as to what and when kids could watch also had the fewest troubles. Having our own good TV boundaries is another great way to show kids how to set their own limits and manage their viewing. If we are picky about what we watch and keep a healthy balance between TV and other activities, our kids are likely to follow our lead.
Changing the storyteller
It’s no wonder kids flock to television: TV is a storyteller, we all love stories, and sharing stories is an essential part of being human. But kids need the chance to tell their own stories too.
We’ve been putting a digital camera in our children’s hands since they were four years old, and we are always moved by what they choose to capture: close-ups of their beloved dog, Lego creations on the carpet, each others’ faces as they muck around together in the way only siblings can. Seeing our children’s stories isn’t just a way of understanding how different their perspective is, at its very best, it can give our kids a better sense of who they are and where they belong, and the knowledge that their story is just as important as anything they see on TV.
Do whatever works for your family, but remember that TV is a tool. Much of what we get from it depends on how good it is and how we use it. And, in the end, a little bit really does go a long way!
Number crunching: kids and TV
Average amount of TV watched daily by 4-month-old babies: 44 minutes
Amount of free-to-air TV watched daily by children aged 0–4 years: 154 minutes
Amount of pay TV watched daily by children aged 0–4 years: 194 minutes
Amount of free-to-air TV watched daily by children aged 5–12 years: 130 minutes
Amount of pay TV watched daily by children aged 5–12 years: 160 minutes
Recommended daily screen-time limits
For children under 2 years: no TV
For 3- to 8-year-olds: 60 minutes
For children over 8 years: 90 to 120 minutes
This is an edited extract from Adproofing Your Kids: Raising Critical Thinkers in a Media Saturated World by Tania Andrusiak & Daniel Donahoo, now available from bookshops nationally and online at www.finch.com.au
What do you think? Do you have TV rules in your household? Share them here.
