What can parents do to keep their child away from damaging effect of television?
Television plays a major role in child development and thus can either teach or can also harm a child’s perception. Television viewing for children can prove to be damaging if not monitored.
More than psychological harm, television also takes a child away from family time, outdoor activities and play time. While parents might blame various TV shows for capturing their children, it’s the duty of parents to keep their children away from the outcome of uncontrolled television viewing.
There are n-numbers of harmful consequences of television when watched unmonitored by toddlers and teens. From violence to objectionable scenes, television has a range of damaging material to offer. Even the advertisement of unhealthy eatable products like soft drinks, junk and candy, can effect the eating habit of children, as all they tend to prefer low nutrition food over healthy ones. Often, children exposed to violent cartons or movies try to perform the stunts on their own, sometime they also use the act on their siblings and one of them ends up getting hurt.
The major harm done by television is when it becomes an addiction, as children tend to neglect any family activities, spending time with their parents, going for walks, eating dinner with their family members and get rude or upset when asked to switch TV. Television becomes a problem when it affects the behavior of the children.
When your child avoids his friends for a cartoon show or prefers to eat alone in front of TV rather than with everyone at dinning table, its time to help your child from his television craving.
While television is also known as a medium for finding out or learning new things, it should be avoided when your child is a toddler. A toddler can learn more from his playing time, story reading, his toys, his time with family than by watching a show that might take him away from his innocence and childhood playing.
It is important for parents to keep a time limit on television viewing for everyone at home, not just the children. You can expect your kids to learn when you yourself are having your dinner in front of TV or wasting precious in front of TV which you could have utilized by playing with your child or talking to him about his school, day or favorite activities.
Parents should be clear of shows that can be viewed and those that ant be, so as the child knows his boundary. That also means, keeping a check on the kind of channels and shows that your child view.
Do not use television viewing as a privileged for making children follow your orders and never let a child spend his evenings in front of television. Let your child get busy in activities and tasks that can take him away from harmful television shows and keep him motivated.
When your child is watching television, make sure you discuss the shows with him and tell him what was real, what wasn’t real, what was to be followed and what was wrong. Such as, when a carton character hits another cartoon character tell your child ‘now that was a bad way to handle that situation’.
Lastly, do not use TV as your babysitter and leave your kid all alone with open television access when you are out for some function or party. This could expose him to things he should not watch as well as would push him towards television obsession.
