5 Tips to STOP your kids from watching too much TV

A baby never knew what television was all about until one day his mom, dad or grandparents plop him onto his or her lap, sat on the sofa and started to turn on the television while pressing the remote control to search for his or her favorite television program.

As a toddler gets older, his favorite pastime turns out to be watching television to entertain him when he is bored. Most parents regularly sit their children in front of television in order to keep them quiet after a busy day at work or while parents are still busy with house chores, talking on the phone or facing anxiety with computers.

Don’t let your toddler or older children automatically switch the television on or watch whatever appears as the program may not be suitable for the child to understand and not appropriate for his age. Your toddler or older child would be much better off playing with neighbor’s kids, other playmates or simply introduce some other activities to entertain him.

• Irregular eating habits
• Neglecting homework
• Neglecting duties
• Obesity
• Laziness to move around
• Bad eyesight
• Tantrums
• Feeling tired
• Anxiety

Problem No.1- Not Eating Properly

The biggest problem with my children who are glued to the television set from the minute they switch on their favorite program is, they are not willing to leave their seats. They would either ask for more ample time to delay their mealtimes or simply having their meals slowly by taking their own sweet time chewing the food or keeping the food in their mouth even though it is their favorite dish.

In addition, they will not leave some time to get their homework done or even spend some time talking to the family.

Frankly speaking, I have to admit that most parents are tempted to allow their children to watch television without any limitations as long as it keeps them quiet and settle down.

Surveys have shown that an average child watches approximately 28 hours of television a week; 4 hours a day which is a waste of precious time spent on non-active physical movement. Majority toddlers and children age 5 and below could not watch television programs for a long time.

Take note that when your toddler or older child has watched around 1 hour of any television programs. He may grab the TV remote control and switch to different television channels repeatedly, kept asking you non-related questions to the program that he is watching, wonder off to play with his toys while the television is still on and even dance in front of the television set to attract your attention!

Although he is not watching the television at all, he would whine or cry over it if you try to switch off.

Solution?

Try to distract his attention by introducing him some other activities or offer him beverages while cajole him to switch off the television to save electricity.

• Nevertheless, I had decided the best thing to do is to control the hours of watching television by thinking out a plan which works for both of us. My children and I ended up having a little chat, agreed to a reasonable negotiation on how many hours they had to spend for outdoor activities, time to concentrate on homework, no television when having proper meal and number of hours to watch television programs in a day which suited their age.
• Watching television for a several hours without a break could strain your children eyes and bad for their body postures too. Obesity is one of the biggest problem in older children and teens these days. It is best to limit the hours of watching television to several times a day. For example, allow them to choose their favorite program, watch for 30min and turn it off and then turn it on an hour later or at a different time.
• The good news is, everyone agreed to follow the arranged schedules which work out well for us. Otherwise, I would be constantly annoyed whenever they escape from their pre-arranged schedules and the nagging would be endless.
• Beware that toddlers and older children are typically smart and cunning when to turn on the television as soon as they caught sight of us, parents not paying much attention to what they are doing. Do not look down on these kids. They may be smarter than you think!

Do not let your toddler or younger child watch violence television programs, fighting cartoons because he might act aggressively by imitating his favorite cartoon character movements and speech.

Parents should spend some time by sitting down with your toddler and watch different educational or animated cartoon programs as you may figure out the reasons behind his favorite programs. After viewing them, you will be able to decide which educational and animated cartoon programs that are suitable for his age group.

Older siblings who prefer to watch violent cartoons and adventure category of programs can be difficult for a toddler to understand. Hence, introduce some excellent educational programs to your toddlers to learn about alphabets recognition and counting numbers such as Numberjacks, Sesame Street and Mickey Clubhouse. Learn how to paint , making simple crafts with recycle objects and easy drawing of characters with Louie, Art Attack and Fingertips. Any child would love to watch Barney and Friends, Pingu, Pocoyo, Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine because these educational programs teach children how to be friendly, learn to care for others, admit mistakes and takes responsibility for one’s action.

The best way to prevent your child from watching TV is to provide him other interesting activities to capture his attention. Here are some tips that might be at help:

If your toddler has older siblings, he will be used to playing with other children but it will be helpful if he meet playmates of his own age. This is a good time to invite friends and neighbors with young children to come to your home so that they can play together while the adults are around them.

Every young child by the age of 3 needs other children of the same age, not just to have fun with but also to learn how to get along with. Toddlers and children need their own freedom to run, shout, blocks and boxes to build with, cars, dolls to play with. However, parents should firmly stop children’s war play or any other kind of play that indicates mock fighting, mean or killing which they mimick brutality on television and movies. Parents should explain to them with not complicated reasons, do avoid scolding them.

Go for an evening walk with your toddler to the park or the playground. If the afternoon weather is not hot, cool and breezy, take your child to the park. Most children had taken their lunch or dinner by then. Do not let them switch on the television after meal .

Majority mothers are free after house chores are completed and older siblings are back from school. Allow your toddler to join the kids in the playground, let him play with your neighbors’ children but make sure you are standing nearby them for safety purpose.

Walking in the park or playing in the playground is the best way for simple exercise and burn calories fast.

Purchase a plastic inflatable swimming pool, large enough to occupy 2 to 3 kids. A great time to use in hot weather by pumping up the “swimming pool” with a bicycle air pump ( it would take ages if you were to blow air into it and I am sure you would be out of breath by the time you are halfway through ! ) and fill it up with cool water. Allow your toddler or children to invite neighbors’ children to join in a splashing time to cool off the heat.

Otherwise, take your toddler to the community swimming pool, enroll him for the swimming lessons. Swimming helps your toddler to get physical exercise that are good for both arms and legs.

After a good swim, your toddler would be too tired to watch television. I am sure he would rather choose the bed instead !

When you notice your child is getting bored, promptly bring out his favorite story books before he reach for the TV remote control.

Purchase some good reading books from bookstores which are on sale or buy 2^nd hand books, a wonderful way to recycle old books. Stack the books neatly in bookshelves which are within his height so that he could reach for the books that he wanted to read anytime when he has the “mood”.

Alternatively,bring your child to the local library or bookstores for some “free reading ”. Reading books is an excellent method to increase and widen your toddler’s knowledge. It is never too early to start reading books, regardless of toddler’s age. In addition, by reading books together with your toddler everyday, helps to improve his reading skills and encourages him to have interest in reading as the child grows.

Simply set aside your spare time, approximately 20min a day. That’s all it takes!

Choose washable cloth or thick, wipe-clean board books with simple, bright pictures of daily objects and very few words will bring him lots of pleasure. Sit together with your toddler, telling him what the objects are, how they sounds like, show the real-life objects to him as you turn the pages.

Every child needs someone to stay beside him, teach him something new. His brain is like a dry sponge soaking up as much knowledge as he could. You would be surprised when he began to point, imitate your “talk ” and shows much interest in books rather than the television.

Reading a book is a very restful way of entertaining your child.

There are many games besides toys to play with when your child is bored. When your toddler and older children are getting into mischief, introduce them to play board games. They will enjoy board games because these games are fun and a great way to keep them away from the television.

Play board games is a wonderful way to teach toddlers and children how to take turns, accept losing gracefully and learn to interact with each other, another learning tool which every child needs to cultivate from young.

The benefits of playing board games are to allow both parents and older siblings to spend quality, uninterrupted time together with younger children while cutting down the distractions from television.

There are many board games for toddlers and children age between 18 months to 5 years which are simple to understand and colorful too. Parents should encourage toddlers and children to play board games as they learn to count easy numbers, enhance memory and thinking skills, early alphabets recognition and improve verbal skills. Snakes and ladder, Trouble, Shopping List, Hi Ho Cherry-O and Zingo just to name a few.

Keep television remote control out of sight and out of reach. Reserve it for a special treat. If you are firm, your child will learn to respect your orders and soon find other things to do.

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