Does it seem that the kids have forgotten what the garden looks
like or the park across the street? Is their conversation dotted
with TV show lingo and do they base their next week's schedule
around what's on TV? And the big question - are your kids glued to
the TV all the time? If so, time to take control and give them a
new lease on life that does not revolve around the box.
Steps
- Tell the kids that the TV free-for-all is at an
end. Explain to them that the level of TV viewing has
reached a point of no return and that other activities in life are
being neglected. Then tell them that the TV time is going to be
regulated from now on. There will be whining, there will be arguing
and there will be the typical clever rationalizations that kids are
famous for. Stick to your decision - TV time is being axed!
- Develop a TV reduction plan. In consultation
with your kids, sit down together and plot TV viewing time. Get a
copy of the weekly TV schedule from your regular paper or magazine.
Ask the kids which shows they like the most. Then tell them that
those are going to be the only programs they can watch. Also
consider allowing a time limit of 1 - 2 hours per day (or less,
especially on school nights) of viewing and no more. If there are
more programs than hours alloted, the kids will be forced to
choose.
- Turn it off. Only permit the TV to be on when
the program is being watched. Do not allow it to run as background
noise. It will distract the kids and draw them back to it even if
the program is not one that interested them initially. One option
is to use an adapter to control the TV's power supply, only
allowing them to watch at certain times of the day.
- Go cold turkey for the whole family. All for
one and one for all. One drastic measure is to get rid of the TVs.
Yes, it is drastic but if you have a family that is highly addicted
to TV, it may be the only way to kickstart this plan. Give the TVs
to a family member or friend to keep for a week to a month whilst
the whole family goes cold turkey and relearns what they used to do
before the TV was invented. One word of warning - do not turn to
the internet, video games and other sources of electronic
entertainment in place. Instead, bring out board games, playing
cards and jigsaws to do them together as a family.
- Take TVs out of bedrooms. Just because a TV is
affordable and keeps the kids out of your hair does not mean that
having TVs in bedrooms is acceptable. Bedrooms are for peace, rest
and quiet play. TVs do not instill rest and peace, especially not
kids' programs, which are deliberately aimed at keeping kids
interested through energizing them. Keep the TV (or TVs) in public
areas only: somewhere that is easy for you to monitor. If you have
a larger family, you may need to consider an additional TV to avoid
too many sharing clashes but in the main, sharing and compromise
are two important skills to be teaching your kids.
- Do not keep a TV/DVD/VCR in your vehicle. It's
amazing how many parents rely on a DVD or VCR in their vehicle to
keep the kids "quiet". Road trips or car errands are a great time
for kids to draw, read books, play with Barbies or Transformers,
talk with parents, listen to music, or just watch the surroundings
out the window, etc. Kids don't need to be entertained all the
time.
- Provide alternatives. Kids are learning about
their world everyday. Make sure that most of their learning comes
from self-experience and not from being told about things via the
medium of TV. To assist their self-exploration and to perk their
curiosity, provide a range of
