Things I’ve heard parents say:
"How will I get any work done?"
"My children will get bored if they don’t watch TV."
"My child needs to relax when he gets home from school."
"My kids will never go for it."
"My kid won’t be able to join in the conversation when other kids are talking about Power Rangers."
"TV didn’t hurt my brain."
Feedback from parents suggests that frequently its the PARENT who wants the TV on, not necessarily the kids. We train our children to watch TV so that we can get work done. TV is a great tool for control. But hopefully, we are learning that TV is not without its side effects.
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Probably the hardest job as parents then is not weaning our kids off so much TV, but it’s weaning ourselves off so much TV. You see, if you’ve conditioned your children to watch TV so that they leave you alone, it means they haven’t learned how to play independently. It’s a cycle. They are dependent on you to provide entertainment. But if they learn how to find their own activities, they are no longer completely dependent on you (and a VCR). Especially with young children, you will still have to set up activities, suggest options, and help with directions.
It sometimes helps to be more realistic with your own time and how much you reasonably can expect to get done and also provide adequate child care for your kids. But sometimes, like when you are cooking dinner, or have a special report due, it’s reasonable to expect your kids to occupy themselves.
Will your children get bored if they don’t watch TV? Probably not. As Steve Jurovics, founder of LimiTV says in his talk, children left to their own will not sit around being bored. They will find something else to do. So be sure to provide access to a variety of activities you approve of. Unlike watching TV, kids engaged in activities are thinking, and they may think up activities you don’t exactly desire (like emptying all the shampoo bottles in the sink) so they require more monitoring than they do when they are couch potatoes. You have to be on your toes, ready with ideas. That just means working up a list of things your kids like to do and keeping it handy
"How will I get any work done?"
"My children will get bored if they don’t watch TV."
"My child needs to relax when he gets home from school."
"My kids will never go for it."
"My kid won’t be able to join in the conversation when other kids are talking about Power Rangers."
"TV didn’t hurt my brain."
Feedback from parents suggests that frequently its the PARENT who wants the TV on, not necessarily the kids. We train our children to watch TV so that we can get work done. TV is a great tool for control. But hopefully, we are learning that TV is not without its side effects.
Click here to read more
Probably the hardest job as parents then is not weaning our kids off so much TV, but it’s weaning ourselves off so much TV. You see, if you’ve conditioned your children to watch TV so that they leave you alone, it means they haven’t learned how to play independently. It’s a cycle. They are dependent on you to provide entertainment. But if they learn how to find their own activities, they are no longer completely dependent on you (and a VCR). Especially with young children, you will still have to set up activities, suggest options, and help with directions.
It sometimes helps to be more realistic with your own time and how much you reasonably can expect to get done and also provide adequate child care for your kids. But sometimes, like when you are cooking dinner, or have a special report due, it’s reasonable to expect your kids to occupy themselves.
Will your children get bored if they don’t watch TV? Probably not. As Steve Jurovics, founder of LimiTV says in his talk, children left to their own will not sit around being bored. They will find something else to do. So be sure to provide access to a variety of activities you approve of. Unlike watching TV, kids engaged in activities are thinking, and they may think up activities you don’t exactly desire (like emptying all the shampoo bottles in the sink) so they require more monitoring than they do when they are couch potatoes. You have to be on your toes, ready with ideas. That just means working up a list of things your kids like to do and keeping it handy
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