Sunday: Entertainment—TV Diet
Disclaimer: If you are having a hard Mommy day, don’t read this and come back after you have had a fantastic day 
I don’t want to turn into one of those blogs and hope that this will come off as a very gentle reminder.
I have been hearing the term “TV Diet” for a few weeks now in magazines, radio, books and online articles.
The average six-year-old child has spent about one full year watching TV.
I don’t know how accurate that statement is but when I read it, it scared me.
I think we all can agree that to much TV is not healthy, not productive and can damage our children health wise.
You can read articles here, here and here on that.
A review of over 35 scientific studies has identified that TV-watching may be responsible for 15 negative health effects.
“By ignoring their findings we may ultimately be responsible for the greatest health scandal of our time.” -Dr. Sigman
With that being said, I am not against TV, we watch TV! I am happy with the amount of television my daughter watches, one show a day. Sundays are extra special and we watch cartoons in the morning before heading off to a long day at church. I believe television in moderation can be healthy and can be used as a teaching tool!
Although, reading these studies is encouraging me want to more often sit her down with a coloring book and crayons while I try to get myself ready for the day or place her in her reading spot with her favorite books. Some days it does work, other days I let her watch her daily show.
Do you think it is time to put your children on a TV Diet?
I’m in the midst of reading “What’s happening to our girls?” by Maggie Hamilton, which presents a fascinating and frightening picture of the effects of TV, magazines, “kid” websites and popular culture on our children. It’s helped provide extra motivation to turn off the TV!
We don’t have any form of TV streaming in to our tube, but we do watch one episode of a TV show on DVD or a movie during dinner every night. Russ also watches his dad play video games a lot. We have put limits on what games G can play when Russ is awake. He has nightmares when he watches some of them so they are outlawed now. How do video games reflect in these studies?