Turn off the TV.
If you visit the website for the American Academy of
Pediatrics (http://www.aap.org) and locate
their page entitled “ Media and Children” here is what you will learn:
“Studies have shown that excessive media use can lead to
attention problems, school difficulties, sleep and eating disorders, and
obesity. In addition, the Internet and cell phones can provide platforms for
illicit and risky behaviors.
Today's children are spending an average of seven hours a day on
entertainment media, including televisions, computers, phones and other
electronic devices. To help kids make wise media choices, parents should monitor
their media diet. Parents can make use of established ratings systems for
shows, movies and games to avoid inappropriate content, such as violence,
explicit sexual content or glorified tobacco and alcohol use.
The AAP recommends that parents establish "screen-free"
zones at home by making sure there are no televisions, computers or video games
in children's bedrooms, and by turning off the TV during dinner. Children and
teens should engage with entertainment media for no more than one or two hours per
day, and that should be high-quality content. It is important for kids to spend
time on outdoor play, reading, hobbies, and using their imaginations in free
play.”
And, then, their recommendation ---
“Television and other entertainment media should be avoided for
infants and children under age 2. A child's brain develops rapidly during these
first years, and young children learn best by interacting with people, not
screens.”
As Dr. Ben Carson would say, “This is
not rocket science.” It is common
sense. So, here is something that this
one essayist does not grasp – we have politicians and bureaucrats all over the
land commenting, propagandizing, assembling and legislating all sorts of rules
and laws and guidelines on everything from the size of ammunition clips to the capacity
of soft drink containers and the volume of water flowing through a toilet to
the unusable and Rube Goldberg mandated “safety” cap on a gasoline can but we
don’t hear about or see any publicity in our media about the importance of no
TV watching by children under the age of 2 and limited TV thereafter.
Why could that be in a land with so
many “public servants” dedicated to the well being, the very safety and
development of our children? In case
you missed the simple, really just common sense, guidelines, here they are,
again:
·
No TV for children under the age
of 2
·
Children and teens – one or two
hours total for all entertainment media
·
And then it should only be “high
quality”
·
No TV, computers or video games in
children’s bedrooms
·
No TV during dinner, and
·
Parents should monitor the media diet
of their children
It would not be such a bad thing, would it, if
American political leaders spent more time on this topic and less time on those
topics covered constantly by the very media and entertainment outlets that
those who we turn to when our children are sick tell us we should be doing without? Put it another way – why is mayor Bloomberg on
TV constantly, opining on everything that is not his business when his TV business
is what he should be telling us to avoid?
American mediocrity – which is now abundant at all
levels of governance – and education – and commerce – is well rooted in what
our pediatric physicians call “entertainment media” and what TheFundamentals
calls “Hollywood media.” In many ways,
TV is much the same as what Bernanke and Obama offer us in their fiscal
promiscuity – something for nothing. But
TV does charge us a high toll – it’s called mediocrity. We simply spend too much time wandering this
wasteland.
Turn off
the TV - good for the kids - good for all
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