Taking Control: TV and Your Child

• Make television only one of your family activities.
Set aside time for other activities. Most children would rather spend time with their parents or other adults than with a TV set.

• Place the television set in an appropriate place.
The television set should not face the dining room or kitchen table, where the family eats, or be the main focal point in your livingroom or den. It is recommended that a television not be put in a child’s bedroom.

• Establish basic ground rules for viewing.
Children should watch no more than 10 hours of television per week, and no more than two hours per day on school nights. Homework and family activities (including chores) should take precedence over watching television.

• Plan what you will view.
At the beginning of the week, have children select what they want to watch, and have them tell you why they made their decisions.

• Watch for special programs for the whole family and discuss them prior to viewing.
Plan activities that tie in with the special program.

• Watch TV with your child.
Study after study shows that the negative aspects of TV can be minimized and the positive messages reinforced when parents watch with their children. Use your VCR to tape programs so you can watch them at your convenience.

• Discuss programs while viewing.
Talk about what you don’t like or don’t agree with as well as what you do like. Reinforce messages or ideas from the programs.

• Turn the television off when the program is over.
Encourage children to see television as something they can control, not be controlled by.

• Find ways to tie activities into the shows you watch to extend the learning.
Read a book that relates to the program, go out into the community, explore the environment in your area, do a hands-on activity, or have your child research a topic covered in the program are a few things you and your child can do together.