How TV Affects Children

I must say all children grew up watching TV, myself included. It's a utility which everyone cannot live without. It has been for generations and yet TV easily emerges as a indispensable form of entertainment. Of cause, the Internet is fast catching up. Let us look at the positive effects and the negative effects of TV and how it can benefit or affect our children.
Benefits:

• The children can be exposed to positive content and be enriched with programs such as documentaries, educational variety shows and cartoons. Hey, I grew up watching Sesame Street, Discovery Channel and Transformers!

• Spending quality time together. Well, I remembered the days when my parents would watch the telly with me, and we will have endless laughter together. And I being the curious child, never fail to ask endless streams of questions. The bonding with the child will no doubt be better.
Drawbacks:

• Couch potato syndrome. Addiction to TV may cause the child to be withdrawn from the rest of the world, excessive eating while viewing programs can cause obesity problems.

• Emotional development. A child really needs to do more things than just watching TV. He needs constant interaction with the outside world and other kids. It is part and parcel of his development and bear that in mind, there is no substitute to that.

• Eyesight problems. Increasingly, many children these days are getting myopic. It's hard to deny that TV isn't one of the contributing factors.

• Violence. As we all know, children love to imitate. The imitations can range from wanting to fly like superman, acting like John Rambo and giving an uppercut like a Thai kick boxer. I was in that stage once, so I know. It's a fact and we have many case studies of violence by teens in recent years.

.Bad use of language.In some of the films our children watch,there is bad use of language,the use of vulgar language is common.Children tend to copy what they learnt from the TV.This affect them greatly.
Below are some suggested things parents can do to help their kids:

1.Limit their viewing hours

2.Be selective when it comes to the programmes they watch.Let them watch programs like cartoon,educational program,good comedies,and family orientated programs.

3.More exertion of control regarding programs rating PG

4.Don't allow eating while watching TV,and parents should help by giving good example here.Encourage them to eat only at the dining table.

5.Watch TV with them. Try not to put TV in your kids bedroom