This is another one of those "Duh!" stories one sees daily in the news and on the web. The story was about two studies which discuss the difficulties and rewards involved with limiting children's TV watching.
(O)ne study found that 9-to-12-year-olds who were barred from watching R-rated movies on television also had lower risks for smoking and drinking.
We've seen stories to this effect before. In our house, 9- to 12-year-olds watching R-rated movies would be out of the question. But my oldest daughter (almost 15) lives with her dad about two blocks from our house (don't ask!) and he and his wife allow the children (my daughter and the wife's son from a previous marriage, also 15) to watch just about anything they want to short of porn. One of the reasons I gave the court for not wanting my daughter living there (aside from the fact that the houses were so close and she has siblings--half-siblings--here) was that they allow the kids to watch and do whatever they want with little supervision. Studies like this one just confirm my worst fears.
Between 2002 and 2003, Dalton and her team interviewed more than 2,600 parents and children. The children were between the ages of 9 and 12. Overall, 45 percent of kids weren't allowed by their parent to watch R-rated movies. From the group that could watch R movies, about one-third always watched with a parent, but two-thirds only sometimes watched with one of their parents.
I have to say I was astonished at these results. It means that 55% are allowed to watch R-rated movies. That means 9-year-olds are watching movies meant for 17-year-olds. This is astounding!
"I was pretty surprised at how few parents set restrictions and monitored movie-viewing. Forty percent of 9 year olds watched R-rated movies at least occasionally and 70 percent of 12-year-olds did," said Dalton.
I'm pretty surprised, too.
Children from households were R-rated movies were always restricted had about a 40 percent decreased risk of smoking or drinking than did kids who were allowed to watch R movies.
When parents watched R movies with their children, the risk of smoking was decreased, though the risk of drinking remained the same.
The second study concerned the amount of TV children watch. Experts recommend that children watch no more than two hours of television per day. They found that most children in their study watch at least three hours per day. They also found that the average home had four television sets and two-thirds of children had televisions in their bedrooms.
"I think to most American families, the media has become very integrated into the life of the family and child. To radically change that means giving a shock to the family system," said (Amy) Jordan (a senior research investigator at the Annenberg Public Policy Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania). "Children rely on TV for entertainment and distraction, while parents rely on it for cheap babysitting."
Many parents thought it would be better for kids to watch less TV, but weren't sure how to make the shift and they were concerned that their youngsters would be bored without TV or video games.
"But, developmentally, boredom is important," Jordan said. It's during those times when children aren't being passively distracted that they use their creativity and do some exploring. That's when they might throw a sheet over the dining room table and make a fort, or play hide and seek, or explore outside. It's better for their minds and bodies."
We have four televisions in our house: one is in our bedroom, one is in the oldest daughter's bedroom, one has a video game system hooked up, and one is in the game room and is the only one regularly watched. The one in our daughter's room is rarely used, as is the one in our bedroom. In short, if anyone wants to watch TV, they will do it in the room where everybody is and so the programming tends to be more family-friendly.
I've also found that my kids would much rather be playing with each other or other kids than watching TV. And the researchers are right: boredom does promote creativity. I love watching what my kids will come up with to do if they don't have access to television or computers. Sometimes, they are acting out video games or television shows; sometimes, they are acting out parts of books they have read; sometimes they start out with one sort of play and it morphs into another; sometimes, they just grab their bikes or scooters and go to the park. In any event, all these ways of playing seem to be much healthier than watching reruns of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
|