Effects of Television on Children

Television has become a "member" of almost every single family on our planet. And not just an ordinary member, but a very important one, because the time spent next to it exceeds the amount of time spent together with any other family member.

Children are mainly exposed to television, television violence and television culture at home. Thus parents play a vital role in helping children to make sense of what they see on the television. These days television influences the lives of young children and it is only going to get worst with each passing year. It is very challenging for young children to make choices of what programs they should watch. Because of the lack of experience they need more help from adults. Pulling children away from television programs is a challenge.
Some Horrifying facts about media violence in children's lives:-

*By the end of elementary school, the average child will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 other violent acts in the media.


*Children's cartoons and action programs average more than 20 acts of violence per hour, compared with 5 acts per hour during prime-time hours.


*The sale of Mighty Morphin Power Ranger products (based on the extremely violent TV show) surpassed $1 billion in 1994.


*More than $3 billion of products related to the Star Wars movie have been sold worldwide.

You can develop TV rules for home. Please make sure that as a parent you follow them as well and be consistent. You can come up with some rules as for example, TV only on weekends, no TV before school, no TV after dinner, no violent shows, etc. This plan of action will be more effective if you develop these rules with your child because she/he will feel that her/his voice is heard. The more meaningful and understandable a rule is for a child, the more likely it will work.

Help the child understand a true meaning of hero-that the real heroes are those who work hard and make a world a better place for example, parents, teachers, doctors, firefighters, etc. are real heroes.