Children have been found to have minds like sponges, they suck up all the knowledge they can around them. This would of course include television programming, which could cloud their judgement if not regulated. There are many show’s out there that children do not need to be witnessing, violence, nudity and paraphernalia are regularly shown on television. These t.v. shows need to been blocked from children eyes and ears.
The level of television watched by a child is another big issue these days. A child who is inside eating and watching t.v. all day is going to naturally gain weight due to the lack of physical exercise. This is causing childhood obesity to rise at a scary rate. Children need a healthy balance between inside time and outside time. They need both development of their mind just as much as learning healthy patterns for their body. Having a set time for t.v along with a set time for playing is important for a child’s healthy development.
However all the blame is not on the children. Parents are just as much, if not more, to blame for their children’s eyes being glued to their t.v.’s. More and more parents these days are using television to keep their children occupied while they do what they need to do. The problem is that parents aren’t researching what their children are watching, they are assuming if it’s a cartoon it is ok. This is definitely not the case, there are cartoons that will confuse or even hurt development, but on the other side there are healthy learning cartoons and shows.
Learning shows for children are hard to find this day but are most definitely beneficial to the children. These are the shows that parents show allow their children to watch for whatever time they have allotted the child to watch t.v. This will allow them to learn while they get to watch television instead of watching mindless shows. These shows, for the most part, will keep their children involved due to the problem solving issues they create but not make them a zombie to the program.
Overall there are a lot of bad programs that kids get to watch that shouldn’t be allowed. But if parents begin to take control, having sets amount of time they must play for the amount they watch t.v., it may change the path of the country. It would not be easy to make the transition but it most likely would improve the obesity epidemic and general knowledge of the people.