5 ways to help children quit TV addiction
Do not install a TV in your child's room, do not turn on the TV just to break the silence in the house... is the advice given by the VerywellFamily website.
Children who watch too much TV can have problems such as obesity, heart disease, sleep problems, and poor academic performance. If children watch more than three hours of TV a day, parents need to reduce the frequency by the following methods:
1. Do not install a TV in the child's bedroom.
Parents should not install a TV in their children's bedrooms. Some studies show that children who have a TV in their bedroom often have poorer academic results than other children. In addition, parents need to set some rules such as: not watching TV during meals or homework time; if necessary, they can make a schedule to ban TV viewing times during the day. To make children follow this seriously, parents need to set an example and not watch TV during those prohibited hours.
2. Don't turn on the TV just for the sake of it.
Many families often have the habit of turning on the TV but not watching it, just leaving it there, just to make the house noisy and not too quiet. This will harm children, causing them to be engrossed in watching TV when their parents are not paying attention.
Instead of turning on the TV, parents should turn on music, the radio or any other audio media that only has sound, instead of pictures.
3. Let children decide how much time they watch TV
Instead of just creating a TV schedule for your child, create a family schedule and let your child participate in choosing their favorite times to watch TV. This helps your child feel like they have a voice. Let your child watch TV freely at the time they choose and don't bother them or ask them to stop for any reason.
For example, if children are allowed to watch cartoons at 2-3 pm, let them watch and do not force them to study or do housework during this time. Parents can wait until the TV time is over and then ask their children to do it.
|
Children watching TV for more than 3 hours a day will cause many consequences. Photo:VerywellFamily |
4. Provide children with entertainment other than television.
If children have a choice between cleaning their room, playing by themselves or watching TV, they will of course choose TV with its endless entertainment programs. However, if parents offer other interesting entertainment activities, especially family bonding activities such as reading books together, riding bikes, going to the park... then children will have other choices.
5. Make your child's TV time useful
When parents do allow their children to watch TV, do their best to make it a productive family activity, rather than a lazy afternoon spent on the couch.
Parents should watch TV with their children to ensure that the program they are watching is age-appropriate. In addition, this also helps you have a topic to talk to your children after turning off the TV. For example, if the program you just watched was related to animals, you can discuss and share more knowledge with your children about the animal you just watched.
In addition, during breaks between programs, parents can play some games and physical activities with their children, such as doing exercises to relax the body...
Even though kids still watch TV, this tactic will yield some positive results and is a step in the right direction.
