A few years ago, my 3 girls were TV junkies. Even up until today, they are still TV junkies and I have since a year ago, decided to put my foot down when I observed negative behavioral changes and unfavorable academic results from school as a result of spending more than 2 hours immersing themselves in front of the TV daily.
I now limit TV watching to only weekends or school holidays, with a maximum of 2 hours a day on their ‘happy days’. On school days, I sometimes relax a wee bit and allow a maximum of half an hour viewing session when homework and house work are completed. The same applies to playing games on the laptop and iPad. My kids hardly play with these gadgets these days. They are only allowed to use the laptop and iPad to assist them in their homework.
These are some of the negative consequences as a result of TV-watching that I have observed from my kids:
1) They get so overly soaked in TV watching that they are totally oblivious to anyone who is talking to them. Only when voice is raised or cane is flashed do they get out of their ‘TV trance’
2) Homework is not completed or totally not done because of TV addiction
3) The kids ignore my instructions because they do not want to leave the TV. This always makes me upset and angry, which drives me to holler at them. In fact, most of my screamings often result in the kids disregarding my instructions because their eyes and mind are affixed to the idiot box.
4) The kids fight among themselves because they fight over the remote control and who gets to watch what.
5) Kids throwing tantrums at me as a result of their ‘dependency’ taken away from them when their addiction is not fixed.
6) Kids become social recluse because they do not want to go out to socialize. They prefer to get slumped in front of the screen.
7) House chores are neglected. The result is a messy house and I have to do them myself.
8) Kids are not as active as they should be, they do not partake much in outdoor activities.
9) Watching too much TV will damage kids’ creativity, proportional growth of intelligence and several other physical skills of kids
I have several friends who have no TV at home. One of my friends home-school her 5 kids and she has no TV at home. I do not mind living sans TV. I am self sufficient with the computer and honestly, I have absolutely no time to watch the TV. I have threatened my kids many times that if they disregard my instructions, I will pick up the phone to cancel our Astro subscription right away.
TV watching is like fatal drugs where kids and adults can get addicted to. There must be a limit to how much TV kids can watch.
Do you allow your kids to watch TV? If yes, what is the time limit and frequency you set for them?
No. of times viewed = 567
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When my older gal started Std 1, I cancelled my Astro so that she would not be glued to the tv.In JB, we get to watch Spore channels, so she is not deprived of cartoons. I do really hate it when she is watching all the HK and Korean drama, I try to avoid her getting too much interest in these dramas. After dinner, the tv will be switch off and it will be homework time. Only when they have completed all their tasks,then only the tv is switch back on. As for Ipad, don’t have one at home coz scared they will be hooked on it. They do play computer games, and they need to do worksheets to earn the computer time. Luckily, my older gal is quite a bookworm and will be contented with a new book.
Adel, Spore channels are more than enough, no need to subscribe to Astro 🙂
Only after exam or weekend or holiday….no time to waste on tv daily.
I don’t allow my kids Ipad, Iphone or TV on any days, unless on certain days I tell them to “work” for it to deserve maybe a 30 minute gadget reward. I don’t believe in kids playing with gadgets in restaurants too.
It’s also not good for their eyesights. When my boy does watch TV, it’s soooo precious until he’d be totally immense into the show (cannot hear us even).
Maybe on holidays a teeny bit more relax. We don’t have Astro in the house too. HyppTV is yucky, even I don’t watch it. Haha…
Sac, yes pls. Kindly email me at shireenyong@gmail.com
thanks
I can survive without TV but not my hubs .. so I can’t even totally threaten them that I will throw away the TV .. I try to limit TV time too .. only in the evenings .. but on weekends, TV time is longer .. all the i-related gadgets, only on holiday or outings .. totally no no during normal day ..
My rule – they must ask me before they switch on the tv/ watch ipad. And when they ask, I will alwiz drill the same thing : “when mummy says stop, then must stop”. Cos if they don’t, then I’ll say no next time they ask to watch.
Works well so far, even with little E! 🙂
(one thing I learned with little E : if I snatch away the Ipad, a screaming fit starts. What I need to do is to wait a little and she’ll switch it off herself and pass it back to me)