TV Is Not Helping With Kid's Weight

This is not a surprise. 

At the parent class Thursday, the topic was TV watching.  The nutritionists discussed how much TV time time added to the obesity problem because of the media ads and inactivity. Some of the statistics she stated:

• Number of 30-second commercials seen in a year by an average child: 20,000
  
• Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 38.5
• Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680
• Percentage of children ages 6-17 who have TV's in their bedrooms: 50
• Percentage of day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 70
• Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 hours
• Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1500
• Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66

This is listed on turnoffyourtv.com. She also had a slide that said that as much TV as we watch, by the time we are 70 years old, we would have watched 7-10 years worth of TV. Isn't that a waste?

The homework for the week was to:

• Try to cut TV/video games/computer down to 1-2 hours a day or at least half of what they are viewing now. This doesn't include active video games like the Wii.
• Play more
• Try to go at least one day without electronics
• No TV while eating

She suggested to reward the children if they could cut the TV viewing down. 

Suggestions to accomplish the homework:

• Afternoon routine of coming home from school, drink a glass of water, have a healthy snack, go out and play, either do homework and then dinner or dinner and then homework, and if there was time left, they can watch TV.   -With adding in showers there may not be much time for TV-
• Have a family game night
• Make a rule and stick to it, in regards to TV

I like the afternoon routine idea. She said the thinking of letting them play first is to clear their mind from school and also to get the exercise in first.  My kids always say they like soccer. I don't know why they say that but I am going to get a soccer ball and we can play that for about 30 minutes before coming in for homework and dinner. I can get out there and try to run around. *lol* No, there will not be any video or pictures of that. :)

 

Do you know what this means? Ugh, I am going to have to make a big effort to do some weekly cooking on the weekends. Sacrifice for the kids, I know.

She also suggested to tape some shows and fast forward through the commercials to cut down on some of the marketing images. Also, to explain to the children what marketing is why the advertisers are pushing products and how they aren't all good for us.

The kids don't think they can go a whole day with no TV. Shout, that would be very hard for me too but we are going to try it. Does that mean I can't use my beloved iPhone? Oh goodness! Maybe I need to rethink. :) The program will give the kids a reward if they do it for one day.

I remember, before I had kids, I said that I would not have a TV in there room. That lasted until my daughter was about 3 and I got tired of looking at kids programs all the time. *lol*

What do you think? Do you want to join us in the afternoon routine, no TV for a day and playing more? We are going to do the no TV and electronics one on Thursday. I counted and my kids watch TV/Computer/Nintendo DS for about 5 hours a day during the week and probably double that on the weekend. What about your kids? I am curious if I am a horrible mother for letting them watch that much TV. :)

Sorry for the long post but I thought this info was interesting and maybe useful to someone.