American children spend more than 3 hours daily watching television. If you were to calculate that over a one year period, you would find that children spend more time watching television than they do in school. It is the most time consuming activity for children second only to sleeping. Some research has found that while physical activity is limited at school, except for physical education classes and occasional recess periods, the time immediately after school is when children watch a considerable amount of television. During this time parents can help to provide active play opportunities and limit television watching.
Evening hours are also a time when children watch television.
This could also be a time for parents to provide opportunities to participate in physical activity. Because activity patterns in the early years have been shown to track into adulthood, a worthwhile goal would be to provide active play opportunities for children, which in-turn could lead to more active lifestyles for both children and their parents. If you are interested in discussing this topic further or have ideas to share please e-mail me. I will publish your comments in a later issue. There are a number of great resources that give ideas for responsible television watching.