Regulate TV time. The American Academy of Pediatrics and other authorities recommend that parents limit children's viewing to one to two hours of carefully selected programs per day. To put this into practice, you might have the child select programs he or she wants to watch at the beginning of the week. This encourages children to have a program choice in mind before turning the TV set on, as well as encouraging them to turn it off when the program is finished. Parents might assign points to programs based on the time values and give kids a point total to spend weekly.
TV can promote cooperative behavior.
Studies have shown that programs with characters who cooperate, help and care for each other influence children in a positive way. Avoid TV as a reward or punishment. The National Institute of Mental Health encourages parents to avoid using the TV to reward or punish their children, because such practices may make television watching seem more important or valuable to children than other activities. Whenever possible, sit and watch programs together with your child, and talk about what you are viewing. Avoid using TV as a baby-sitter.