Study Finds Too Many Tots Watching too Much TV

Just because a show is created for toddlers does not necessarily mean they have to sit down to watch more TV.  In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no more than 2 hours per day of “quality programming.”  Much to the shock and dismay of health experts everywhere, a new study discovered that kids are far surpassing the recommended amount of TV watching.

The Oregon Public Health study found that 1 in 5 Oregon two years olds are watching more than the recommended 2 hours of TV daily.  Study coauthor Dr. John Oh from the Centers for Disease Control who worked with Oregon Public Health explains: “The findings are pretty generalizable to the rest of the country.”

It’s been suspected that young children have been watching more and more TV these days, a pastime that can hinder a child’s cognitive development while increasing the risk for obesity.  The dangerous part is that TV is often only one component of the time kids spend in front of a screen, including video games and computers, which can also be detrimental.

Utilizing data from the Oregon Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Survey to depict the amount of TV watched by 2 year olds in Oregon, researchers found that about 19.6% watched at least 2 hours of TV.  The amount of TV watched was directly linked to other factors.  For example, 23% of toddlers kept at home throughout the day watched 2 or more hours of TV compared to only 14.5% of tots who went on more frequent outings.  Also, children who had a TV in their room, which the AAP advises against, watched nearly double the amount of TV as their TV-less counterparts.

What This Means for Mums

It may seem obvious, but yes the answer is turn off the TV! Researchers also went on to say that limiting a young child’s media time may keep a lid on a child’s screen time as the child gets older which is a lasting gift to give your children.  Being glued to the TV for a child means less parental interaction; which could reduce in reduced speech development. In addition, the rapidly firing images on the screen may reduce a child’s ability to concentrate.  Don’t discount your importance as a parent and just how much you mean to your child- they will love playing a game or getting outdoors with you.  In turn, you get a little stress relief of your own and have a perfect excuse to postpone those household chores.

Tags: child development, toddlers, TV watching

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Baby Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.