TELEVISION: Child is watching too much TV
(email Conversation)

Turn the darn thing off!  Have regular periods of time when no television is allowed in your entire home. Children won’t get distracted getting ready for school if no TV is running; don’t have the TV on during dinner so your family talks to each other. Invite your children to play games, read or be creative--none of which they will learn if the TV is always running in your home.

PARENT: Why are you so against children watching a lot of TV? There are lots of good programs on the television.

SANDY: I’m concerned about excessive amounts of TV being watched. There is a statistic which states that by the time an average child is 18 years old, that child has spent more time watching TV than that child has spent in school and with the family, combined.

The television is non-responsive; you can just sit there and watch it without thinking or talking. If the brain isn’t activated into thinking and imagining, it cuts off those resources. A child who watches enormous amounts of TV will not be able to use the part of their brain that inspires creativity and intuition. Do you want to raise a child who is not creative and one who cannot access his/her intuition (which is where I think access to your spirituality lies)?  If not, you need to teach them to use free time in a better way.

Copyright (C) Sandy Spurgeon McDaniel, 2000