My kids get a lot of free time in the summer, hanging around the house and yard, eating Popsicles and playing with the water hose. The lack of organized activities after 10 solid months of non-stop school and lessons is important, I think. They need time to just let their imaginations wander and to play and explore.
Shortly after we got home from our family vacation, though, I noticed a pattern developing. My older kids were waking up earlier and earlier in the morning, beating the grown-ups downstairs by an hour, just to watch television.
My kids are always allowed to come down on weekend mornings and watch an hour or so of TV, while we sleep in a bit. Now, though, the kids were assuming every day was a weekend, and were watching more and more television, turning on the TV throughout the day.
We were spending more and more time turning off the TV, shooing kids out of the living room, and monitoring the time they spent in front of the screen.
We also started noticing the kids were wired and cranky by the end of the day, and more argumentative than usual. They were also sleeping less, getting up earlier and falling asleep later.
“Hey! I was watching that!” one of the older kids announced one evening when I switched off the screen an hour before bedtime. “This totally sucks!”
Both the Mayo Clinic in the United States and the Canadian Pediatric Society warn against letting your kids watch too much TV — no more than an hour or two each day for older children.
“Too much TV has been linked to irregular sleep,” according to the Mayo Clinic’s fact sheet on television and kids. “The more TV children watch, the more likely they are to resist going to bed and to have trouble falling asleep.”
Too much time in front of the flat screen can also lead to behavioural problems, and can increase the risk of a child becoming overweight or obese.
The Canadian Pediatric Society gives the following tips on limiting screen time for kids. Try to set limits from the time your child is very young; don’t make TV-watching part of a routine; keep screens, including computers, tablets and smartphones out of the home’s bedrooms; and turn off the TV when you’re not watching it.
Last week, we started reinforcing our family’s rules about TV. The kids are back to a limit of an hour of screen time during the week, and no morning television. Our kids do not get time in front of a computer or a gaming system during the week, and are limited to 30 minutes a day on weekends.
The change was almost immediate. The kids are sleeping later in the morning and earlier in the evening. They’re spending more time playing outdoors and with their toys in the house.
The best part is the return to their usually sunny and polite behaviour, rather than being grouchy couch potatoes.
We turned on the TV the other day to watch a movie, popcorn and all. As they munched away, Alex, my oldest, sighed happily.
“I love TV, mom,” he said. “But maybe it’s better when it’s not all the time.”
