The TV is Not Your Friend . . . or Babysitter

We've all been told that too much TV isn't good for our kids. But now more evidence of this is showing up. The fact that watching TV is a completely sedentary form of entertainment isn't bad enough; now we come to find that it gives our kids high blood pressure as well.

The "Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine" recently published a study that showed that the children they studied (who were between the ages of 3 and 8) experienced spikes in blood pressure when they watched television. This was regardless of the child's weight and fitness. This anomaly was not seen during other sedentary entertainment such as playing video games and reading.

It isn't fully understood why this happens, but it is bad news! Combine this with other findings, and you can really begin to see why kids should be kept away from the TV.

Children who watch a lot of TV are more likely to develop poor eating habits than children who don't. Watching all the junk-food commercials that bombard children's shows causes them to want to eat those foods. They come to the conclusion that those snacks are what they are supposed to eat, regardless of what you, the parent, might tell them.

Watching TV too close to bedtime can also keep your children from sleeping soundly. Poor sleep can add up to a lot of health issues.

A study published in "Pediatrics" magazine shows that there is no real benefit gained from babies watching educational DVDs and programming. The study did not come to the conclusion that it was bad for the babies as long as they were properly interacted with otherwise, but no real impression seemed to be made on them by these videos.

So if there is no benefit, I wonder why we should buy them at all.

Finally, girls who are exposed to sexuality on TV are more likely to become pregnant by the time they are 20. Behavioral scientists watching teenage girls discovered that those who watched a lot of sexual content were up to 50% more likely to become pregnant. This probably has a lot to do with how sex is glamorized, and contraceptive issues are glossed over, leaving the issue hazy.

We need to be careful what our kids see on TV, and how much time they spend in front of it. I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to watch it. Letting them watch TV while you hop through the shower or make a couple phone calls is convenient. But think about what is on, or put in a movie for them. Also, controlling what they are exposed to goes back to what I said about parental controls!

Enjoy TV with your kids! Just not too much of it!