TV TURNOFF

As spring finally makes its way to Maine and children can venture outdoors without layers of clothing, here’s a sad statistic to consider: Maine children spend more time watching television and sitting in front of a computer playing games than they do playing outdoors. This “screen time” leads to weight gain and many other problems.

So this year, as the 10th annual TV Turn-Off Weeks starts today nationally, but April 26 in Maine, parents should heed the advice of the Maine Bureau of Health and “encourage your kids to do more … not watch more.”

There is mounting evidence that watching too much TV is bad for children. The latest is a study published in the current issue of the journal Pediatrics that found that very young children who watch television are at increased risk of developing attention deficit problems by school age. It comes on the heels of other studied that attributed television to children’s sleep, reading and weight problems.

If further evidence was needed, these findings show that Maine is on the right track by encouraging parents to limit the amount of time their children spend in front of screens, whether they be attached to a television, video game or computer.

Children, ages 2 to 11, average 20 hours a week in front of a television. This is having a myriad of negative consequences. According to the Pediatrics article, each hour of television that pre-school children watch increased the risk of developing attention problems, such as attention deficit disorder, by the age of 7. This is likely because of the fast-paced visual images common to most TV programs, said lead author Dimitri Christakis, a researcher at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle. Because brains develop rapidly in the first two years of life, this is a critical time period for young children. Overstimulation during this time period can “create habits of the mind that are ultimately deleterious,” Dr. Christakis said.

Despite an American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that children under 2 not watch television, parents are not heeding the message. According to the Pediatrics article, 37 percent of 1-year-olds studied watched one to two hours of television daily. Fourteen percent watched three to four hours a day and 13 percent watched at least five hours daily.

A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation released last fall found that 30 percent of children under 3 had a television in their bedroom as did 43 percent of 4- to 6-year-olds. One third of the children surveyed lived in a household where the TV was on all the time. Among “heavy” TV viewers ages 4 to 6, only 34 percent could read compared to 56 percent of other children that age, according to the Kaiser study.

So, as the weather improves, get the kids outdoors where they can use their imaginations to build forts or make mud pies or plant a garden. If the rain or cold keeps you indoors, snuggle on the couch with a book. It will pay off later.