Kids and the Television

Setting limits on time spent in front of the tube.

From Stealth Health

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• Remove TVs and computers from children's bedrooms. According to Kaiser Family Foundation research, two-thirds of children ages 8 and older have a TV in their bedroom, half have a video game, and one-third a VCR. Almost half of children live in a house where the TV is on at all times, even when no one is watching it. According to research done at Johns Hopkins University, a child's weight increases with the number of hours he or she watches television.



• Place active toys such as jump ropes, mini-trampolines, Sit 'n Spin, and hula hoops within easy access in kids' bedrooms or playrooms.



• Require that your kids exercise during commercial breaks.



• Put a curfew on electronics. For instance, nothing that requires batteries or electricity may be used until 5 p.m. on school days.



• Set a tit-for-tat rule. For every 30 minutes of television watching or Internet surfing, your child must do 30 minutes of physical activity.




From Stealth Health

 

• • Healthy Home
• • Generation Y
• • Children's Health
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