The headlines from Telegraph and BBC News offer totally different viewpoints though they are quoting from the same Johns Hopkins University’s research. The Telegraph’s headline read “Two hours’ TV a day ‘harms children’” while BBC News was “Children ‘recover’ from TV harm“.
Hmmm … when I first saw the two headlines, I thought they were basing it on two different research studies. But on further reading, I found that they were actually referencing the same research study. They were just angling their stories differently. I feel the Telegraph’s report was a little sensationalistic as compared to the BBC News. But it might be because BBC News’s parent company also runs TV channels with one dedicated kids channel, CBeebies.
As for us, we try to balance out the time that Matthew reads, play and watches TV. But given his boisterous and curious nature, it’s quite difficult to make him sit down for more than 20 minutes for any activity. And, thankfully, because he is child care, he doesn’t watch as much TV if he was at home. We also try to bring him out on weekends so that we won’t plonk ourselves in front of the TV. But some television is good for him as it allows him to explore the world around him … he likes animal-related programmes such as those on Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and National Geographic.
So, do you let your children watch TV? If yes, how often? If no, why not?
