TV Monster

This is from http://www.mercola.com/ At this link Dr. Mercola has some more interesting things to say about TV watching and a short video about how television affects our brains.

20 Activities to do With Your Kids Other Than Watch TV

Almost half of U.S. kids spend at least two hours a day watching TV. While this may sound harmless enough, numerous studies have come out showing that TV is definitely taking its toll on American children.

For instance, a study in the April 2004 journal Pediatrics found that

every added hour of watching TV increased a child's odds of having attention problems at age 7 by about 10 percent. Those who watched for three hours a day between the ages of 1 and 3 were 30 percent more likely to have attention trouble at age 7 than those viewing no TV.

The notion that kids watch far too much TV is a no-brainer, literally. My strong recommendation is to minimize TV watching to no more than a few hours per WEEK, as a short attention span is only the beginning of the problem with TV. Here are some of the other negatives of kids watching TV:

TV will change your child's views and food choices
TV will make your kids fat
Make your kids more materialistic
Cause your children to go into more debt as adults
TV will cause your children to be more aggressive
May lead to smoking
Will increase your child's risk of becoming seriously injured
Although you may be accustomed to turning on the TV to entertain your kids (or yourself), there are many other options out there.

Here are 20 to get you started.

Take a walk
Read a book
Cook a meal
Do a jigsaw puzzle
Play a board game
Talk about your day
Play some sports
Color, draw or paint a picture
Play outside
Invite a friend over
Put on some music and dance
Go on a ‘treasure hunt’ around the house or neighborhood
Play catch or Frisbee
Make a "fort" out of blankets and pillows
Ride bikes or roller blade
Write a letter to a friend or relative
Do a crossword puzzle or word search
Write a story
Run relay races with friends
Play charades