on entertainment media, including televisions, computers, phones and other electronic devices. How much time does that leave them to play with other children? Are they interacting at all with their parents or siblings? And what about being outside, is their sunshine coming from a screen?I used to rush home from school to watch my favorite TV show, The Lone Ranger. I would have sat there until dinner watching whatever came on next, but my mother turned off the TV and told me to do my homework or go outside.
An LA Times story a few years ago indicated that children 2 to 5 years old spend close to five hours a day watching TV and kids 6 to 11 fill up on more than 28 hours of TV every week. And that's just television.
I've heard too many stories of parents handing their child an iPad or Kindle to keep them quiet. Sure, the things can be educational, but so can a book or the back-yard.
Most kids complain that they get too much homework, and maybe more than 2-2.5 hours worth per day is a bit excessive, but perhaps the reason they're complaining is because the homework is infringing on their screen time.
I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say it again. Too often parents take the easy way out by putting their child in front of a screen instead of finding a way to involve their child in life. It's much easier to let the TV talk to the children than it is to talk with them and be curious about who they really are. It's much easier to be a caretaker than it is to be a parent.
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