Experts say that young children do not need to watch television at all.  Many may believe this.  Many parents may, like me, believe it too…BUT… feel that a little bit of television watching can be okay and may even be necessary to our sanity!  Let’s face it, it’s hard to stay away completely.

Children need to communicate, develop their hand-eye coordination by moving around, falling down and getting back up.  Children need to express themselves and to feel things.  Many people think that putting a child in front of a TV limits their development.  Watch a small child watching TV and you’ll see a zoned out child.

Research has established that in the first months of a child’s life, intellectual, social and emotional development requires direct engagement with the world around them.  However, children are spending more and more time with media than any activity other than sleeping.  Not to mention how huge corporate conglomerates own TV, radio, web businesses and film studios, which has made it even easier for marketers to sell products directly to children.

Marketing to children occurs in several ways – brand licensing, product placement and even marketing in schools and day care.  Day care providers and preschool teachers frequently rely on movies and TV to keep children engaged (not in my kid’s preschool!) and, in response, media companies have begun aggressively targeting preschools with “educational” curriculum based on media characters.

How many hundreds of DVDs have you seen out there that are aimed at babies?  They make claims about their educational value and their alleged benefit to the brain development of babies.  This phenomenon of marketing to infants is called “cradle to grave loyalty.”

It’s estimated that children 12 and under influence more than $500 billion in purchases every year. It’s no wonder that there are conferences such as the annual Kid Power conference, which brings together such corporations as Disney, Nickelodeon, Scholastic, Fisher Price and other major marketers to children to network and present the latest studies and market research on how best to market to children.

When they are all together, they don’t have to worry about how their marketing strategies undermine parents’ efforts to raise healthy children; how to exploit children is where they focus all their energies. No one talks about what’s best for the children, only how to exploit them for profit. Nice.

Also, at Kid Power, awards are given that actually honor peers for manipulating children – only ads aimed at children 12 and under are eligible! The well-being of children is simply not a priority.

It is up to those of us who value our children for more than their “buying” power to empower our kids and allow them to grow up without the undermining of commercial interests.

Just a couple of days ago, my 4 year old asked me if I knew where rain came from.  I said “I think so – do you know?”  I wasn’t sure if she was asking me because she wanted me to tell her or she wanted to tell me.  She proceeded to say “Well, the water evaporates from the ground and goes up into the clouds and they are like sponges.  When they get full, the water evaporates out of them and comes down as rain.”  I was very proud and somewhat surprised, especially at her use of the word “evaporate”, even though her vocabulary for a 4 year old is outstanding and her annunciation has always been incredible.  Ooops, did I get off on a my-kid-is-a-genius-tangent?  Okay, back to the story – after telling her what a wonderful explanation that was, I asked her if she had learned that in school (preschool) that day and she said “No, silly mommy, from Calliou!”

Calliou is a favorite TV program of both my daughters that depicts a 4 year old boy and his day-to-day experiences with family, friends and school.

It’s up to every individual family to decide what is best for them and their children, but I’ll throw some practical guidelines, or suggestions, out here:

• Ration screen time.

• Choose programs/movies wisely.

• Don’t put TV sets in children’s rooms.

• Don’t permit endless TV watching; encourage play and activities.

• If you choose to allow your children to watch commercials, be there with them so that you are able to explain certain actions and behaviors to them and answer their questions.

Personally, I choose to have a digital video recorder (DVR) and I record a few of my girls’ favorite programs, as long as I feel they are appropriate, which, to me, means educational in some way and they do not include commercials. They also have a rather large arsenal of appropriate & enjoyable DVDs.

In conclusion, remember - the biggest gift we can give our children is our love and attention; they want it and they need it.