Best Way to Help a Child Develop Television Literacy

Statistics indicate that, on average, a preschooler watches twenty-five hours of television a week. Most kindergarten teachers say they know which children have spent the most time in front of the television set, both by their amount of aggressive behavior and their lack of willingness to participate in new activities. Never allow your young child’s television viewing to interfere with other essential activities of childhood: playing outdoors, cuddling, playing games with you, running and jumping, singing and dancing, playing with other children, creating with Play-Doh, drawing, making puz­zles, and reading stories together.

Never use your television as a baby sitter, or as daily back­ground sound. Use it instead for fun, entertainment, and infor­mation. When a show bores your child, turn the television off. Many quality children’s programs are available, such as Sesame Street, Barney and Friends, Reading Rainbow, Mr. Rogers’ Neighbor­hood, and Wish Bone. Lots of wonderful nature shows intrigue young children. Whenever possible, watch these programs with your child. For example, if Sesame Street discusses such concepts as “up” or “down” you can make a game together, doing the actions. Try to avoid a steady diet of superhero cartoon charac­ters and prime-time violence. Remember, too, that even quality shows such as Sesame Street have a zip-zap pace that some experts feel discourage the development of attention span, and, in fact, can contribute to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

Parents can help children develop “television literacy,” the ability to critically evalute what is shown on television. Talk to your child about the violence and the values presented to increase her appreciation and understanding of what she sees. Small children have difficulty differentiating what is real from what is imaginary. Spend time explaining to your child that television is not real, but make-believe. Ensure you explain to her that she should not imitate every action she sees, because some of those actions can hurt others.