More TV time with Parents

The factual statement from Quest 3 Reading and Writing (2007), "American children watch an average of 21 hours and 42 minutes of television each week", bring me the propositional statement that not only American but also every children should not be allowed to watch TV alone. Since TV has both benefits and drawbacks, it is reasonably under parents' control.

For a young children, it was reported in BBC that if they watch TV, our brain will release Dopamine, a neurotransmitter for rewarding. This chemical substance makes children happy and want to watch more and more. The more they spend time on watching TV, the less they learn. Although these suggestions are not confirmed scientificly, watching TV with parents can help them learn a lot. Since parents can teach their children social interaction by explaining feeling in each scene.

Moreover, since new generation parents always work hard, it is hard to manage their time to sit next to their children. They often let TV as a baby sister. Children just stare on a screen. They might get some inappropriate media even on kids channel. The tendency that children will spend their time on TV is much more because on TV there are many attractive things such as next cartoon programs, colorful scene and, worse than that, junk food. Sitting nearby their children, parents can tell them to stop to do homework or to go bed. This can limit time on TV and can also suggest they to avoid junk food.

Finally, the main purpose watching TV with children is teaching them how to percept media wisely with consciousness. In a long term, it allows children can think reasonably by themselves in any situations.

References

Harmann, P. & Blass, L. (2007). Quest 3 Reading and Writing (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill
Haeri S. & Kelly, S. (2012, November 23). In BBC News. Retrieved January 30, 2013 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9768896.stm