5 things you must do if your kids are to stop watching too much TV

By Jimoh Smith

It is that time of the year again. Your kids have resumed school and you want them to settle quickly and get serious with their School activities and yet they can’t seem to take their hands off the TV remote once they drop their bags.

This is most often the story of a lot of parents.

Although, there is nothing wrong with watching TV, but doing this for a long period of time on a daily basis can have negative effects on the health and development of our children.

Now that children have access to smartphones and tablets, the situation is even worse. That’s why it is crucial to find a way to prevent your kids from watching too much TV. Before we go into details, let’s see how phones and TVs affect the health of our children.

The harms of overusing phones and TVs for children

Very often, children are gazing at TV screens, tablets, and phones from a short distance. As a result of that, they can damage their eyesight.

The fact is that these modern devices are affecting the brain, leading to behavioural problems, sleep problems, aggressive behaviour, feeling of fear, poor performance at school, overweight, neck and shoulder issues – these are some of the problems you can expect if your children watch TV for a long time regularly.

This is a list of things that can help prevent your children from watching too much TV.

1. Don’t allow your child to eat in front of the TV

Eating in front of the TV screen is not a good habit. In this way, children spend even more time watching TV. Additionally, your child will eat the food faster, meaning that they won’t pay attention to the amount of food they’ve consumed or the way they are chewing the food.

1. Remove TVs from the bedroom

The fact is that if there is a TV in your child’s room, he or she will watch TV even more.

1. Set yourself as an example

Watching TV for countless hours every day is bad for adults too. Set yourself as an example and reduce the amount of the time you spend in front of the TV.

1. Set fixed timings

By setting fixed timings for them to watch TV or use their smartphones, you will know how much time they’ve spent using these gadgets.

1. Turn off the TV when no one is watching

Don’t leave the TV on in the background when no one is watching. In this way, your child won’t be tempted to sit in front of the TV.

In addition to the suggestions above, parents should also come up with some engaging activities that can serve as substitutes to watching TV.

To start with, you can have fun with your children outside the home. A visit to the shopping mall, conservation centres, or a game of treasure hunt in the local park will do the job.

Next, you can also encourage your kids to participate in sports activities at school or in the neighbourhood. Additionally, you can also buy art supplies and ask them to unleash their creativity.
We hope that this article will help you on your quest to prevent your children from watching too much TV.

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