How Kids Benefit from Watching TV
Some of us only had limited TV channels while growing up. Besides, cartoons weren't on 24/7, so instead, we could only watch them early in the morning before school and on Saturdays. Today's kids have a wealth of options with multiple TV channels for children that run nothing but cartoons and kid shows all day, all week.
However, the good news is that today's programs go beyond teaching math and reading. They delve into social interactions to help kids learn how to get along with each other and build friendships, encourage problem solving in the world around them and get ideas on how to deal with new, unfamiliar situations.
TV time can be beneficial for kids when they watch the right (TV Shows) content. The following tips offer ideas on how to do that:
- Find talking points: Parents who watch shows with their children can use the program's topic as a talking point. A character lies, steals, cries, fights, helps others or cooperates. Ask the children what happens when someone lies or steals. What can a person do when she's upset? These provide opportunities for families to discuss what happens when you do the right thing and how the character went about solving a problem.
- Tie show with research: Maybe the kids learned a new word or a program's topic fascinated them. Use the opportunity to go online to do research and gain researching skills. They can look up definitions and check the local library's catalog for books on the topic for further reading. For example, a show covers a variety of music genres is an opportunity for kids to go online to listen to songs from the related genres and learn about the history of the music.
- Discover culture: Watch the news, documentaries, historical programs and music. More TV programs explore different cultures in terms of history, music, food and more.
- Solve problems: Characters often face challenges and work to overcome them. Parents can use these problems as a way to talk to their kids about their experiences.
- Learn good social skills and teamwork: Friendship is a frequent theme, which teaches how to work together, play fair and understand what other people are feeling — something that would boost a child's emotional intelligence.
Dr. Frederick Zimmerman, an associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, led a study that appeared in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He reported that parents make a difference in ensuring their children benefit from watching television by talking to them about the program, encouraging them to interact with the show by singing, dancing and saying words, watching a variety of program types and monitoring what they watch.
Remember to balance the TV time with physical activities, reading, playing with non-electronic toys and going outside. Kids also learn from parent behavior.
Meryl K. Evans is a freelance writer. You can reach her at merylk@gmail.com or stop by www.meryl.net.
