TV: The Babysitter

While my wife Valerie was pregnant with our twins we often discussed how much television we would allow our children to watch. Our desire was to not have them watch any TV until they were two. Desire did not, however, resemble reality. Well before they were two my kids began watching the likes of Dora, Blue's Clues, and Sesame Street. Now that they are five we have drawn new battlelines by trying to keep them away from Sponge Bob and Fairly OddParents.

Recently an American Academy of Pediatrics survey came out that indicated that 75% of children ages 6 months to 6 years watch television on a typical day. In fact 18% of babies under two years old even have a TV in their nursery, watching on average 75 minutes of television a day.

Being a parent of three kids five and under, I can understand how helpful television can be. It's a blessing to be able to put on Dragontales or Clifford at a particularly hairy time of the day to calm the kids down. And it's neat to see them actually learn a thing or two from some shows that are well done. But none of my kids have a TV in their room, and we have no plans to change that anytime soon. Yes I have a TV in my office I never use, but there is no way I'm going to be putting it in one of my kid's rooms.

As I wrote a month ago, there are times I would like to just put on a ballgame and send the kids to their room with their TV babysitter, but I just don't think that's right. As a parent I feel it is my responsibility to see what my kids are watching... and when we accidentally let Nick and Disney stay on a little too long as those channels switch from preschool mode to "Teen" mode, I know about it and can change the channel or turn it off.

There are so many voices in this world competing for our children. Companies are spending millions of dollars trying to get their products in front of our kids, even our 2 and 3 year-olds. Having a TV in your preschooler's bedroom only makes it easier for them to get their gospel of want and spend into their young minds. It's tough to raise your kids right. So give yourself a parenting advantage by keeping the TV in the family room and keeping the bedrooms for creative play and sleep.