TKW Consulting

• Be a role model -- use media the way you want your child to use it.
• Treat television like any other planned family activity. Create a TV schedule that your whole family agrees on.
• Establish family guidelines for selecting programs and preview programs before your child views them.
• Treat TV as a special privilege your child must earn. Make sure that all homework and chores have been finished before they sit down to watch.
• Encourage your child to watch a variety of programs: sports, nature and science shows, the arts, music, etc.
• Talk to your child about what they are watching. Ask them why they enjoy a specific program and which characters are their favorites.
• Discuss the difference between fantasy and reality. Ask your child whether the activities and characters they are watching could happen in real life.
• Use television as a tool to spark your child’s imagination and as a springboard for new learning experiences.
• Help your child connect what they view on television to events and activities in their own life.
• Discuss the commercials with your child. Talk about their perceptions of the products being sold and who it is that’s selling them.
• Avoid programs that frighten your child.
• Avoid programs that show characters resolving conflicts with violence.
• Avoid having the television on during meal times.
• Do not put a TV in your child’s bedroom.
• Consider using parental controls like the V-chip, and pay careful attention to a show’s age- and content-based rating.
• Use the VCR or TIVO to record shows that may be inappropriate for your child so you can watch them at a later time.

If you're like most people, it is very easy to just sit down in front of the television after a busy work day. But remember that you need to control the televison and not let it control you.

// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 4:22 PM