Little Stomaks is a blog on toddler nutrition that I’ve just started reading and I like it a lot. But something came up in a post from yesterday on helping children choose healthy foods.
The author, TwinToddlersDad, was commenting on a study from the Dartmouth School of Medicine that found that parents’ habits had more of an effect on what foods their children chose from a play store than age, education, even the amount of TV they watched.
Pay attention to that last one. While I firmly believe that TV, indeed all screen time, should be tightly limited, and that TV does have some very powerful effects, the study reinforced something I’ve been saying all along. You, as parents, have a far stronger impact on what your kids think, do and eat.
You want to protect your kids from the negative effects of media? It’s not about limiting and/or controlling what they watch and play – although limits and appropriate controls are an important part of that strategy. It’s about being present to your kids and modeling good behavior, yourself. That doesn’t mean hiding your more adult behaviors, such as your CSI addiction. But it doesn’t mean flaunting these behaviors, either.
If your kids want to watch lots of violent shows, take a look at what you’re watching. If there’s a lot of violence in the shows you watch without them, then maybe it’s time to cut back.
Even your teens are listening and watching. You don’t have to be perfect or one-hundred percent consistent. But you do have to be honest and fair and if your TV viewing isn’t reflecting your values, the values you’re trying to pass on to your kid (which is kinda the point of the whole exercise), then it’s time to re-think what you’re watching. And if you really want to have a positive effect, try making your kids part of that re-thinking.
Anne Louise Bannon
Your Family Viewer
First, let me thank you for reading my post and taking the time to leave a comment.
I think a lot of studies have tried to build a correlation between TV watching and nutrition habits. The problem is not with TV watching, rather it is the lack of physical activity. I was surprised to learn recently that even though TV watching is positively related to higher BMI, the effect is very small and not significant from a clinical point of view.
I think that if used properly, TV can be a good educational medium. Having said that, your point about regulating what children watch is right on the mark.
Thanks again