Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Health

On Parenting by Nancy Shute

TV in the Bedroom? Bad Idea

April 07, 2008 01:51 PM ET | Nancy Shute | Permanent Link | Print

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Truth, Teen

I'm 52 and the parent of a teen. I have to agree with the comments from the 14 yr. old. This isn't the kids' fault. At my son's school, cafeteria has hot dogs and pizza every day. This is cheap food that always sells, but it is not a model for good nutrition. The student have P.E. twice a week, and some can opt out of P.E. altogether. This allows for greater emphasis on academics and standardized test scores, but it is not a model for a healthy lifestyle. We need to fix these problems and give the stressed out kids some breathing space. Before you point a finger, try turning off the computer and tv for the whole family!!

Teen

I am 14 and I hate how everyone always blames everything on us. Oh, it's the fault of the children that America is so fat. Go install some real control in your children and stop complaining about us. Also, we are more busy with that. We have a lot... far less than five hours to watch TV. I have a maximum of an hour to myself every night. Don't give this bull crap about having five hours to waste. Maybe it's only you and your daughter that's dysfunctional. You apply that statistic to the whole teen population. Go dump your insignificant crap somewhere else.

RE: Is this study from 1994?

Nancy Shute replies:

Greg, thanks for the astute comment! The researchers did look at computer time -- in specific, computer time not spent doing homework. They found that girls who didn't have a TV in the bedroom spent ever-so-slightly more time on the computer -- 9.7 hours a week, compared to 9.4 hours for girls with a TV.

The big surprise here is the gender difference. Boys without TVs in their rooms used the computer for 15 hours a week, 5 hours more than the girls. What's up with that? Video games? The boys with TVs still managed to clock more computer time than girls, with 12.6 hours a week.

And what are girls doing with those extra hours? Homework, maybe. The girls averaged 16.8 hours a week on homework overall, compared to the guys, who clocked in 12 hours, almost five hours a week less. Go girls! Let's hear it for those smokin' GPAs.

is this study from 1994?

What about a computer in the room? An internet connection is the bigger issue today. Kids can blog, chat, email, stream videos (TV or movies), and so much more on their computers... TV has already become 2nd fiddle... This is just another one of those sky is falling "kids today" type studies that pretends correlation is causality .....

TVs in the bedroom bad

Not only are TVs in the bedroom bad for kids, they're not so good for adults. A TV in my bedroom increases my insomnia and totally destroys whatever productivity I have at my desk.

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About On Parenting

Parenting may be an art, but there's a lot of science behind raising healthy, thriving children. Contributing Editor Nancy Shute explores the latest discoveries and developments affecting children's health and parenting. Send her your comments and questions at onparenting@usnews.com.

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