For children, watching too much television can be a double-edged sword. With staggering levels of childhood obesity and budget cuts at schools, that are effectively eliminating physical education classes, TV can only add to your children’s inactivity that cause these problems in the first place. Moreover, the more television your children watch will also expose them to commercials for unhealthy foods, further fueling the dilemma. This leaves many parents to the rescue, to set the necessary guidelines and boundaries as to how much time they can spend in front of the television. But how much television should your kids be allowed to watch?

Many doctors and researchers say that the amount of time your children are watching television should not be limited to only the TV. When you are trying to determine how much time they should be watching television you should also measure the time in front of other screens, like tablets, video games and personal computers. Many doctors say that children between the ages of 2 and 12 should only spend about 2 hours a day in from of any type of screen. They also say that children under 2 should not be allowed in from of any screen at all.

Today, children spend 20% longer in front of televisions than they did 10 years ago. On average, children spend about 4 hours and 49 minutes per day in from of the television – way above the [Read more…]