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Catch You Later, Cookie Monster
Finding Alternative Activities When the TV Is Turned Off
By Beth Hering
Perhaps the greatest incentive for turning off the television for a week lies in discovering the possibilities for filling that time. "TV time robs kids of time they could be interacting with their parents, reading together and exploring their surroundings – all important tasks for overall learning and developing," Dr. Shu says. "This week would be a great opportunity for families to be active, read together, cook, play outside, practice a musical instrument, learn a hobby and just connect with each other!"
Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of the nonprofit literacy organization Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), echoes the sentiment. "This is a wonderful opportunity for families to discover the joy of reading and interacting together," says Rasco. "Parents are children's first and best teachers. When parents interact with young children – talking, singing, reading and playing games – they stimulate language and vocabulary development and build important foundations for learning."
But while parents may love spending time with their children and helping them learn, parents also need some time to themselves. "Without television, we would have to transition to more reading and games for downtime, which because my children are young, would require more of my time for their downtime," says Melissa Durante, a mother of three from Bartlett, Ill. "If we participated in the TV-free week, we would probably play more games to replace television, but with kids ages 6, 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 years, they are each at a different level when it comes to turn-taking and skill levels."
For those times when you want to fix dinner or make a phone call and need the kids to entertain themselves, there are still plenty of alternatives during a TV-free week. Get a piece of paper large enough to cover your table and let budding artists create a crayon mural. Bring out the play dough and some plastic kitchen utensils. Check out some read-along stories from the library and let the child listen to the story on CD while following along in the book.
