I am teaching a graduate level course called Advanced Topics in Preventive Nutrition. Although we don't eat TV, the topic of TV and a sedentary lifestyle does get discussed from time to time. In the course of the conversation, I told the students that I don't have a TV at home for 6 years now and they were quite curious how that happened.
When there was a TV in our house, we never had cable anyway. We got rid of the TV a few months after our first child was born, thinking that the problems of TV (e.g. too easy to just plop on the couch and click the remote rather than find something better to do) outweighs its benefit (educational shows). My kids get to watch TV when they are at the grand parents' house.
I don't miss the TV. I am so busy that I really don't have the time to watch. When we want to watch a DVD, we watch it on the computer.
A student told the class that she used to baby sit for a family for a number of years. For a while, there was no TV in the house, then the parents bought a TV. And she was amazed by how quickly the kids got hooked by the TV. The kids did a lot of reading and other activities before the TV came along, but once there was a TV, they started spending a lot of time in front of it.
I am perfectly happy with a life without TV.
When there was a TV in our house, we never had cable anyway. We got rid of the TV a few months after our first child was born, thinking that the problems of TV (e.g. too easy to just plop on the couch and click the remote rather than find something better to do) outweighs its benefit (educational shows). My kids get to watch TV when they are at the grand parents' house.
I don't miss the TV. I am so busy that I really don't have the time to watch. When we want to watch a DVD, we watch it on the computer.
A student told the class that she used to baby sit for a family for a number of years. For a while, there was no TV in the house, then the parents bought a TV. And she was amazed by how quickly the kids got hooked by the TV. The kids did a lot of reading and other activities before the TV came along, but once there was a TV, they started spending a lot of time in front of it.
I am perfectly happy with a life without TV.
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