The French authorites have come to the conculsion that televsion is bad for children.  The government is banning a new television channel “BabyFirstTV” produced by News Corp from airing.  The channel is geared to children under three, however, experts have recently stated that excessive television viewing can retard normal development.  The television channel is airing in the United States and usually runs about $4.99 per month.  The producers claim that the channel should be watched by parents and children together.

According to studies, children watch about 1,680 minutes of television per week.  An American youth spends about 900 hours in school each year and 1500 hours watching television (I wonder when they do homework).  By the time a child is 18 years old, they have seen 200,000 acts of violence on televsion. 

I have often used the televsion to “babysit” my own children and I have found the more they watch televsion the more crabby, disrepectful and disobedient they become.  I try to keep them busy with other activities including sports, dance and music.  Every child should also be assigned some household chores to complete daily.  Plus, reading should be done on a daily basis.  Unfortunately, many parents find it easier to have their children watch television then to actual make sure that they are raising children to be responsible adults.

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