Next week, April 30 through May 6, is Screen-Free Week, the time when parents and children are encouraged to turn off the television, video games, computers, and hand-held devices.
This promotion was formerly called TV Turnoff and has been around since 1996.
This is a timely event, considering that a recent survey of households with children between the ages of 8 months and 8 years showed that black children and young children have a high rate of background TV exposure.
Background TV exposure occurs when the TV is left on and no one is watching. The weather, news, sporting event, or movie is playing in the background while people are eating, talking on the phone, or otherwise occupied. Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, children are exposed to about four hours of this background TV each day, which interferes with mental tasks such as studying and conversing. And TV can also interfere with healthy eating habits when the set is on during meals.
According to T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., eating while watching TV can lead to increased snacking and less physical activity. Besides interfering with family time, more TV time poses a threat to childrens fitness and overall health.
Next week is a perfect opportunity to decrease exposure to this background noise. Mealtime activities offer positive ways to increase family bonding and promote good health. For example:
- Plan meals together and have the children help in the preparation. Older children can look through recipes and help make shopping lists. Younger children can help make salads and portion out all the fixings: one cup of lettuce, one-quarter cup of chopped tomato or other vegetables, one tablespoon of dressing, etc. Others can set the table, pour milk, or stir something on the stove.
- Plan an indoor picnic. Prepare typical picnic foods, including sandwiches, raw veggies, and salads. Spread a blanket on the living room floor, use paper plates, and tell stories while eating. Dim the lights and add candles or flashlights for a campfire effect.
- Promote conversation during dinner. Discuss one or two facts or ideas that each person learned that day and why these points are important. Or, bring up something funny that happened during the day.
Keep the eating mindful, not automatic, by turning off the TV and concentrating on family and food. Even better, keep all the media devices off. If an entire week of no media is a stretch, then try this during mealtimes and work towards a full day. Spend your time together building healthy relationships, brains, and bodies.
Photo Credit: Salvatore Vunon/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The articles written by Andrea Wenger, Birmingham Diets Examiner, are for informational purposes only and are not to be used in the place of medical advice. Please contact a licensed physician or other medical professional before changing any health care routine or before starting any diet, fitness, or exercise program. A fat loss overview can help you build a clear summarize of what you require to focus on to achieve your fat reduction objective if you're a novice; or serve as a reminder for those who are at an advanced or more boost phase of their weightloss program. Following are seven steps that can serve as instructions for your special weight loss plan. The first thing that one must understand is that losing weight and losing fat is not the same. Many weight loss applications have misled people into believing that it is the same, but most diets and weight loss applications only work by resulting in a person's body to eliminate more muscle tissue and water than actual body fat, more help please visit The Fat Loss Factor. Although every effort has been made to include the most current information, new information is released daily and may cause some recommendations to change.
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