From Your Health Journal…..”A very interesting article today in the Daily Comet via USA Today written by Michelle Healy entitled Modifying Kids’ TV Habits May Improve Behavior. We have discussed on Your Health Journal about the current generation of children being a technology generation. They have so much access to it via computers, video games, hand held devices, and televisions. One of my concerns it they have become very sedentary, to a point where many of them are becoming overweight or obese. Along with this, they are developing obese related illnesses due to their sedentary lifestyles, as many children are showing risk factors for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers, or weak joints. Now a recent study examined how modifying television content affects the development of young children ages 3 to 5, researchers report that six months after families reduced their kids’ exposure to aggressive and violence-filled programming and increased exposure to enriching and educational programming — even without changing the number of viewing hours — kids demonstrated statistically significant improved behavior compared to children whose media diet went unchanged. In the U.S., preschoolers watch nearly 4.5 hours of TV a day, “an alarming amount,” that too often includes age-inappropriate programming, from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to adult action movies such as Batman. Young children “learn by imitating what they see,” and for preschoolers, “a lot of what they see is on TV.” Please visit the Daily Comet web site to read this full article. A link is provided below. The article was very educational, and a must read for parents.”

From the article…..

Want to improve your preschoolers’ behavior? Be choosy when it comes to the television shows they watch — even if you don’t reduce the amount of time they spend watching them, a study finds.

In one of the largest studies yet to examine how modifying television content affects the development of young children ages 3 to 5, researchers report that six months after families reduced their kids’ exposure to aggressive and violence-filled programming and increased exposure to enriching and educational programming — even without changing the number of viewing hours — kids demonstrated statistically significant improved behavior compared to children whose media diet went unchanged.

And the improvements — declines in aggression and being difficult and increases in healthy social behaviors such as empathy, helpfulness and concern for others — persisted at 12 months, says the study involving 565 families in today’s Pediatrics.

Overall, the amount of television viewed did not decrease, but all kids’ behavior improved, and low-income boys, who tend to watch the most TV, benefited the most, says study author Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

(In a separate Pediatrics report from New Zealand, researchers found that the more television watched during childhood and adolescence, the greater the risk of having a criminal conviction, a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, or more aggressive personality traits as an adult. In that study, every extra hour of television watched by children on a weeknight increased by 30 percent the risk of having a criminal conviction by age 26.)

To read the complete article…..Click here