Whatâ€™s your kid watching?

Moms are concerned about kids' TV watching patterns...

With exams over and the new session in schools just beginning, the pressure to study has taken a back seat in the city. The fact that the intense summer heat is already on its peak is not helping either, and most Thane kids are spending a large amount of their time lounging around at home, watching TV. We spoke to a few to find out how the parents coping with this. It was seen that most parents are making sure that the time they are spending watching television is supervised and that their remote wielding kids are not left unattended for too many hours at a stretch.

There needs to be a fixed time for TV viewing

Sona Sehgal, a Vasant Vihar resident and mother of a five-year-old, is worried about the time her son spends in front of the television screen. "He goes to a CBSE school and his new session began a week back. The fact that there is not too much homework since it is the beginning of the year, leaves my son with a lot of spare time and he is hooked on to Doremon and Chota Bheem," she says. And in an attempt to restrict her son's TV viewing, she got her child enrolled for and art hobby class and for football classes after school. This helped to stop the TV viewing craze.
There are parents who are strict about their child's viewing habits and make it a point to put a ceiling on the number of viewing hours. Chitra Ghadge's daughter is 10 and has a very full day in school but after coming back the child is stuck at home for long hours. She says, "We stay on Ghodbunder Road and our house is new. Not all the flats in the building is yet occupied so we do not have too many neighbours. That is the reason why she does not go out much and wants to watch television all the time she is home." However, Ghadge says that she allows her to watch TV only for an hour. "A fixed time for TV viewing makes things clear and the child understands that there is a life beyond it. Earlier she would keep watching and every time I would ask her to shut the TV she would ask for a little more time and thereby end up watching for hours. The fixed time has helped to bring in discipline."

I make it a point to watch TV with my child

When parents watch television with their kids, they can monitor and control what is being watched completely. Sachin Patil who has two sons ages 10 and 8, says, "I like to watch TV with my kids. There are so many educational and travel channels these days that have some great progammes. Since I have inculcated the habit in my children to watch these channels, the not-so-good channels are kept at bay." His wife Prajakta says, "The kiddie TV shows like Shinchan are no longer watched in our house. When we saw those we realised how badly behaved the kids were and that they could have a bad influence. Now it is only our approved channels that the kids watch and TV time is always chaperoned.

I make time for my child so that TV viewing is minimum

When it comes to spending time with kids, Prerana Bhide, who stays in Wagle Estate is very keen. "Single children like mine are porne to TV addiction. I am trying to make sure that she does not go down that lane. I make it a point to spend quality time with my 7-year-old. We bake together, go out to play in the nearby park with her friends, cycle around in the compound. After school and all the physical activity later, she is not too keen for TV thankfully."

Not a TV addict yet because there are other attractions.

Children these are extremely gadget friendly, most of the time much more than their parents could ever be. And that is sometimes a boon because the TV viewing time is automatically restricted. Darshana Shah from Manpada says, "My six-year-old son is almost addicted to my tablet. There are some games that he loves to play and I make sure that I am there with him when he is at it. Once a day for around one hour in the evening he sits down to watch TV and even if I am not there with him, I make sure he only watches the kiddie channels or educational channels."

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