| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2010 9:28 am |
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Nation & World 
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Kids watch hours of TV at home-based day cares Between care facilities and home, children may be spending more than a third of their time in front of the tube, a study finds. SEATTLE — Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares, taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as two hours a day in front of a TV, according to a new study.When added to the two to three hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of the about 12 hours they are awake each day in front of the electronic baby sitter, said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and a researcher at the University of Washington. That’s double the TV time he found in a previous study based on parental reports of home viewing, according to findings published today in the journal Pediatrics. The study is the first to look at TV watching in child care in more than 20 years. The figures come from a telephone survey of licensed child care programs in Washington, Michigan, Florida and Massachusetts. Christakis said he thought television use was probably underreported. Of the child care programs surveyed, 70 percent of home-based child cares and 36 percent of centers said children watch TV daily. The children were watching TV, DVDs and videos. The study did not track what kind of programs were shown. “It’s not what parents have signed up for,” Christakis said. “I’m not sure how many parents are aware of this.” The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages any television viewing of any kind in the first 2 years of life and recommends a daily limit of 1 to 2 hours of quality programming for older children. Children go to day care to develop social skills, build on cognitive abilities and enjoy imaginative play, as well as allowing their parents to work, Christakis said. His research found a difference between the amount of TV watching at home day cares and larger child care centers, although both reported some TV time. The study found that among preschool-aged children, those in home-based day cares watched TV for 2.4 hours per day on average, compared to 24 minutes in centers. Toddlers watched an average of 1.6 hours in home care and about six minutes in centers. Only home-based day cares admitted putting infants in front of the TV, for an average of 12 minutes a day. Other research has connected excessive TV watching during the preschool years with language delay, obesity, attention problems and aggression. |
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