Monitor children’s television viewing by setting a timetable and filtering violent shows
theSun, Tue, 23 Feb 2010
We know that too much television take toddlers away from exploring, playing and interacting with their caregivers – activities which are important for their physical and social development.
School-age children will also lack exercise and have less time for reading, homework, playing with friends and interacting with others.
However, watching television is not entirely bad for children as long as there is a limit to the time spent watching and the type of shows they watch. In this day and age, it is hard to prevent our children from exposure to the television and other media such as computers and the Internet, unless you ban these items from your home.
Even if you go to such extremes, they are bound to find them at their friends’ homes, and at school, as television and computers are considered necessities these days. It is therefore important for parents to monitor the content and set viewing limits.
Here are some tips to help keep your child’s TV viewing in check:
» The TV is not a babysitter
More often than not, despite knowing the consequences, we conveniently use the television to occupy our children while we work on other things at home. The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) recommends that children under two years old do not watch any TV at all and that older ones watch no more than one to two hours a day of quality programmes.
» Check the content of the programmes
Preview them if possible. Young children can be easily influenced by what they watch and learn.
Certain so-called role model characters in shows may depict bad or risky behaviour such as smoking, drinking, use of foul language, and violence.
Also, educate your child on junk food and toy advertisements. Help them realise that the advertisers are merely trying to get people to buy their products and that no matter how appealing and convincing some of them sound, they are not as good as they seem.
Make sure your child does not watch scary or violent shows that may cause nightmares or emotional disturbances.
» No TV in your child’s bedroom
This prevents your child from being holed up in his room, and not participating in family activities. It also discourages him from studying, doing his homework or keeping to his bedtime schedule.
» No TV during mealtimes
Adults sometimes tend to eat and watch TV at the same time. We need to change this habit and set a good example to our children. (The same goes for reading the newspaper or a book during mealtimes.)
Mealtimes can be used as family time together to catch up on one another’s day, share stories, problems and ask questions.
» Watch TV together
Select family shows or educational programmes that teach good lessons and family values. TV viewing can be a ‘date’ you set with your family members as family time together. This allows you to keep the content viewed in check and provides opportunities to discuss what you are watching.
While these tips may sound easy to follow, the reality is that they can be rather challenging, just like any other issue on parenting.
You as parents need to keep reminding yourself that the rewards are worth the effort. The earlier you start, the easier it will be to shape our children’s TV viewing habits.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Goodbye to nightmares
theSun, Tue, 02 Feb 2010
I WOKE UP one night to find my child tugging my foot, asking if she could sleep with me. She had a nightmare about human-eating monsters.
Children around five to eight years of age often have nightmares.
According to WebMD, nightmares are most common in preschoolers because “this is the age at which normal fears develop and a child’s imagination is very active.
“Some studies estimate that as many as 50% of children aged three to six years have nightmares that disturb both their sleep and their parents’ sleep.”
Nightmares are different from night terrors.
Night terrors are characterised by frequent recurrent episodes of intense crying and fear when the child is asleep and usually, it is difficult to wake the child up.
The child remains asleep throughout, but seems agitated and difficult to calm down. Usually, the child will not remember the episode when he wakes up the next morning.
A nightmare is a bad dream that causes the child to wake up crying or feeling afraid and often, has difficulty going back to sleep.
Nightmares can be caused by stressful events such as moving to a new school, or even family problems. They can also be caused by a stressful situation during the day, lack of sleep, traumatic experiences or watching an upsetting scene on television.
Popular parenting website BabyCenter says that for a child working through her feelings about these stressful events, nightmares are a normal response, and you are not a bad parent if your child has them.
So what did I do when my child requested to sleep with me? Naturally, I didn’t give much thought to it, drowsy as I was. I welcomed her and we snuggled up until morning.
What do the experts recommend? Babycenter says to go to your child when she cries out. Reassure her with a backrub or hug.
And here’s the no-no: if you bring her into your bed to comfort her, be aware you could be creating a habit that’s hard to reverse.
So the next time my foot gets tugged at, I hope I will have the presence of mind to take my child back to her own bed.
Don’t pressure your child into giving you the details of the bad dream. Just remind and comfort him that it was only a bad dream.
Other ways to help your child tackle nightmares include coming up with a “happy ending” for their nightmare story the next day. This helps him take control of the scary situation.
Have a bedtime routine that is calming and quiet with some warm milk, a warm bath, and a nice story. If a bedtime prayer is part of the routine, there is no harm in asking for sweet dreams.
A few ideas I found interesting from Babycenter include letting the child rub a little skin lotion – call it “good dream cream” – on the tummy or forehead before turning in.
Or fill a spray bottle with vanilla-scented water. Let your child banish scary dreams by spraying a little of the “nightmare repellent” in the bedroom.
Then wrap it all up with loving words, a hug and a goodnight kiss.
I WOKE UP one night to find my child tugging my foot, asking if she could sleep with me. She had a nightmare about human-eating monsters.
Children around five to eight years of age often have nightmares.
According to WebMD, nightmares are most common in preschoolers because “this is the age at which normal fears develop and a child’s imagination is very active.
“Some studies estimate that as many as 50% of children aged three to six years have nightmares that disturb both their sleep and their parents’ sleep.”
Nightmares are different from night terrors.
Night terrors are characterised by frequent recurrent episodes of intense crying and fear when the child is asleep and usually, it is difficult to wake the child up.
The child remains asleep throughout, but seems agitated and difficult to calm down. Usually, the child will not remember the episode when he wakes up the next morning.
A nightmare is a bad dream that causes the child to wake up crying or feeling afraid and often, has difficulty going back to sleep.
Nightmares can be caused by stressful events such as moving to a new school, or even family problems. They can also be caused by a stressful situation during the day, lack of sleep, traumatic experiences or watching an upsetting scene on television.
Popular parenting website BabyCenter says that for a child working through her feelings about these stressful events, nightmares are a normal response, and you are not a bad parent if your child has them.
So what did I do when my child requested to sleep with me? Naturally, I didn’t give much thought to it, drowsy as I was. I welcomed her and we snuggled up until morning.
What do the experts recommend? Babycenter says to go to your child when she cries out. Reassure her with a backrub or hug.
And here’s the no-no: if you bring her into your bed to comfort her, be aware you could be creating a habit that’s hard to reverse.
So the next time my foot gets tugged at, I hope I will have the presence of mind to take my child back to her own bed.
Don’t pressure your child into giving you the details of the bad dream. Just remind and comfort him that it was only a bad dream.
Other ways to help your child tackle nightmares include coming up with a “happy ending” for their nightmare story the next day. This helps him take control of the scary situation.
Have a bedtime routine that is calming and quiet with some warm milk, a warm bath, and a nice story. If a bedtime prayer is part of the routine, there is no harm in asking for sweet dreams.
A few ideas I found interesting from Babycenter include letting the child rub a little skin lotion – call it “good dream cream” – on the tummy or forehead before turning in.
Or fill a spray bottle with vanilla-scented water. Let your child banish scary dreams by spraying a little of the “nightmare repellent” in the bedroom.
Then wrap it all up with loving words, a hug and a goodnight kiss.
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