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We Can! Help Children Reduce Screen Time

Here are a few simple steps to help your children reduce their screen time and increase physical activity in order to maintain a healthy weight.

Know how much screen media and physical activity your family is getting. By knowing how much screen media, including TV, DVD, video games and non-school or work related computer and Internet use, your family spends and how much physical activity they get, you will be more aware of how much ENERGY OUT they are burning. The goal is for them to spend no more than 2 hours of screen time a day and get 60 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each day.

Talk to your family. Explain to your children that it’s important to sit less and move more so they will stay at a healthy weight, be more energized, have a chance to practice certain skill sets (such as riding a bike or shooting hoops) and socialize with friends and peers. Tell them that you also are going to limit your screen time and increase your physical activity so you will all be working toward this goal together.

Set limits on screen time. Set a house rule that your children may spend no more than 2 hours a day of screen time (TV, DVD, video games, nonwork or school-related computer or Internet use). More importantly, enforce the rule once it’s made.

Minimize the influence of TV in the home. Do not put a TV or computer in your child’s bedroom. This tends to physically isolate family members and decrease interaction. Also, children who have TVs in their room tend to spend almost 1 ½ hours more in a typical day watching TV than their peers without a set in their room.

Make meal time, family time. Turn off the TV during family mealtime. Better yet, remove the TV from the eating area if you have one there. Family meals are a good time to talk to each other. Research has shown that families who eat together tend to eat more nutritious meals than families who eat separately. Make eating together a priority and schedule in family meals at least two to three times a week.

Provide other options and alternatives. Watching TV can become a habit for your child. Provide other alternatives for them to spend their time, such as playing outside, learning a hobby or sport, or spending time with family and friends.

Set a good example. You need to be a good role model and also limit your screen time to no more than 2 hours per day. If your kids see you following your own rules, then they will be more likely to follow. Instead of watching TV or surfing the Internet, spend time with your family doing something fun and active.

Don’t use TV to reward or punish a child. Practices like this make TV seem even more important to children.

Be a savvy media consumer. Don’t expect your child to ignore the influences of television advertising of snack foods, candy, soda, and fast food. Help your child develop healthy eating habits and become media savvy by teaching them to recognize a sales pitch. Try asking your child why their favorite cartoon character is trying to get them to eat a certain brand of breakfast cereal. Explain to them that this is a way for advertisers to make the cereal more appealing to young people so that they ask their parents to buy it for them and the company can make money.

Every day, on average, 8-18 year olds spend:
- Nearly 4 hours watching TV, videos, DVDs, and prerecorded shows
- Just over 1 hour on the computer
- About 50 minutes playing video games

Two-thirds of young people have a TV in their bedroom; ½ have a video game player and nearly 1/3 have a computer in their bedroom.

Youth who have TVs in their rooms spend almost 1 ½ more hours a day watching TV than youth without a set in their room.

About half (53 percent) of all 8-18 year-olds say their families have no rules about TV watching.

Forty-six percent said they do have rules, but only 20 percent said the rules are enforced “most” of the time.

Youth with TV rules that are enforced most of the time report 2 hours less daily media exposure than in home without rules enforced.