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Exposing the Damage: TV and Kids


There are millions of young children in thiscountry who are being terribly mistreated by theirparents.

These parents aren't physically abusing theiryoung children, and they may not even know thatthey're mistreating them.

The mistreatment?

Millions of kids under the age of two are watchingTV in this country. In fact, according to a studyby the Kaiser Family Foundation of over 1,000parents, about 65% of kids under age two arewatching TV, and they're averaging over two hoursof watching a day.

They're watching even though the American Academyof Pediatrics recommends no TV for kids under agetwo. They're watching even though this is acrucial period for their cognitive development, at anage when their brains are still being formed.

And the news for these kids just got worse.

Scientists at Children's Hospital & RegionalMedical Center in Seattle who studied over 2,500children found a link between early TV watchingand attention problems at a later age.

Specifically, the chances of one and three-year-old kids developing attention problems at age seven increased by 10% for every hour of TV watched each day.

The information from these two studies creates achilling picture of what's happening to millionsof toddlers in this country. It's unfair, immoral,and unjust, and it needs to be addressed.

But you won't see an outcry from the mass mediagiants in this country. You see, we live in thecountry where "Why TV is Good for Kids" appearedas the cover story in Newsweek Magazine in 2002.The same Newsweek Magazine that's owned by theWashington Post Company, which owns a sprawlingcable company and six broadcast stations aroundthe country.

No, you won't hear too much about these importantstudies from the Time-Warners of the world. Badfor business, you see.

But if you're the parent of a young child, youneed to know this information.

There are about nine million children who takeprescription medication for ADHD in this country.The number of kids who take ADHD medication hasbeen doubling every two years. And while TVcertainly isn't the culprit in all of these cases,the link between the number of attention problemsand the amount of TV watched is undeniable.

The days of the "harmless" argument for TV andkids needs to be put to rest. Parents need to beeducated about the very real possibility ofcausing future attention problems with their kids.

And young kids across this country need to begiven a fighting chance.

Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC, coaches busy parents byphone to balance their life and improve their familyrelationships. For a FREE twenty minute sample session by phone; ebooks, courses, articles, and a FREE newsletter, go to http://www.markbrandenburg.com. or email him at mark@markbrandenburg.com.

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