It is not surprising if you think that TV is bad for your kids- however, it’s not entirely true. Depending on what your kids are watching and how you are educating them about the shows, watching TV can be good for your kids! By regulating and explaining to your kids, you can teach them the right things like avoiding stereotypes, learning new hobbies, and building analytical skills! To understand how watching TV is good for your kids, keep reading!
Educational
Human interactions are the basis of learning, especially for kids and thoughtful use of technology can enhance the learning process. Consider educational shows like sesame street and peg street, which serve as a source of educational knowledge for younger ones. When these shows are watched with caregivers or parents, studies show that children retain the information way more than when these shows are watched alone.
Watching the media together can also enhance the relationship between the caregiver and the child. They start sharing a similar language in communication and it helps the caregiver understand the kid more. Even shows that might not seem educational at all can spark interest- for example, the show Go, Diego, Go has been shown to spark a lot of kids’ interest in learning about frogs. Shows like Dora the Explorer and Tom and Jerry can increase your kid’s presence of mind, despite not being entirely educational. Your kids can watch these shows for free on a TV aerial. To get one installed by professionals, click here.
Helps them find new hobbies
This is not new so many shows encourage kids to take up new hobbies and find their interests. Art attack and M.A.D are known to have had a lot of kids take a creative interest in DIY and art. Does your kid love dance shows? It can encourage them to take up dancing lessons! When kids watch their favourite characters engaging in activities, they are often influenced to try them out as well. This is why shows like Hannah Montana and Suite Life of Zack and Cody took off- a lot of kids wanted to try our singing and dancing after watching them.
However, it’s important to remember that your encouragement is also very necessary when it comes to your kids trying out new hobbies, no matter how short-lived they are. If your child likes a show that has DIY in them, try engaging in a DIY activity with them. This will also help you spend more time with them and learn more about the things they like.
Learn self-regulation
It may come as a surprise but watching TV is good when kids are watching the correct shows that help your child learn self-regulation, especially since children are often not very well equipped with the understanding of how to manage their big emotions. As kids grow older, they start to adopt the self-regulation mechanisms of the characters they watch on television. Consider the show Peg + Cat, which teaches kids maths. Apart from learning maths, it also shows kids how to manage their frustration- the main character does this by counting back from 5. This behaviour was seen to be repeated by children when they felt frustrated, not only in maths but in other situations as well.
Classic shows like Tom and Jerry promote problem-solving- when kids watch Jerry figure out how not to get caught by Tom, or when they see the various strategies that top comes up with, it helps them get imaginative and enhance their logical skills. A discussion of how your kid thinks Tom can catch Jerry or how your kid thinks Jerry would escape the situation can show you just how much their brain grasps onto concepts.
Kids can build analytical skills
One of the biggest advantages of watching TV is that you can start up conversations about the plot or the characters and get a better understanding of how your kid thinks. You can catch any bad stereotypes that they might have learned and explain to them why it’s bad. These conversations can also help you build your child’s thinking skills- ask them why they think that a character is acting the way they are, how do they predict the plot to go forward, how they think they can solve the problem the character is facing- these conversations will help you not only help them with their analytical skills but will also help you build a closer bond with them.
Watching TV is good when it plays a part in your child’s development and overall growth. However, make sure you regulate what they are watching and teach them about the stereotypes and any other wrong things happening in the shows. Educating them about why some things are wrong is better than not letting them watch shows that promote questioning.
