April 2, 2007
Smart Family Habits:
Less TV, More Meals Together
By Eat Right Montana
If you are a parent or grandparent, you naturally want the best for the children in your family. You want them to be happy and healthy. You want them to succeed in school and life. What you may not realize is that a couple of simple family habits can help your children achieve all that you hope for them.
Those two important habits are reducing “screen time” (TV, DVD, video games, and computers) and eating more meals together. They are so important that everyone from pediatricians to classroom teachers recommends them.
“Research shows that reducing screen time is one key to ensuring children’s health and success at school,” said Cathy Costakis of the Montana Nutrition and Physical Activity Program. “Screens have, in many ways, taken over children’s lives. Children spend more total hours with screen entertainment than they do in school or in any pursuit other than sleeping. And since about two-thirds of school-aged children have a TV in their bedroom, screens are interfering with their sleep as well.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV or videos for children age 2 or younger, no more than two hours of total quality screen time a day for older children, and no TVs in children’s bedrooms. Since the average American kid spends 4 hours and 41 minutes a day in front of screens, most families have some reducing to do.
April is the perfect time to cut back on your family’s screen time. Days are longer and warmer – and the beautiful Big Sky outdoors is beckoning.
April is also time to celebrate “TV-Turnoff Week,” April 23-29, Costakis said. She is planning screen-free fun in the Bozeman area and encourages other Montana communities to do the same.
The goal of TV-Turnoff Week is to promote active living and motivate kids, families, and adults to try to live without TV, videos, or computer games for a week. The long-term goal is to moderate the use of screens for more active, healthier, closer, and happier families. For more information, check out www.tvturnoff.org or contact Costakis at 406-994-5734 or costakis@montana.edu.
Regular family mealtimes are also closely linked to children’s health and academic performance. Studies show that children who eat more meals with their families are less likely to be overweight by third grade and more likely to report getting As and Bs as teens. Forty percent of families say they sometimes or always watch TV during meals, which interferes with quality conversations and distracts children from both eating when they are hungry and stopping when they are full.
As part of its 2007 campaign entitled “Eating Together, Playing Together,” Eat Right Montana (ERM) has developed some helpful tools for moving your family toward less TV time and more enjoyable mealtime conversations.
“We’re excited to share our brand-new ‘Conversation Starters’ and ‘Screen-Free Fun Tips’ on easy-to-use cards for Montana families,” Costakis said. The cards – and past issues of ERM’s Healthy Families packets – can be downloaded free from www.eatrightmontana.org/eatrighthealthyfamilies.htm .
According to Costakis, these tips and suggestions can help families with children of all ages enjoy more quality time together.
Five Easy Ways to Enjoy Mealtime Conversations
Family mealtimes really matter – to children and to adults. More positive mealtime experiences mean more family communication, improved performance at school, enhanced reading levels, and healthier weights for children. Here are five easy ways to enhance the quality of your family’s conversations around the table.
- Create a relaxed atmosphere. Quality conversations require a calm atmosphere and minimal distractions. This means turning off the TV and radio news programs; it also means setting aside cell phones (except for emergency calls, of course). Music can be a nice addition – if it is tranquil, peaceful, and played at low volume.
- Focus on laughter and learning. Meals are generally not productive times to discuss difficult or stressful issues. They are wonderful times to share funny stories and to learn new views on current events. Make a family commitment to focus only on the positive at mealtimes. Save disciplinary matters and problems for another time.
- Respect and involve every family member. Even very small children want to be part of the conversation. Make a conscious effort to engage everyone at the table. Be patient with those who take longer to express a thought, and actively seek out the opinions of those who tend to be quieter. Sometimes it helps to go around the table person-by-person.
- Use conversation starters. Tired of conversations that fall silent after a minute or two? Conversation starter cards may be just what your family needs to keep things lively at the table. Eat Right Montana Conversation Starters for two age levels are available for no cost at www.eatrightmontana.org/eatrighthealthyfamilies.htm
- Enjoy different viewpoints. Promoting positive conversations doesn’t mean everyone has to agree about everything. Establish a few ground rules – like no teasing, criticizing, rude comments, or interrupting. Listen thoughtfully to each other, and help children learn to appreciate differences.
Five Successful Ways to Reduce Screen Time
Cutting back on screen time – television, movies at home, DVDs, video games, and computer entertainment – is one of the smartest moves that a family can make. Here are five ways to make it easier than you ever imagined it might be:
- Make the commitment. Spend time talking with your entire family about the benefits of reducing the amount of screen time for everyone. Emphasize the positives and focus on the fact that these changes will give you more time to spend doing fun and creative things together. Some families find it helpful to sign a “pledge” together.
- Have a plan and stick to it. Identify how much time you spend with screen entertainment. Decide how to gradually reduce the total amount of screen time. Taking TV out of a child’s bedroom is a very helpful step. Some families set a specific number of hours a day; others designate specific times (like 4 to 6 p.m.) as screen-free.
- Be patient. Reducing the amount of time that your family spends plugged into screens is a major change. It is often helpful to make this significant a change in small steps rather than in giant leaps. In fact, many children will hardly notice if you gradually decrease their TV or video game time in 15-minute increments.
- Be creative. The theme for TV-Turnoff Week (April 23-29) is Imagine the Possibilities. Use family time to brainstorm creative ways to spend screen-free hours.
For more ideas, go to www.tvturnoff.org. Download the Eat Right Montana tips from www.eatrightmontana.org/eatrighthealthyfamilies.htm.
- Treasure your time together. The really good news about screen-free time is that it gives families more opportunities to interact. It gives you more time to talk, more time to dream, more time to be physically active, more time to read, more time to share values, and more time to enjoy each other’s company.
(Eat Right Montana is a coalition that promotes healthy eating and active lifestyles. To learn more about it, visit www.eatrightmontana.org.)
