Children & Television

Anita Westerly Television (TV) can have its own educational and social benefits for many children; it can also be very entertaining and educational in many ways. When children watch positive role models perform respectful acts to others that alone can inspire children to make encouraging and helpful decisions when encountering others. TV awards children the chance to explore the globe through many diverse shows that expand on different countries and places such as Space and the Deep Ocean.Children can earn about different animals, cultures, and gain exposure to different ideas that may not be available in their own town. However, the reverse also can be true; children may see or hear things on TV that parent's may not want them to learn. TV can also affect a child's health, behavior, and family in negative ways through different kinds of behavioral issues. How children learn and retain information, along with the type of programming they watch, can inspire children and adults alike t o become more involved with educational shows using flashcards and instructive guides.There are many types of learning styles among children, and to fully understand each type can be very useful for parent's who want the best for their child's education. There are three main styles that can describe how most children learn. They include the visual, auditory, and kinesthesia learners. Many children do not learn by using Just one of these categories; they can use all three if this is how they retain information the best. The way a child learns is not decided by children themselves, children will tend to use the style that most naturally comes to them.Many visual learners use pictures, diagrams, and tables to help them fully retain information (Feller & Solomon, 2000). Visual learners tend to have very vivid imaginations and learn by seeing pictures or tables; they may also think of things that they encounter or learn each day in an imagery format (Vincent & Ross, 2001). An auditory le arner may enjoy listening, talking, and carrying on conversations with others on what they are trying to learn or Just remember.With many children, by listening to their Abs's through a song, they can retain how the alphabet goes much easier. In school, auditory learners can benefit most by listening to their teachers first then repeating pictures in their mind, as do the visual learners, but rather filter incoming information through their listening and repeating skills. An auditory learner is usually very talkative and has difficulty with writing (Vincent ; Ross, 2001). Kinesthesia children choose to engage in hands-on activities that use the sense of touch to learn.For kinesthesia learners to fully understand and retain information presented to them, they must touch, feel or be able to apply the information in some ensue Tao physical activity or object. They tend to take many notes and use pictures to help remember what they learned. Kinesthesia learners also have a very difficul t time paying attention and can seem to become uninterested if there is not physical involvement of any kind (Vincent ; Ross, 2001). For example, children tend to learn their shapes faster by physically picking up an object of a certain shape and placing it through the corresponding shapes hole inside a toy box.Visual and kinesthesia learners are similar in that they both use a hands-on approach toward learning by applying what they have learned to an event in their lives or an object that they physically can see or touch. Physical hands-on learning can have its advantages, but it can provide only so much information for children. Reading and being able to fully comprehend what is being read is also a very helpful skill in retaining information. TV shows today offer plenty of educational value with different toys, games, and reading guides for the children to fully comprehend what they are watching.When children spend less time playing outside with their friends and more time in iro n of the TV, it can lead to very unhealthy eating habits. â€Å"Eighty-three percent of children from age six months to less than six years view TV or videos about one- hour and 57 minutes a day. TV viewing is a contributing factor in childhood obesity because it may take away from the time children spend doing physical activities; lead to increased energy intake through snacking and eating meals in front of the TV, and, influence children to make unhealthy food choices through exposure to food advertisements† (Obesity and Overweight for Professionals, n. . ). Children can come very impressed by the plethora of colors that a TV displays, while sitting in front of one, a child can become almost too mesmerism's. Watching two or more hours of television for children younger than two years can have detrimental effects on a child's attention span, impulsiveness, and restlessness (Alias, 2004). When toddlers are beginning their adventure into this amazing world, their brains are de veloping much more rapidly than when they will become adults. This stage is critical to children learning how to walk, associate names with faces, learning words, ND creating social bonds with others.If a child is in front of the Top often these critical developmental skills get overshadowed by TV shows and its effect on a child's attention abilities. TV by itself, without guides or books, can have very positive effects on a child's ability to explore many places, animals, or things that cannot be seen otherwise. TV can inspire children to try new activities that could lead to playing a certain sport, instrument, or trying something that they would not try without seeing someone else perform it first. The Olympic Games would be an excellent example of how TV can inspire children to try new activities they would never try before.The Olympics do not happen very often and most often it is not feasible to attend the Games themselves. Another benefit of current TV shows today can motivat e the children to read the book first or even inspire adults to challenge their child to read the book before they can attend the theater to see the movie. Whether children watch current media at home or at a relatives/friend's house, it can benefit children to have parental involvement so that they understand much more efficiently what they are watching.A channel assigned precisely for young children from infancy to preschool can assist educationally with a double influence: censorial perceptual development and an audio visual enrichment of the cultural environment (Finalized, 2012). This can, in many ways, add to the performance of a children's future education by obtaining higher test scores, making better decisions, and bringing forth greater opportunities in future educational goals such as college. When children regularly watch the same type of educational programming, they can grow a special interest for shows of educational nature further in life, expanding their knowledge b ase.Channels such as Nick Jar. Have special programming all day long for children of a younger age group, whereas, Nickelodeon offers programming tailored toward an older age group. This can make it much easier for children to find the shows that interest them. When children become interested in what they watch, the information obtained will be much easier to retain for future use. There are three different types of parental mediation that aren't can use while their children are watching TV.Restrictive Mediation, Shared Viewing, and Instructive Mediation are excellent methods for parent's to be actively involved with their children's viewing experience. Restrictive mediation is a method that some parent's use to restrict the amount of time, type of programming, and forbidden content from their children's viewing. This method is also helpful for parent's who like to use TV as a reward/punishment system. Shared viewing is purely just a parent-child viewing experience; whereas, Instruc tive Mediation refers to a aren't-child discussion of content (Warren, Egger, & Kelly, 2002).With the different types of learning styles identified in most children today, it can become quite difficult for parent's to be resourcefully involved with their children's viewing experience. When parent's fully understand each type of learning style and how their children use those different styles to efficiently and appropriately learn, they can successfully make the viewing experience for their children much more pleasurable and educational for all. Following children's TV habits is an important detail to keep n mind.