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In my opinion, raising children without television would probably deprive them more than benefit. Television is an integral part of our day to day life, and if the content is monitored and time of exposure restricted, it can in fact, enhance children's ever expanding minds and enrich their lives.

I come from an ethnic background, and my husband and I endeavor to raise our children with a desire to maintain ties to our heritage, language and culture. What better way to jump-start and accomplish that than communicate in our native dialect at home?

Although we wanted our native tongue to be a natural and integral part of our lives, it was necessary that our children be exposed to English on a regular basis, especially before they started school. I am a stay-at-home mom, and the only significant interaction my children had before they attended preschool was with me.

In my experience, television worked like a charm - a perfect learning tool to foster language development. Age appropriate shows exposed my children to an expansive vocabulary in a manner they could appreciate and comprehend. It helped my children learn to communicate in English without us having to compromise our decision to make our native dialect the fundamental way to communicate at home. Television serves as a great medium to promote cross cultural understanding and communication.

Another valuable advantage television provides is positive reinforcement in a fun way that children can appreciate. There is a plethora of shows on television that showcase values mostly all parents strive to instill in their children. My five-year-old enjoys watching cartoon shows like `Franklin' and `Little Bear'. These shows always have themes revolving around 'friendship' or 'giving', or simply that tell right from wrong, basically, values that contribute to being a good human being. Children are constantly told to be 'good', but they seem to understand and assimilate concepts better when they see characters that they can relate to in similar situations.

Television is also unquestionably a wonderful source for acquisition of knowledge. My nine-year-old amazed me one day by relating fascinating facts about reptiles. Apparently, he acquired all this information from watching Animal Planet' in one evening. Some of the informative channels on television impart information which can only provide positive stimulation to a child's ever expanding mind.

Another surprising advantage that came from watching television is that it sparked interest in an entirely new sport in my son. A child who has always been interested in ball games gravitates to tennis after watching 'French Open' on Sports channel! This could apply to any activity or hobby.

Raising my children with television has actually proved to be beneficial for me. Of course, television-watching should not substitute reading which has benefits of its own, or to an extent where it becomes an almost compulsive dependence. In fact, too much television or inappropriate content can be physically and mentally detrimental to children.

But shouldn't the onus for ensuring that rest on parents?

Learn more about this author, Priya Kamath.
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