by Cassandra Baker

Created on: March 16, 2009   Last Updated: March 17, 2009

I do not think that television does not have any impact on children. I think that people who are active parents in their children's lives will have a bigger impact on the child regardless of a television being on. People get tired of being parents, I think, that can be the only explanation why people would leave their kids in front of the television. I think if you let the children watch educational programs most of the time and occasionally something else that you approve then it wouldn't be too bad. However, it has alot to do with how much you are involved in the child's life and if you monitor what they watch. For example, for babies and young children there should be very little television. You can do a lot of things with children who are young. For example, children two to five can watch some television like nick jr or sprout if for instance you are cooking or need a half hour break. But I would not make it an all day affair. Kids have the habit of watching television and forgetting all about what is going on in the world. It will make potty training or any other regular functions hard to deal with if the child's attention is all on one thing. Television can be addictive and can give the kids negative perceptions. I think that you have to be good role models for your children and protect them from some of this negative media that is on television.

There is all kinds of things that you can do with television and without. So many people think that television is brainwashing people. I'm the type of person who does not believe the hype about all of that. I think that certain shows are highly informative and educational. Children I know watch shows like sesame street, Dora the explorer, and ni hao kai lan. These shows are entertaining but they serve to teach the children something. I especially like these bi lingual shows like ni hao kai lan and Dora the explorer. With ni hao kai lan it is based on a Chinese character kai lan and how she interacts with her surroundings. She is much like Dora but she speaks Chinese to the audience. Children repeat the Chinese words and often times remember it even if they only seen the show once. It is so important to let our children speak other languages even if they only know certain phrases or a few words. Our country is so diverse that in the future they will benefit from knowing other languages. It is an awesome thing to be able to speak to other people who may not know English well or as a first language. Television has its good points as well as negative ones.

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