"Yesterday I got down on the floor with my five-year-old son and began to play cars. I did it out of guilt; I felt that I "should" spend time with him. But honestly, I'm not very good at playing cars.
I sat down and thought: What are we going to do?
My son had no such problem. He smashed and bashed and crashed. He created fires and tornadoes. He took the family on a trip to Africa to visit his dead grandfather.
For my son there are no limits. He has imagination".
What they have to say about zombie children would apply to my husband and father-in-law but I'm not so sure it does to my son...
Have you ever watched your children watching TV? They sit in front of the television with their bodies rigid and their eyes glued to the program. You call their name. No answer! You walk into the room and they don't even notice. With a closer look, you notice a glazed expression in their eyes. That glazed look is due to a "flicker" that occurs on the screen every few seconds. It's this "flicker" that puts them in what looks like a hypnotic trance.
It's tempting to let your child watch almost unlimited amounts of television. After all, it keeps them quiet! It also gives you some time to yourself and lets you get some things done. What's the harm in that?
Besides developing a dependency on television, studies from the Journal of Educational Research, Volume 90, pages 279-285. have shown that excessive television watching is detrimental to creativity and academic success.
http://www.wholefamily.com/aboutyourkids/imagination/nurturing.html
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