NEW YORK -
Television is a
regular part of life at the Walsh house. Kerre and John say they have rules in
place for watching, but with six children it isn't easy keeping them
entertained.
But two new studies in the journal
Pediatrics say that TV could affect a child's behavior.
New
Zealand researchers looked at about 1,000 children and found the more TV
children watch, the more anti-social and aggressive they can become.
Pediatricians are concerned not just
about how much time children spend in front of the tv but also what programs
they are watching.
In the second study, U.S. researchers
found pre-school aged children can imitate what they see on TV.
The American Academy of Pediatrics
suggests children older than 2 should watch less than 2 hours of TV a day, and
that kids younger than 2 shouldn't watch any TV at all.
The Walsh's have trained their children
so they know what not to watch. They also limit TV time during the week and make
sure their children spend most of their time outside staying active.
In addition to anti social behavior,
researchers found that excess television viewing in children increased the risk
of criminal conviction later in life.
