This idea for regulating how much time your child spends in front of the television is borrowed from a very dear friend who has raised two smart, active, and involved kids- so I’m pretty sure it works. It’s a simple but very effective concept, here goes.
Get yourself a roll of those tickets that you see for rides at carnivals or amusement parks (you can find them online or at places like Party City.) Give your child an allotted amount of tickets to use per day with each ticket representing either one show or a specified chunk of t.v. time, however you want to set it up. When your child wants to watch something they have to ‘turn in’ the appropriate amount of tickets. Viola!
I seriously love this idea, for several reasons. First, I love those carnival tickets. Second, it allows you to regulate your child’s t.v. time while allowing them the opportunity to make choices for themselves. Also, instead of just staring at the tube for hours, when they do watch t.v. it’s something they are interested in rather than just background noise and distraction.
I can’t wait to try this with my son. As he has just turned one, his t.v. time is very limited and usually only involves a half hour of Sesame street in the morning and possibly a half hour of Word World while I buy some time to get dinner ready. Most of the time he just enjoys turning the T.V on and off using his head. (yup. His head. You read that right.)
Until next time!
We are definitely going to be doing this when he’s old enough. 🙂