Build off national TV turn-off week and limit kids TV time to 2 hours or less- the fun way!

Wow, the national Turn off the TV week has officially ended. How did you do?   Were you and the kids able to make it a full week without TV?    Regardless of your answer, whether you made it through the whole week or not, you still raised your family's awareness of the importance of limiting TV time.

For those families that did participate, here is some good news:

• most families who participate in this event, will find that their child's TV viewing is reduced following the event!

So now is the time to build off that momentum!   Keep the spirit in the house going for more family fun and more fun activities besides TV.

For those of you who did not participate in the event, you can still help your child reduce their TV viewing time!

First, we must answer the question, "How much TV time is recommended for kids?" Kids should watch only 2 hours (or less) of TV a day. There are so many studies that have correlated longer TV viewing time with:

• poor snacking habits
• childhood obesity
• lower activity levels and the list goes on.

But, you don't need these studies to tell you what our common sense already knows.

Kids need to be active. TV, like so many things, is okay in moderation. If you need some help keeping it fun, we have some tools for you.

Limit TV to 2 hours a day, kids friendly agreement.  Use this to discuss the reasons with your child why it is important to limit TV. But focus on all the fun activities that they could be doing instead of TV.

Have the kids participate by picking the TV programs they want to watch. Then have them keep track of their programs with our TV viewing tracking sheet.

Don't forget to always keep it fun for the kids.  They will look back and remember these family activities and it will also help them form positive associations with healthy habits.  And that is something that will carry forward through their lifetime.