be no television sets in children's rooms where parents cannot see what shows their children are watching. Parents should monitor their children's viewing choices, limit the total amount of viewing time to no more that 2 hours a day; and if necessary, parents should obtain devices to block unauthorized television viewing (Sege & Dietz, 1997). Role modeling is the most important way to influence a child's behavior. Parents' views and behaviors will override what is presented on television. Therefore, parents should choose programming carefully and watch television with their children to help them learn the difference between television and their own lives and values. Parents can ask children questions such as: Is this real or pretend? Is this how we do things at home? What do you think would happen if you did that? (Sege & Deitz, 1997). Parents need to actively avoid having the television on all the time or use it as their primary or only leisure time activity. While never using the television, as an "electronic baby sitter" may be impractical for some families, an alternative suggestion is to collect videotapes that are appropriate for their children's developmental level and use these as necessary (Strasburger, 1996).An appropriate strategy includes having all family members decide on how much television will be viewed and actively selecting the shows with all family members having input. These can be recorded on a calendar. Making deliberate choices about television viewing often reduces the overall amount of television that is watched. Children should receive parental approval for shows they choose. Selected shows that are viewed together as a family can be incorporated into later activities. For example, parents can suggest to younger children that they draw pictures of their favorite characters, write scripts for their favorite shows, or act out some of the scenes. Many shows have been drawn from children's literature or other rea...
