Family Dining And Reading
Program Reduces TV Viewing

Preschool children who participated in an intervention program that en-couraged families to read and eat dinner together watched less television than their peers who did not participate in the program. The findings were reported in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a publication of the American Medical Association.

"This study is the first to show that a preschool-based intervention can lead to reductions in young children’s television/video viewing," noted Barbara A. Dennison, MD, of the Research In-stitute, Bassett Healthcare, Coopers-town, New York. She and her colleag-ues developed the program as part of an overall health promotion curriculum.

The report stated that television watching patterns develop during the preschool years and can have several adverse effects on children, including poor behavior and school performance, and higher rates of violence and childhood obesity. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests limiting children’s television viewing to no more than two hours per day and discourages television viewing altogether for children younger than two.

Children in preschool or daycare centers in rural upstate New York were randomly assigned to participate in the intervention program or in a safety and injury prevention program. Those participating in the TV intervention program reduced television/video viewing by 3.1 hours per week (down from 11.9 hours) and the percentage of children watching television/videos more than 2 hours per day decreased from 33% to 18%. Children who did not participate increased their viewing by 1.6 hours per week (up from 14 hours) and the percentage of children watching television/videos more than 2 hours per day increased from 41% to 47%.

This information is provided by the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY). For more health-related information and referrals to physicians in your community, contact your local county medical society.