Don't Let Your Family Go Down the Tube

Use Television Wisely and Turn Off the Violence

• Set limits on what children can watch. Homework and a meal with the family take priority.

• Watch TV with your children and talk about what each of you liked and didn't like.

• Set an example. Carefully choose your own programs and the amount of time you watch television.

• Make one room a TV-FREE ZONE -- a comfortable place to read, talk, and listen, with no television set.

• Don't use TV as a babysitter.

• Encourage your children to spend their free time in activities such as sports, hobbies, playing with friends, or reading rather than sitting in front of the tube.

• Limit video games to a half-hour a day. Use a kitchen timer.

• Look for TV programs that encourage kids to do something -- build a treehouse, start a hobby, help out at home, volunteer to help someone. Look for TV programs that relate to a book, something your child is studying, an experience from your own childhood or that of a relative.

• Don't use TV as a reward or punishment.

• If you find a TV ad offensive, write or call the advertiser and the station.