Too much TV and/or video games is bad for kids; there is a high correlation between lots of hours spent on TV and/or games with childhood obesity and violent behavior.

There is also a serious denial problem with TV and parents. Try asking all the people you know (from different circles) how much TV their kids watch, nobody will admit anything near the average number of hours watched by kids, which exceeds the time they spend in classrooms! (This reminds me of something I heard on Click and Clack-- 85% of men think they are above average drivers. :-)

Many parents have just gotten rid of TVs altogether. But if you don't want to go that far, how do you keep your kids from watching too much TV and being influenced by so many commercials?

First, you should talk with your kids about these issues. Watch TV with them, make fun of the commercials, teach your kids to be cynical and to be aware of the aggressive misleading images that are projected on most TV shows and commercials.

In addition to talking with your kids about this, you can also use technology to help out. First, I'd recommend you use a digital recorder such as Tivo or ReplayTV to get these advantages:

• You and your kids will watch the shows you want (as they will always be available) instead of channel flipping and ending up spending time in front of whatever dumb thing happens to be on at the moment.
• You can easily skip past commercials!

I also highly recommend you find a TV Allowance device.

This device controls the power to your TV or computer monitor, and gives each kid a PIN they can use to enable it for a given number of hours per week.

When you get this device, you should have a family meeting to talk about why you are going to use it, and ask your kids to go through TV guide to tell you what shows they need to watch. Come up with a planned allowance for a set number of hours per week.

Once you do this, your kids are then in charge of their own time watching TV and/or playing video games, and they will quickly learn to budget their time efficiently instead of just sitting in front of the tube for hours.

I am so excited about the TV Allowance device that I'm now working with the inventor to help him grow his business. My goal is to get one million homes with this device (whether a separate device or built into their TV sets etc).

For more information about the harms of television, see

• TV Allowance research
• Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
• Yahoo.