So do our kids watch too much TV, Harry?

THE AMOUNT of TV children watch should be rationed according to a "recommended daily allowance", an expert claims.

Psychologist Dr Aric Sigman told MPs the Government must take action to cut TV-watching among children, because too much increases the risk of health and learning problems.

He wants to see parents given recommended daily amount guidelines for their children's TV watching, similar to the guidelines used for salt, fat and other foods.

Studies have shown excessive TV watching is linked to difficulty in sleeping, behavioural problems and increased obesity in children.

One study, published in The Lancet medical journal in 2004, found children who watched more than two hours of television a day between the ages of five and 15 saw their health suffer years later.

British children are Europe's most obese, Dr Sigman said, and the amount of time we and our children spend peering at screens should be considered a "major public health issue".

"An increasing number of infants have TV screens in their bedrooms and by the time children reach adolescence they spend an average of 7.5 hours a day in front of a TV screen," he told MPs at a Children And The Media conference at the House of Commons. "Reducing television viewing must become the new priority for child health."

Some argued that busy parents shouldn't be made to feel guilty about the amount of time their children spent in front of a screen and the early age at which they started, Dr Sigman said.

"But we must now make a clear judgment that child health is more important than parental guilt.

"At the moment, the British population watches television for more hours per day and reads less than any other nation in Europe."

Dr Sigman's own recommended daily allowance for children and their TV watching habits is:

* Children under three: no TV or screen exposure at all.

* Children aged three to seven: 30 minutes to one hour per day.

* Children aged seven to 12: One hour per day.

* Children aged 12 to 15: One and-a-half hours a day.

* Children aged 16 and over: Two hours.

But would guidance from the Government be helpful? Or would it be just another example of the interfering nanny state?

We asked around...

The broadcaster

PARENTS have the right to decide for themselves how much TV their children watch, says Look North presenter Harry Gration. That said, he thinks it would help if the Government issued advice. "It could be used as a guide. I don't think people realise what damage is done."

He and his wife have twin boys, Harvey and Harrison, who are aged nearly four.

Harry has no problem with them watching CBeebies for 45 minutes or so a day. "I think CBeebies is brilliant - and that's not because I work for the BBC!," he said.

But in the Gration household, the boys aren't allowed to watch television as a substitute for doing other things. They watch CBeebies for 45 minutes before going to bed, and on a rainy day they might occasionally be allowed to watch a little during the day.

But the TV isn't switched on in the morning, it is not on as a rule of thumb for the children during the day, and they don't have a TV in their room. "Not until they are well into their teens," Harry said. "They should be playing, or reading, or doing jigsaws."

Harry admits his own TV-viewing habits - he loves watching sport - are probably worse than his children's. But he is particularly pleased with one aspect of their viewing routine. They watch CBeebies between 6pm and 6.45pm. "Which means they cannot watch me on TV!"

The working mum

SOMETIMES, admits Press columnist and working York mum-of-two Jo Haywood, it is easy to fall into the trap of relying on the telly to keep the children occupied when you are tired or busy.

If they have just come home from school all cross and crotchety, and she is tired after a day's work, sitting them down with a snack to watch children's TV is the easiest for everyone.

In an ideal world, she wouldn't do it. She has noticed that if Jack, aged eight, and Mia, four, have a bit of exercise before tea, even if it is only running around the garden, they are much livelier.

"It does their brain good," Jo said. "You can even have a decent conversation at tea."

If they have been watching TV instead, they do tend to be more tired and drowsy, she agrees. "But in the real world I think a couple of hours of watching TV isn't going to kill them," she said.

Jo and her partner, Chris, do have clear rules for their children's TV viewing. Jack and Mia aren't allowed to have televisions or computers in their bedrooms, because "then you end up with everybody leading their own separate little lives", according to Jo. And they aren't allowed to watch TV after having their evening meal.

Jo also insists they each doing at least one healthy activity a week. Jack goes trampolining, while Mia does gymnastics.

Jo doesn't think Government guidelines on how much telly her children should watch would be much use.

Nobody would take any notice of them, she said - and anyway, all children are different. "I think it's a bizarre idea!"

The head teacher

IT ISN'T the direct effect on children of watching too much TV that worries Andrew Calverley, head teacher of Park Grove School, in The Groves, York.

Yes, he does sometimes see children who are clearly not getting enough sleep, perhaps because of watching too much TV.

What worries him, however, is the things children are NOT doing, rather than the things they are.

When they are watching TV, he says, "they are not talking to people, they are not learning language, they are not going out and learning social skills".

The ages of three to five are vital for young children, Mr Calverley says, because those are the years in which their language skills are developing.

It is not so bad when children sit down with their parents to watch TV as a family activity, he says, because at least then they can talk about what they have seen.

But it is vital for young children to have plenty of social interaction, and they should not be allowed to form the habit of watching the TV or playing on a computer alone in their rooms.

There are plenty of opportunities for young children to play actively, he says.

"There are after school clubs - or it may just be a question of parents making the time to do something with the children before they go to bed, even if it is as simple as reading a story, or kicking a football about in the garden."

So does he think Government guidelines on how much TV children should watch would be much use?

Not really, he says - or at least, not if that was all the Government was giving advice about.

"I would like to see the advice being given along with advice on what other things children should be doing," he said.

The GP

THERE is no doubt that the UK is suffering an epidemic of obesity among young people, says York GP Dr John Ireland. There is little doubt either that watching too much TV - or playing too many computer games - makes children more sedentary.

It would be fair enough, therefore, if the Government were to issue guidelines on how much TV children should be watching, he believes.

Dr Ireland also agrees that children shouldn't have TVs in their rooms, particularly when they are young.

Children whose brains were over-stimulated by watching TV late into the night - often in their own bedrooms - were likely to have difficulty sleeping, he said.

It can be an easy option for an overworked parent to put on a video to keep their children occupied. "But I do wonder sometimes whether some of the problems children have with learning to read and write are possibly affected adversely by that tendency," he said.

Good parenting, Dr Ireland said, involved "communication, demonstration, play - using objects with children rather than letting them look at a screen."

Ultimately, it all came down to encouraging your child to lead a healthy lifestyle. "They should be playing, going outside, kicking a football around, getting involved in relationships with their peers."