At holiday time families come together to have fun - and to squabble over what to watch on television.

Dad wants 24-hour sport, mum wants The Railway Children and the kids want some brain-numbing cartoon.

If they are over-ruled, they simply storm up to their bedrooms to battle various computerised aliens.

No wonder the parents we spoke to expressed little surprise that six out of ten children spend more than 25 hours a week in front of the television or computer screen.

The same survey suggests we are rearing a generation of unsociable and reticent youngsters. The link is obvious.

They may not be grateful now, but children whose parents persuade them to spend more time on other activities will be thankful later on.

Going out to play with their friends is good for their health, their confidence and, therefore, their future.

In years to come, when today's children are spending every working day staring into a computer screen, they will look back fondly to the days when they could switch off and go out.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.