PRIVACY POLICY
We don't share your information with anyone else. We ask that parents subscribe to the newsletter. We respect our community's children. We believe we are part of "our village" and need to care for one another.

National TV Turnoff Week is designed to wean people of excessive tube watching. The growing worry about an epidemic of obesity includes concern that we have the most sedentary generation of young people in American history. Add to that all the adults who are sedentary!

Here's a "prescription for less TV" that warrants taping in front of the screen.

Reducing the amount of television we watch is one way to encourage more healthful activity.

Some options: Go bicycling, play soccer, jump rope, fly a kite, dance, start a garden, wash the dog, swim laps, clean your room, do gymnastics, throw a Frisbee, walk around the block, learn to rollerskate, build a fort.

Take those activities a step further and you can add: make a garden, climb a tree, wade in a puddle, collect leaves and "seeds" from all your neightborhood trees, feed the birds, install a nesting box, walk your dog or cat, go birdwatching...

TV increases obesity, stifles creativity and shortens attention spans among young people. Nielsen Media Research estimated the average American TV viewer watched four hours and nine minutes of TV each day.

An executive with the popular childrens' cable network Nickelodeon said she supports the "turn TV off" effort.

Nickelodeon occasionally runs a public service announcement called ``Actual Reality,'' encouraging children to experience life instead of watching televised versions of it, said Cyma Zarghami, Nick's executive vice president.

For more articles about California Nature