Should kids be allowed to watch TV?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/76823/page/1

The above link is a story by Karen Springen in the August 21 issue of Newsweek. I came upon it while reading another article, and found it really very interesting. The issue at hand, for those of you who would rather not read the article is the author's decision to not allow her children to watch television.

My first reaction to this was one of utter disbelief. As a girl who fully remembers watching Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and, yes, Barney as a child, I remember many good times spent before the television, times that were downright fun. Apparently, I didn't suffer any ill side-effects from the hours I sat glued to the screen, because here I am, happy, healthy, well adjusted and quite normal, thank you very much.

Upon further consideration, however, I realized that, as the author says in her piece, there is more to life than images coming out of the TV screen. Springen notes that her daughters spend quite a bit of time reading, playing outside and enjoying museums. Wait right there.

Come to think of it, none of my favorite childhood memories feature television shows. Instead, the good times I had with my family, reading a good book or playing outside in the backyard alone are the times that I recall when I think back to the happiest times in my childhood.

I used to watch a large number of educational shows on TV. By used to, I mean as recently as last summer. Once I came to college, though, I made the transition to almost no TV time. The only TV show I regularly watch now is Lost, once a week for an hour. I've found that the vast majority of things on TV just don't interest me. Granted, there is still a lot that does, but these days, turning on the TV for entertainment just doesn't really occur to me.

Now, I don't have children at the moment, nor do I want them any time soon. Despite this fact, however, I have to consider the fact that kids don't need TV to be happy. I'm thinking that when I have kids, I'll probably want to limit the hours they spend watching TV, but not ban them all together. after all, as long as parents know what their kids are watching, TV isn't bad.