It’s very easy to fall into the trap of letting the TV take care of the kids, but it’s not a great idea. Watching TV is not all bad. In fact, there are many excellent educational programs for children and adults alike. But, too much of anything can be bad for you. Children are often mesmerized by watching television and sit for hours in front of it. Usually it’s not educational programming that they watch for hours on end, but even when it is, the kid is still on their feet and not getting any exercise! With obesity on the rise, limiting the time spent in front of the television is very important.
When caring for a new family, be sure to ask about television restrictions. Some parents may say they don’t want their children to watch TV while a babysitter is on duty. This could be because parents feel that if they are paying you to take care of their children, then you shouldn’t let TV do it. Some parents may allow their children to watch only certain TV shows or stations, while others don’t care how much their children watch. Even in a home where parents don’t mind watching TV for a long time, you should try to avoid it by offering to play with the kids, read to them, or go for a walk. After all, you get paid to babysit, not sit around doing nothing until the parents get home. If children are allowed to watch some shows and decline your offer to play, read, or take a walk, watch the show with them and discuss what is happening to make it interactive.
Once the program is finished, carry out some activities associated with it. For example, if the show talks about the number eight, then at snack time have a snack associated with the number eight. Try a piece of celery with eight drops of peanut butter (as long as the kids aren’t allergic to peanuts), or eight small slices of fruit. You could try yogurt with eight blueberries sprinkled on top, or two whole-grain crackers separated into four sections each. A great activity would be to take out the blocks and put blocks of different shapes in groups of eight and see which group can make the tallest tower. Cut a sheet of paper into 26 pieces and write a different letter of the alphabet on each piece. Put all the pieces of paper in a hat and have the child choose eight. See how many words you can make with those eight letters. Try something with a little more movement. Bounce a ball eight times, then throw it to a friend. Use sidewalk chalk and draw hopscotch boxes, then play.
Hop on one foot eight times and then switch to the other. If the TV show the children were watching involved two friends having an argument or dispute of some kind, you might have the children come up with other solutions to their problem. Have the children draw pictures of their friends making up or doing something fun together. Another idea is to have them put on a skit that recreates the TV show and act out what happened and how it was resolved, or how they think it should have been resolved. Anything you can do to prevent the TV from being just a box that kids stare at for hours is helpful. If the children you care for may watch TV while you’re on duty, try to keep it to a minimum. Create activities for the kids to do after the show is over and try to keep them from feeling “mesmerized” for hours. TVs are not good babysitters, great people are!
