Children should learn new skills through playing rather than watching television

A study by Michigan and Montreal universities found the negative effects for older children who watched a lot of television as a toddler rose with every hour of television.

Performance at school was worse and more junk food was consumed by those who watched more TV.

The study of 1,300 children also discovered 11 per cent of the two year olds and 23 per cent of four year olds watched more than the recommended maximum of two hours a day. On average, the two year olds watched just under nine hours of television per week, while the four year olds watched just under 15 hours.

Children were then revisited at the age of 10, and teachers were asked to assess the children’s academic performance behaviour, health and Body Mass Index.

Higher levels of TV viewing at the age of two was linked to bad performance in the classroom and poor achievement in maths. They also exercised less and consumed more soft drinks, with a higher BMI.

Dr Linda Pagani from the University of Montreal who led the research said, ‘Early childhood is a critical period for brain development and formation of behaviour. High levels of TV consumption during this period can lead to future unhealthy habits. Common sense would suggest that television exposure replaces time that could be spent engaging in other developmentally enriching activities and tasks that foster cognitive, behavioural and motor development. Although we expected the impact of early TV viewing to disappear after seven and a half years of childhood, the fact that negative outcomes remained is quite daunting. Our findings make a compelling public health argument against excessive TV viewing in early childhood.”

UK experts said parents could allow children to watch “some” high quality television.