by Steven A. Melnick — I was driving down the highway the other evening and came up behind a van with two children in the back seat. The two appeared to be absorbed in an animated movie on one of those flip-down video screens so popular today. The parents sat motionless in the front seat staring at the road ahead with the mother occasionally glancing out the passenger seat window. No conversation appeared to be happening. None. Nada. Zip. I couldn’t help feeling a sense of sadness for that family and the opportunities missed. How did we get to the point where riding in the car requires a video screen to keep the kids quiet?
Today, the average American watches about 4 hours of television per day. Simply put, considering a 24 hour day, we spend about 1/6 of our lives sitting in front of a television. The average lifespan today is 78.44 years, leaving us with the realization that Americans will spend just over 13 years of their lives watching TV. Those statistics didn’t take into account the increasing popularity of video screens in cars, but what would you do with 13 years if you could live them over again?
Worse is to consider that out of the approximately 16 hours per day we are awake, we spend 25% of that time mindlessly being “entertained” by television. How productive could you be if you had an extra four hours each day?
The use of in-car videos only makes the problem worse, as the effect on children is even more alarming. Thousands of studies on children and the effects of television show some sad statistics.
- Parents spend but 38.5 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children.
- Children spend 1,680 minutes per week watching television (that’s 28 hours).
- 66% of Americans regularly watch TV while eating dinner.
- The average American child spends almost 1,500 hours per year watching television. That’s 62.5 days or more than two months out of each year!
Not that there aren’t some worthwhile shows for kids (e.g., Sesame Street), but studies have shown that exposure to so much mindless entertainment stifles creativity, reflection, and imagination in children. It lessens social interactions with others through play and conversation. It may lead to shortened attention spans and hyperactivity. In addition, the exposure to print media is dramatically diminished, affecting long-term reading ability.
Getting back to my original point, the family in the van missed a wonderful opportunity to talk with their kids, share their experiences of the day, and simply enjoy one another’s company. Granted, when I was a kid, we didn’t have videos in the car. But we occupied our time as a family engaged in conversation, singing songs, playing car games. Here are a few suggestions…
Counting Cows–count the cows on your side of the road as you travel along. If you come to a cemetery on your side of the road, you have to bury them all and start over. The one with the most cows at the end of the trip wins.
Read a story aloud or talk about picture books–Here are two fun recommended books for young children: My Little Red Fire Truck or Duck! Rabbit!. For older children, you might want to try one of the I Spy series (there are 10 of them). Check out the links and explore them for yourselves.
Twenty questions–animal, vegetable, or mineral? …person, place, or thing? One person thinks of an animal, vegetable, or mineral and the others asks questions that can only be answered with yes or no. First one to guess correctly within 20 questions wins. If no one does, the person who thought up the animal, vegetable, or mineral wins!
Treasure Hunt–prepare a list of things for kids to look for along the trip, such as a dog, cat, hawk, front-end loader, bulldozer, dump truck, school bus, firehouse, fire truck, police car, playground, etc.
Alphabet Game–find the alphabet, in order, by spotting the letters on license plates or billboards.
Animal Game–points are accumulated for spotting various animals (cows, horses, dogs, etc.). The harder the animal might be to find (an emu ?), the more points scored. The game is over when an agreed upon number of points is reached (10 or 15 for example). Obviously, this takes a little preparation to assign point values in advance. Wild animals make the game more challenging, so using farm or household animals would be best.
I can tell you from experience that children grow up too fast. Let’s recapture some of the time we needlessly lose and cherish the opportunities provided by time together in the car.
What car games do you remember playing? Leave a comment if you have some suggestions. How much time did you spend talking with your children today?
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