Yiore:s Dads Help Tame the “Tube” According to the National Institute on Media and the Family, children spend more time watching television than any other activity except sleep ing. This means television can become a powerful tool in a child’s life. And dads play an important role in determining whether that tool results in pos itive or negative behaviors in the child. J-STAR Silo I nloadir lakes a(.iaiit leap loru.ud! ■»i^luqnlum CALL US TODAY FOR A VIDEO AND BROCHURE. The Silo Unloader Experts LKASK H TODAY WITH ONK PAVMKNT DOWN! • CABLE ALLEY • WASTE HANDLING EQUIPMENT • FEED HANDLES SCRAPER DUMPS - TANKS - TILLAGE APPLICATOR BELTS - FEEDERS - CONVEYORS See These Dealers For Details Now FRANKLIN’S FARM SERVICE Laceyville. PA 570-869-2407 HARRY TROOP Cochranville, PA 19335 215-593-6731 HISTAND’S FARM & HOME SERVICE Rome, PA 570-744-2371 HOOVER EQUIPMENT Tyrone, PA 16686 814-684-1777 Tim, a potato grower and father of three girls ages 18 months to 6 years, has seen that. “They’re learning from televi sion. They’re learning good stuff) but theyre also learning bad stuff. Sometimes after I hear them say something they’ve heard on television I have td tell them, ‘Those words are not appropriate.”’ Scott, a father of two young boys agrees. He says parental YOUR ALL-IN-ONE FARMSTEAD EQUIPMENT SOURCE SIMPLY THE BEST! You know tower silos are the best way to store feed. Now Jamesway* gives you the best way to with ¥ great reliability. PIUs, you get: ' • Better Feed Quality • More Feed Storage • A Clean Chute The all-new industrial-design Big Jim QUANTUM System can be installed in any type of 20' to 30' forage silo conventional or oxygen limited. And since it requires little maintenance and has no doors to change, you eliminate trips up and down the silo. LAPP’S BARN EQUIPMENT MILL CREEK SALES & SERVICE FENCE & FARM Gap, PA 17527 Lancaster, PA 717-442-8134 717-396-8987 JAMES L. HOSTETTER PRINGLES SUPPLY & Mc v eytown,PAl7° sl EQUIPMENT INC. 717-899-8386 Greenville, PA 16125 McMILLEN BROTHERS 724-588-7950 ROVENDALE AG & BARN rv.nn.r.D«ilri EQUIPMENT (VanOale De.l.r) Watsontown, PA 17777 WIGGERS FARM EQUIPMENT 570-538-9564 WALNUT BARN EQUIPMENT Corry, PA OR 570-742-4226 Port Royal, PA 814-664-2661 717-436-9429 monitoring is crucial. “Right now we have 100 percent control of what they watch.” He and his wife decided to keep the televi sion elevated, so the kids could n’t reach the power switch. They review the TV guide descrip tions of shows. And sometimes when the content turns sour in the middle of a show, he simply announces, “Let’s go make some popcorn!” to keep the children from seeing content that con cerns him. Several dads mentioned that they use videos as a substitute for television. One urged parents to check out the free children’s videos available at the public library as an alternative to com mercial broadcasts. As children grow, rules natu rally change. Steve, the father of three teenagers, does not have rules for television viewing these days. He and his wife have declare one or two late night shows “off limits,” but have few VERTICAL PUMP 2-POINT HITCH MOUNTED Tough, rugged and reliable... See what a REAL Van Dale vertical pump can do! THESE FEATURES MEAN MORE BENEFITS FOR YOU! CHECK 'EM OUT! • All hydraulic controls • Remote hydraulic controls • 270° horizontal nozzle control • 45° vertical nozzle control • 20” diameter impeller • 100 H.R, 540 or 1000 RPM • Two discharge nozzles for complete agitation • Available in B’, 10’ and 12’ models • Oil bath lower bearing & seal assembly for long life, low maintenance other controls in place. But they used to. During the elementary school years, he recalls they allowed the television only to be watched on weekends during the school year. This encouraged his children to all become avid read ers. Researchers know that when television displaces other more enriching activities, children’s development suffers. This is especially true when the shows they are viewing are cartoon or entertainment-type shows rather than carefully construct ed, age-appropriate educational shows. That’s why Tim said, “Sometimes we just have to chase them out of the house and say, “Go play outside,” if the tele vision has been on too much that day.” Children between the ages of three and five are at a critical stage for language and literacy development. In 1985 Drs. SOLLENBERGER SILOS CORF. Chambersburg, PA 17201 717-264-9598 SOMERSET BARN EQUIPMENT Somerset, PA 15501 814-445-5555 STAR SILOS Myerstown, PA 17067 717-886-5708 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 26, 1999-817 What other issues related to television concerned these dads? The father of the teens was extremely concerned about how blatant the sexual messages were on shows —not just a few shows but seemingly everything his children wanted to watch. Scott felt strongly that more government regulations were not the solution, “It’s got to be the parent’s responsibility to turn off the television. I don’t want the government doing what I should be doing as a par ent. The industry is only mak ing what sells, and if parents started turn ing the violent stuff off, the industry would start to change.” Although there are many concerns, there are also some shared fun times. Scott likes to watch Nova and Krat’s Kreatures with his son. Steve enjoys sharing Seinfeld reruns with his kids. And Tim recalls a cute moment, while work ing on his tractor, his girls found his tape measure and started reenacting a scene from Mary Poppms declaring to one another, ‘Really stub born and suspicious.’ “They even measured me!” NEW JERSEY GEORGE COLEMAN Elmer, NJ 08318 609-358-8528 GLADHILL TRACTOR MART Frederick, MD 21701 301-663-6060 MD & VA MILK PRODUCERS ASSOC. Frederick, MD 21701 301-663-6552 Searls and Ward documented that children who watched more than three hours of television a day had the poorest reading skills among their peers. So lim iting the time spent in front of the television is important to later school and job perfor mance. The dads did admit that if they weren’t careful, television could become a baby sitter or the trick to getting kids to fall asleep at nap time. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that chil dren watch no more than two hours of tele vision a day. The National Institute on Media and the Family adds that televisions should be kept out of kids’ bedrooms and should be turned off during meal times.
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