By Julie Pace
The Tampa Tribune

Report: Parents Saying No To TV

A report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that more parents are saying no to television and yes to reading than ten years ago.

Sixty-seven percent of parents with children ages 3 to 5 place limits on the amount of television their children can watch. That’s up from 54 percent in 1994.

In place of television, parents say they’re spending more time reading. Children ages 3 to 5 were read to an average of 6.8 times per week. Children under the age of 2 were read to more frequently, about 7.8 times per week.

That’s not surprising to Carie Larson, who takes her 9-month-old son, Clay Larson, to weekly reading programs at the Jan Platt Library in Tampa, where babies are read and sang to.

Lay will be inundated by television and computers as he gets older, Carie Larson said, and that makes it increasingly important to introduce him to reading as early as possible.

“It’s going to be very challenging, but if we start now, then maybe he’ll like to read,” she said.

U.S. Census Bureau report

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