Set aside a time when all family members come together around the kitchen table, or some other comfortable spot, away from the TV. Let everyone know that you're wanting to talk about the TV viewing habits of all the family, without singling out anybody. If anything, being very honest about your own TV viewing habits and your own desire to minimize the amount of viewing is an excellent way to help everyone else see that you're not lecturing but aiming to pave the way to improved viewing habits. At the same time though, don't lose sight of the fact that as a parent or guardian, you are responsible for children in your household, including teenagers, and knowing what and how much they're watching is an important part of your responsibility.


Realize that some members of the family may approach the family talk with unhappiness, or they may feel threatened that they are "under scrutiny". Aim to keep the family talk lighthearted but serious in intent at the same time.






Have some favorite nibbles or snacks at the table to help everyone feel at ease.
It is very important that the TV is not on during the family discussion!;
, A little internet searching will bring back some astonishing figures on the amount of time families spend watching TV, as well as the types of shows, etc., being watched by different age groups. It will possibly be an eye-opener for you too. Perhaps print off some statistics to share with your family, or even make a few charts if that's something you enjoy doing, to help them understand your points of concern.


Part of your fact-gathering mission may be to convince you and/or your spouse as to the value of TV for your family. Knowledge about the impacts of TV viewing and what constitutes "too much" viewing is an important part of realizing whether or not your family has a problem with the amount of TV watching you're doing.






For example: Did you know that many parents aren't even aware of what the ratings guidelines mean, with only 12 percent knowing that "FV" in the USA ("fantasy violence") relates to violent content, while eight percent of people think it stands for "family viewing"?Did you know that the American Psychiatric Association considers that exposure to media portrayals of violence increases the instances of aggressiveness and anti-social behavior in children?Did you know that obesity levels in children are in part linked to the 24 hours plus weekly viewing of TV, 24 hours that could in part be put toward physical exercise activities?Too much TV viewing may also contribute to concentration deficit disorders, impoverished academic performance, lessened imagination, and reading problems., A moral tirade about the "evils" of TV will cause some members of the family to rebel and not listen to your concerns or preferences. It is much better to present the basic facts, to crack a few jokes that highlight the problem, and to encourage family members to think about what they're missing out on because of TV than to simply slam TV as "no good". After all, the idea is to minimize TV viewing, to teach good self-discipline habits in relation to it, rather than to cutting it out totally. In doing so, you also teach children and young people about self-control, delayed gratification, and making sensible choices about the tools in their lives, and treating it as a lesson in how to manage tools rather than having tools manage them is something they'll need to have a handle on for life.
 Think about sparking an open discussion with open-ended questions, such as:


How do you guys feel about your own TV viewing habits at the moment?






How many hours are you watching at the moment, do you think?
How much of this do you really enjoy? How much is ads, waiting for subsequent shows, opening sequences, and, especially with news, delay to "force" you to continue to watch?
What sorts of things do you think you might be doing instead of watching TV?
If we did what the "cool" people on TV are doing, would we enjoy the real consequences? Would we even look healthy without the extensive makeovers they get? Do we want to keep being suggested to do those things?
Do the TV ads often tell us about things that make our lives better? Or do they just try to make us feel bad about things we can buy affordably for what they are, rather than for what someone tries to make them seem?
Do you think we're doing enough things together as a family? If so, why? If not, why not? What could we do better together?

, For many family members, TV has become a source of relaxation, distraction, and switching off from working or studying hard. For others, it's a source of convenience that lets them get some peace and quiet to get work done while others quietly watch TV. And this will cause some family members to feel that being asked to watch less TV is attacking their relaxation or daily household routine options. While acknowledging that TV seems to have become a relaxation or distraction habit in your family, it can be helpful to tell the family that this is a "brainstorming" session, where every single family member has a role in expressing their feelings about TV viewing as a household, and to share ideas about what they'd like to do to reduce TV consumption.
It is suggested that following presenting your concerns about how TV has been sucking away time for doing other things, and after asking the open-ended questions suggested above, you open up a discussion about the alternatives that were raised as answers to the previous step, and suggest a few of your own. Some suggestions might include:


Spending the evening mealtime together, even if it is staggered between age groups or people's different comings and goings. And this mealtime should be TV-free. Part of the meal can, but need not always, be the preparation. Enjoy "slow eating", getting back to the place where food becomes a source of togetherness and experiencing the joy of talking and eating with one another.






Getting out together as a family more often. You could go to the park, go on a picnic, go to the movies, go to a sports game, go hiking, go ten-pin bowling, go for a walk around the harbor, visit a museum, visit the library, paint a community mural, join a community gardening project, and so forth.
Learning a new sport together. If everyone's feeling frustrated, why not get the whole family to enroll in a martial art or a team sport, or get into something like triathlon or marathon training as a family.
 As suggested by the Turnoff Week campaign, suggest that everyone just take a week off viewing to see how things feel and how they can change without TV being involved. Pull the plug from the wall and go out and do other things for the week. At the end of this period, have a round-up of what family members have done instead of watching TV. Share the experience with one another and share the excitement and enlightenment of doing other things than simply TV every day.


As part of this, cease talking about TV shows and characters altogether. It's very easy to confuse people we "know of" with people we "know" for real in today's media-filled world. Help children and other family members recognize the difference and discourage them from relating to TV stars, commentators, and newsreaders as people they "know". This sense of familiarity can be devastating if a person truly believes they are part of the TV family and less a part of a real life family, so spot the signs of too much reliance on what "so and so on TV says" and start gently reminding the person who is so besotted that the person on TV is not real family and that there is no real way of ever knowing what that person truly says or does off TV!, Why not set aside a time when the family all gathers together in one cozy or breezy (depending on the time of year) part of the house for an hour of just reading together. Make it a tradition of doing it at least once a week. You can choose whether to read out aloud in turns from different favorite books, or just to read in silence together. This can be a great excuse to have lovely hot or cold drinks and a few delicious snacks as well.


This can be a great time to read the newspaper out loud, so that everyone gets the news without having to read it singly; especially good for the large weekend editions! As a benefit, local newspapers often cover much more than the local TV news ever will.Or try passing out the sections of a serious big-city newspaper and reading it silently for half an hour. You'll all be amazed at how much more you see than in a half-hour of TV news.
 Set aside one night a week in which all family members get together to do something together. It might be going out, playing sport, playing board or card games, talking, reading, or even planning a vacation together. Whatever it is, just ensure it's minus the TV and any other electronic devices.
 Suggest that from this point on, that TV viewing become a conscious act focused on quality and not quantity. Favorite shows can be included in this "quality" (after all, it's a fairly subjective interpretation given what's usually on TV) but they must fit within a set amount of time. Once the time is up, the TV goes off for that family member.


Another suggestion is to compromise on TV viewing days. Sometimes there may be a day where a family member has all the shows they love at once, and this could be "their" TV night, and the rest of the week becomes non-TV time.






Try to find quality programs the family as-a-whole can sit down and enjoy, something that covers all ages, such as documentaries, cartoons, etc. And instead of simply watching the show, talk about it at the end, to get everyone's opinions and to ask them if they think the show has taught them anything, or what they would have preferred to have seen on the show, etc. Encourage critical discussion of TV shows as part of teaching children and teens critical thinking skills and not just accepting shows for what they are or simply liking or disliking a show - encourage them to voice the reasons behind their reaction. You don't have to limit yourself to what the TV stations provide: there are all kinds of high-quality, free programs, including audiobookson the Internet.
 If you haven't got doors or shutters to close over the TV, get a cloth to cover the TV for when the family has agreed it is not to be turned on. Shutting away or hiding the TV creates a ritual and the act on turning on the TV requires every family member to think about it before doing it.


Make the people, not the TV, the "center of gravity" in your main room. Don't arrange the chairs all facing the TV: instead, arrange them facing a central area and one another, with the TV off to one side. That way people in many of the seats can watch the TV fairly comfortably if they really want to, but will default to interacting with one another rather than watching it idly. The TV can be loud enough for whoever really wants to watch it and thus probably sits closest at a given time without being overwhelmingly loud for others.






Give the remote control a specific home near the TV. That way, anyone who wants to turn on the TV has to get up to get it and make a conscious decision about turning on the TV. It is also a good idea to switch off the TV after every use rather than leaving it on stand-by. Not only does this save on power but again it causes the person to think before turning on the TV.
 It can be a good idea to have a monthly to quarterly review of what everyone has managed to do without TV taking up so much time, as a family reminder of the importance of putting TV in its place. Use this opportunity to praise family members for their dedication to being involved in a variety of activities, and for their self-disciplined approach toward TV viewing.
Have a family discussion about TV usage.
Spend some time thinking about what you're going to say and having some facts and statistics on hand to back up your concerns.
Do your best to avoid "demonizing" the TV.
Start the discussion rolling.
Be understanding of the barriers involved but be ready to suggest alternatives.
Suggest that the family go cold turkey for a week.
Encourage reading times together as a family.
Organize one family night a week.
Aim to allot viewing times.
Find a way of visually signaling down time from the TV.
Have a review now and then.
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