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<title> Watching TV is bad for children </title>
TV is a big part of most children's lives. They can watch it almost all the time, in the morning before they go to school, in the afternoon when they come home and in the evening before they go to bed. If there is nothing to watch there is always video. Children do not only watch children's programs. They also watch soap operas and films that were obviously made for adults. All the violence and stereotypes that the soap operas and films contain give the child a false picture of reality. Still there are many people who think that TV is good for children because it makes them creative. Some also think that it helps them to separate good from evil and that for example He-man provides roles to use when playing. TV is even considered essential to children because they learn so much from it. But I say no, TV is bad for children. 

The first reason why it is bad is that TV is not creative and it does not inspire children. In fact it destroys their own free fantasy, limits it and makes the child a passive receiver. Anyone who has experienced a child's creativity and enormous fantasy knows that TV can never compete with that. TV only serves someone else's, often an adult's, fantasy. And then the watcher does not have to imagine anything. All the senses are occupied, so it does not leave any opportunity for the mind to create, to develop itself.

When you read or listen to a story being read to you, you do imagine. We have to use our imagination to picture what we hear. So when children listen to a story about good and evil they will create individual images of the two sides in their minds. And each of these images will be as frightening and thrilling as the child can handle. If they watch TV instead, some of the children will be too frightened and maybe have nightmares, because of what they see. The only memories they will have afterwards are the scary ones and the important message will not have reached them. That is why it is better to learn the difference between good and evil by listening to someone telling a story. That way children get roles to use in their games too, so they do not have to come from TV.

Learning is very popular today. As early as possible the children are taught all they can grasp: reading, writing, the name of flowers, counting. To do that TV is useful. I do not think that this learning is a good thing. The children get enough of that sort of knowledge anyway. What children of today need is a moment of peace. Some time to sit down and ponder all the information they get wherever they go. And some time for themselves to do what they really want to do, or to daydream or to experience life itself. Nobody can argue that TV can teach a child more than life. Can knowledge, received from TV programs and films, ever be real to someone who does not know the world? Can you be an expert of trees if you have never climbed one? I think then our knowledge will only be a gray theory. 

So TV gives children frames, not ideas, for their games. And they do not even need ideas, being a child is being creative and full of ideas. Their own imagination is on their level, they will not become too frightened by a story about good and evil. Unless they see it on TV with its horrifying, realistic pictures. Many parents put their kids in front of the TV because they think it will teach them a lot. But at the same time they take away the opportunity for the child to rest with his/her own thoughts or to discover the world. Now, I do not think that we should ban TV. I just think we should see TV for what it is: entertainment. So that we do not fool ourselves to think it is an essential part of a child's life. We must also choose for them, we are responsible for what they see on TV.
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