Two studies reported at a recent meeting suggest what many parents already suspect: reading stories together is better for kids than watching television.
Watching TV
Children who watch television for more than an hour a day are at greater risk of being overweight. Researchers interviewed parents of more than 11,000 kindergarteners to investigate the relationship between behavior and obesity.
The study showed that the average five-year-old watched more than 3 hours of TV daily. Those who watched for more than an hour a day were 52 percent more likely to be heavy than those who spent less than an hour watching.
Reading Stories
Perhaps some of that TV time should be swapped out for story time. Research from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital used functional MRI imaging of young children’s brains.
The nineteen youngsters ranged in age from three to five, and their brains were scanned while they were listening to stories on headphones. Parents were also questioned about books and toys at home and whether they read to their kids.
Children who frequently had stories read to them at home had activation in the parts of their brains used to determine meaning in language. They also had activation in the areas of the brain used for vision. Presumably these youngsters were imagining the scene of what they were hearing.
The researchers’ recommendation is that parents read to their children as often as they can from a young age. From the People’s Pharmacy perspective, that can be a lot of fun for all involved.
Both studies were presented at the meeting of Pediatric Academic Societies in San Diego, 2015
