Believe it or not, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that children only have two hours of handling the TV remote controls. Controlling our kids’ TV time doesn’t seem difficult to do, but it’s easy to get distracted with all the other things going on, like making dinner, paying bills, or finishing some work. Before you know it, your distractions have allowed the kids to have the TV remote controls for four hours, twice the amount they’re supposed to.

It’s important to limit the time our kids use of the television remote controls because a child who’s always watching TV isn’t studying, socializing, or exercising–all fundamental parts of a healthy childhood. There have been several studies that indicate children who watch too much TV wind up suffering from obesity, schoolwork problems, and social problems.

Here are a few ways you can help limit your child’s access to the remote controls for TV so that they don’t wind up with such issues.

TV Time as Payment.

Try giving your kids vouchers or coupons that let them buy a half hour of TV time. You can give them a daily allowance of these coupons, and if they want more time with the TV remote controls, they can do chores to earn extra coupons. This also helps teach them the importance of budgeting, and the value of hard work, as well.

Earn Time by Reading.

Children spend about four times as long watching TV as they do reading. To encourage a reading habit, set up a kind of exchange program where for every half hour of reading your kids do, they earn a half hour of time with the TV remote controls. This gives kids the chance to earn as much TV time as they’d like, while also promoting a good habit.

Try New Activities.

If kids are too busy playing sports or participating in club activities, then they naturally won’t have enough time for the TV. Cub scouts, karate lessons, and more are all good ways to promote socialization, exercise, and learning, while also limiting kids’ access to Tv remote controls. Soon enough, kids won’t even miss the TV because they’re having too much fun with their new hobbies.

One way that many parents try to limit their kids’ TV time is to hide the remote, but this strategy tends to backfire, since many parents forget where the hiding place is and they wind up having to purchase TV remote controls replacements. Try one of these strategies instead, so that you won’t need to spend extra money on a TV remote replacement. If you have any questions about how to control your kids’ time with the TV remote controls, feel free to ask in the comments. Read more blogs like this.