The week of April 19, 2010 is Turn Off TV week and Linden Hiller’s have been turning off their tubes. The Linden Hill PTA has helped our students stay committed to remain “Screen-Free” for the week with a variety of activities. On Monday, students enjoyed an evening of roller skating at the Christiana Skating Center. On Tuesday, families met at the Friendly’s Restaurant in Lantana Square. On Thursday, families converged at the Delcastle Park to enjoy the beautiful Earth Day weather as well as spending time away from the screen.

Linden Hill has been participating in “Turn Off TV” week for at least seven years. PTA president, Cami Pisklak, sees, “[t]he goal of our committee is to provide opportunities for the families at Linden Hill to do something together that is fun and away from the screens.” Based on the smiles and excitement at all of the planned events, this year’s activities met this goal.

Although the “Turn Off TV” week planned activities are not intended to be money makers, the PTA charges a nominal amount of money to cover the costs of space rental or reservations. “We usually see about 150 kids show up to the skating party, the Family Night is harder to determine but it is amazing how many families show up and the walk was something new that we added this year,” comments Pisklak. Last year’s Grotto Night brought $281 which was more money than the PTA had projected. These funds were used for planners, teacher stipends, assemblies, beautification, recycling programs, mulch for the playground and much, much more.

Linden Hill parent and teacher, Yanaka Bernal, loves the event. “What I love about it is that my second grader really takes this week seriously. We have been tube free all week and we have so much more time!” Scientific research supports Bernal’s observation. Based on a 1990 study, by the time a child reaches 18 years of age, he has watched between 10,000 and 15,000 hours of television and has been exposed to over 200,000 commercials (U.S. Congress, Children’s Television Act of 1990). The average American child watches 4 hours and 37 minutes of screen time every day (Nielson, 2006). Think about how many more books your child could be reading if we just turn away from the tube!

We should make “Turn-off TV Week” every week!