Children's Numeracy

In the modern world, it’s hard to find a family that doesn’t own a TV. In the United Kingdom, the number of children watching TV is higher than in any other European countries (Daily Mail, no date). Children watch about five hours of TV a day in the UK, whereas in other continental countries, children spend only two hours in front of the TV (ibid). The reasons why children watch so much TV are that there is nothing to keep children occupied in their living area and that parents are afraid of outdoor dangers, so they prefer their kids to be at home (ibid). 8 out of 10 parents believe that TV improves kid’s vocabulary and imagination (The Telegraph). The Telegraph also states that parents reported that TV had a positive effect on children’s numeracy …show more content…
In 2011 it was observed that about 100,000 children aged five in England lack essential verbal skills (Ibid). The reason why those children didn’t reach essential level of language skills might be a genetic cause, but in many cases they simply didn’t practice speaking (Ibid). Experts say that television and video games are responsible for the fact that families spend less time eating together because children bring their dinner to the television and stare at the screen. Children also don’t get told bedtime stories because children go to bed after watching TV and their parents may feel like they do not need to tell them stories or the parents may want to watch the TV as their children have gone to sleep and they can have the TV to themselves. It is important for children to have conversations or listen to their parents speak as it is easier to learn from people rather than from TV shows (Ibid). Also having the television turned on all the time may lead to people having less conversations (Ibid), because people would be watching the TV and not interacting with each other and this may cause relationships between individuals to