http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/04/24/tv-alternatives.aspxAlmost half of U.S. kids spend at least two hours a day watching TV. While this may sound harmless enough, numerous studies have come out showing that TV is definitely taking its toll on American children. For instance, a study in the April 2004 journalenCommunityServer 2008.5 SP1 (Build: 31106.3070)http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/04/24/tv-alternatives.aspx#35949Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:49:05 GMT24451277-a5aa-4add-96dc-64081bfd86fa:35949herenthere<p>I try to see how many days I can go without putting on a video for my preschool kids. Fortunately, they play together pretty well. It's important to help them develop self-esteem by training them to accomplish things they can be proud of. My 2-year old puts away the silverware, and my 4-yr old puts away almost everything else. They help push buttons on the washing machine. They take the clothes out into a basket, and pull it to the front door. Then I hang it out on the line, and they take it down. Today we cut celery and they pretended their pieces were guns, so I gave them raisins to use for bullets. We also counted with beans. Yesterday we had an inside egg hunt with various nuts inside the plastic eggs. Every day, my older one prepares the coffee for the next day (measures the water, washes out the reusable filter, etc.) &nbsp;I'm glad I made the sacrifices necessary to be a stay-at-home mom!</p> <img src="http://articles.mercola.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=35949" width="1" height="1">