Preschoolers, Violent TV & Sleep

Could what your preschooler watches on TV be keeping him or her from going to sleep later that night?

It seems like shows we might not think of as being violent could actually be too violent for preschoolers. And that violence could be keeping them from getting to sleep at night.

A new study, just published in the journal Pediatrics found that for 3- to 5-year-olds watching violent TV caused a variety of sleep problems. It meant they had more problems falling asleep, ended up waking up more during the night, had more trouble getting up in the morning and ended up being more tired during the day. Of all these issues, the one that happened most often was that children watching more violent TV needed 20 more minutes to fall asleep at night. And that's something that's not only hard on the child, but on the caregiver as well.

But what you might be surprised at is what ended up being categorized as violent TV. According to the authors of this study, even seemingly harmless cartoons like Sponge Bob, could have too much violence for preschoolers. Although older children can understand the rock falling on some cartoon character's head is just pretend, preschoolers don't. And that small, funny to older kids violence, affects the smaller children when they try to get some sleep later on.

The authors of this study recommend that for preschoolers, we stick to the very child friendly shows like Sesame Street or Dora The Explorer. That'll help make sure they, and you, get a good night's sleep.