PBSparents.org in its TV Viewers guide explains television for preschoolers as a chocolate- it’s a delicious pleasure in small portions. But consuming too much can lead to a lifetime of bad habits.

Creating content for children is not easy, not only because there are laws that strictly govern this programming but also because producers are responsible to create safe-viewing content. Today, the lines between what kids ought to watch and what they are actually watching are blurring. While kids are watching age appropriate content they are also watching content not meant for them.

Because Children’s Television Programming (CTP) deals with sensitive topic of development of a child, issues faced by CTP go beyond those related to technological advancement. Therefore the issues range from –how much tv should a kid watch to the recent mobile TV for kids. Extensive research has been conducted to find out the effect of TV viewing on kids. Several researches point TV viewing as having a negative effect on kids making them prone to violence and all other bad behaviors. Such negative criticism can affect CTP.

The issues can be divided into stereotypes and technology.

Stereotypes: This category includes all the assumed effects on the kids due to viewing television.

Increase in violence and risky behavior: TV exposure can make kids violent. Kids exposed to aggression and violence can display similar emotions when they interact with other kids. According to kidshealth.org, an average American child will witness 200,000 violent acts on television by age 18. Kids may become desensitized to violence and more aggressive. TV violence sometimes begs for imitation because violence is often promoted as a fun and effective way to get what you want.

Health issues: It is also argued Kids who watch excessive TV can became lazy and inactive. Obesity is also a problem associated to excessive TV viewing because kids tend to snack when they watch TV. Some researchers argue that excessive TV can hinder a child’s language and neurological development.

Technology: This category deals with issues that have risen due to advancement in technology and introduction of new mediums such as internet and mobile.

Introduction of internet: Internet just cannot be ignored. Today three year old kids play games on the internet. With kids spending increasingly more time on the internet, it can affect the audience for CTP.

Ipods and Mobiles: Ipods and mobile phones now provide new medium for entertainment for kids. Games and podcasts can be downloaded to these devices and kids can enjoy them on the go. This also reduces the requirement to be sit in front of a TV set to watch a program.

Advertising and marketing to kids: How to advertise to kids is one of the biggest issue regardless of the medium used to trasmit content to kids. FCC has laid down guidelines for advertising to kids.

CTP producers should always be aware of these issues.