Admittedly, supervision on children’s leisure activities is a good way to ensure their study hours. Naturally, by saying no to a 3-hour animation the parent wants the kid to work on a math problem or memorize formulas. It is hard to imagine a little couch potato could voluntarily review what has been learnt at school or to do some research for his group project. So at times like this parenting does matter. Especially for those who have little self-control, parents should intervene and urge their kids to spend more time on study.

　　However, it may not be the case in reality. Even parents manage to cut down the time children spend on watching television; there still are other distractions that would take up the time saved from watching TV. You can always see mouse potatoes hiding in their bedroom playing video games on line or teenage girls talking on the cell phone for hours. So to help children make progress at school takes more than merely restricting the TV-viewing hours.

　　Besides, keeping children away from television may also keep them away from infotainment programs that could enrich their knowledge outside the classroom. Discovery channel, for example, covers a wide variety of geographic and biological knowledge. With vivid pictures and detailed explanation, children get to learn the facts and figures in an interesting way. By this way they become more attentive to the world and get to concentrate more easily. //My sister is a good case in point. She used to hate geography and thus test results were always dissatisfying. But things began to change when she spent a large quantity of hours in watching National Graphic. She began to take an interest in what she used to call boring stuff and her transcript also began to look really good since then. //She admitted that watching TV did take up a lot of time, yet she believed it absolutely rewarding. So it seems to me that a good television show stimulates children’s interest and benefits the academic performance.