It's easier to monitor what children do on the computer.

When I was writing about a cocoon or a closet for our children recently, I also had television in mind but did not get into it because that would have meant leaving out other things. Yup, television is a whole world unto itself.

And no, it is not the instrument of the devil or a box that will suck your children into its vortex of foreign (as in American) culture or will have your children's eyes spinning even in their sleep. Nor is it a substitute for a parent or a babysitter, or the world's cheapest educational device.

I have a television at home, all of 19 inches on the diagonal with a screen that bulges outwards (they still make sets under 32 inches that don't have a flat screen, y'know, although we've had this one long before the flat screen craze began. I do not have cable - and it's by choice, not because I live in the 'country' which, very happily, I do). Cable TV, as omnipresent as churches in Jamaica (and promising the same kind of escape as many do, I can't help adding), has extended its reach into my neck of the woods.

No cable tv

We (and this does not include the children) just don't want it.

In addition, the three local television stations show very fuzzily. The further you stand back the easier it is to properly identify the athletes on the track - to make out Powell from Gay. We don't even have a working DVD player.

However, there are four bookshelves at home, one of which is in the children's room. They are not the most magnificent, well-stocked bookshelves around, but they exist - and the children read. A lot. As do their parents.

Is there a correlation between the two? Yes. It is not a simple cause and effect relationship, but it exists. Of course, they were read to consistently before and after they were born. And while we lived in the city we had cable television, which they adored and, most chances they get they are glued to the screen.

Which is fine, because that indicates it is not the norm for them.

We do have the Internet and the children log on and watch stuff as they wish (at reasonable hours, of course). There is a significant difference between that and television. First, it simply takes more effort to start up a computer (password and all) than it does to press the button of a remote and turn on a television. In addition, they have to look for what they want; with a couple dozen channels to sort through, it's so easy to watch many pieces of what turns out to be nothing.

Easier to monitor

Plus, it's easier to monitor them on the computer than when they are watching the television. There is a definite place they have to use it when they're surfing and there is this wonderful thing called 'history' (they have not learnt about 'clear private data' yet - I hope).

The books are closer to their beds than the computer and there are many more places to read than log on. There are other factors, but even from the physical standpoint only, they are encouraged to read as their primary entertainment activity.

And it works.

Responses welcome at mebrentoncooke@gmail.com