By letting your child spend hours in front of the tube, you could be contributing to their deficiency in school and their ability to interact with their peers later in life.

The problem with today's society is its focus on media-related entertainment. ?Learning videos,? television programs and computer games have caused our children to ?lock? themselves up in a solitary environment. The result from this type of sedentary life has been an increase in child obesity and even a lack of stimulation in the classroom. The digital age also has an impact on a child's social skills. Rather than learning how to interact with other children, they're interacting with a screen or a program that will never disagree with them or challenge your child to opposing points of view. You could be stunting your child's social growth considerably.

But what can you do as parents to remedy this kind of problem? The answer is simple. Get your creative juices flowing and find fun and educational activities for the entire family! There is an excessive amount of arts and craft ideas your children will find entertaining and rewarding.

The first step is to find activities that are age-appropriate for your children. You can search online or in your local bookstore for ideas and how-to topics. And it doesn't matter if you are entertaining girls or boys, because there are plenty of suggestions available at your fingertips.

Another thing to consider is the time of year. Many holidays produce a slew of arts and crafts booklets that outline various age-specific activities your entire family can enjoy. For example, Halloween is the perfect opportunity to help your child come up with and create their costume instead of running to the nearest store to buy it pre-made. During Christmas, you can assist your children with making homemade stockings to hang on the fireplace or decorate personalized cards to send out to friends and family.

For other times of the year when you are just looking for something fun to do on a lazy Saturday afternoon, why not build something? Model airplanes and dollhouses are great activities to get your kids up and away from the television. Encourage creativity by letting them be a part of the building and designing process. Let children choose color schemes and patterns for whatever it is your family decides to build. When the project is finished, they will have a sense of accomplishment and a physical reminder of what they can do on their own.

When choosing your child's activity, it is important to be a part of the process. Always assist smaller children with projects to prevent any accidents from happening. It's also important to let your child take the lead and step back to watch. Family activities can be the perfect opportunity for your children to learn to work as a team, helping them acclimate to ?real-world? environments later in life.

Not only will you enjoy watching your children flourish creatively, but you will be making memories to savor for a lifetime.