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Did you know that kids’ TV viewing spikes by 150% in the summer? Goodness knows my children’s has even though they are also busy with summer camps, karate, baseball, camping trips, sleep overs, and summer reading programs.

To combat the spike in TV viewing, the Smart Television Alliance has just announced the OutSmart the Summer Spike! campaign to raise awareness about the need for busy parents and caregivers to make smart viewing choices and to use technology to control what their children watch.

The Smart Television Alliance believes that if you’re in control of what’s on the screen, you can actually bring educational time to a long summer outside of the classroom. How do you go about doing this? First, start is by signing a petition to TV producers demanding more educational and age-appropriate programming for kids.

Also, look for Smart Television Alliance’s Summer TV Tips blog posts to find out how you can use your kids’ favorite shows as inspiration for learning, while the show is on, and after it’s over. (And while you’re over there, check out the post I wrote for them - Remote Control: It’s O.K., Mom Said We Can Watch TV.)

If you don’t feel like going to the Smart Television Alliance’s blog ever day, you can sign up for Smart News to get tips and other great information sent right to you.

My article, Remote Control: It’s O.K., Mom Said We Can Watch TV, is now up on Smart News, the enewsletter and blog for the Smart Television Alliance, a wonderful site for parents wanting to explore smart and safe television programming for their family.

Here’s an excerpt:

Some experts say that television controls children’s behavior. As the parent, you can take control of the remote and use television as a positive influence on your family. For example, we use television to inspire our children’s potential career choices. As a regular viewer of MythBusters , Nathan has decided he wants to be a stunt man when he grows up. Unfortunately, Paul had to break the news to our son that very few people make careers out of blowing stuff up – even on TV.

Enjoy!

According to the Jenkins Group:

• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
• 42% of college graduates never read another book.
• 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
• 57% of new books are not read to completion.

So what are they doing? Watching TV! (Among other things.) So no matter if you’re for or against the writer’s strike, your television viewing habits could be affected. So why not pick up a good book instead?

Family Activities for the TV-less

There are lots of book suggestions here at A Readable Feast including YA (young adult) titles. You can look on the right sidebar for books I haven’t reviewed yet like Bobbie Dazzler or Little Skink’s Tail. Or check out November 2006’s posts for Thanksgiving and holiday book ideas.

Did you see the Target toy catalog in last Sunday’s paper? The kids and I were excited about all the new board games out, especially Monopoly Disney Pixar Edition. Why wait for Christmas?

How about cooking as a family? FamilyFun.com has a whole bunch of kid-friendly Thanksgiving cooking ideas like Tiny Turkey Dinner Cupcakes and Tom Turkey Nuggets.

Lots of good new movies out there to rent or buy like Meet the Robinsons, too.

But if you must watch TV (and I understand - we all want to relax and “jell” for awhile) how about introducing kids to classics like the Andy Griffith Show or the original Star Trek? Both are in reruns on various local and cable stations. There’s always educational TV like the Discovery Channel, PBS, and the History Channel.

How is your family going to handle the writer’s strike?

1. Watch reruns of our favorite TV shows.
2. Watch shows we don’t normally watch on TV.
3. Watch sports on TV.
4. Do family activities like play games, cook, go to the community pool, or make a craft.
5. Rent lots of movies.
6. Turn of the TV and READ.