(Image source from: Is too much TV making your kid fat?})

Dear Parents, please know that the television is no benign babysitter! The more time your child spends in front of the television, the more are his/her chances of growing obese in the future.

Yes, it's true! Extra screen time for your kids means extra points on the BMI scale. Researchers argue that kids often end up munching one thing or the other when watching TV, thereby consuming unnecessary calories. This in turn can translate into severe weight issues when the child grows up.

‘The weight of the evidence is pretty strong that television viewing is related to unhealthy changes in weight among youth,’ Jennifer Falbe, who led the research at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, said.

She added: ‘It's important for parents to be aware of all the potentially obesogenic screens that they should really be limiting in their children's lives.’

For every extra hour a child spends watching TV each day, his/her weight in adulthood goes up by about half a pound. Scary, isn't it?

AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury