Turn off the TV and tune into .. ?

Last week a set of figures were released detailing how much TV an average person is watching each day. I was a little surprised to hear that the average is four hours per day! My first thought was how do people have time to watch that much TV? I personally struggle to find interesting programs to watch, so I only watch an hour or two, at maximum per day.

I was phoned by my local BBC radio station to ask my thoughts, as a mother to two young daughters, on the latest statistics and to pick my brains on what better ways people can spend their time, instead of being sat in front of the TV. You can find the link here, I'm on at 19 minutes into the show.

It did not take me very long to come up with a list of ideas, many of which we already do as a family anyway. So here are my top things to do when you turn off the TV.

• Plan days out, anything from visiting a local park to a museum, a farm park to a theme park

• Visit a Pick your own Fruit farm like the one we attended for Ruby's birthday treat

• Arts and Crafts, so many things to do ranging from gloop, moon sand to painting

• Play boardgames, dress up and re-enact or make up a story

• Potter around a garden centre

• Taking a stroll around the shops

• Attend a coffee morning or visit a baby or toddler group

• Read a book

• Do a spot of baking

• Enjoy some time outside gardening or birdwatching

• Visit a local library and maybe join a book club

• Visit a local market

• Ride a bike or take a simple walk

• Take up a new hobby like knitting or learn to crochet

• Undertake some studying

• Learn to play a musical instrument

I think it is easy to see from the list above that there is always something to do in our household rather than watch TV. How about you, what do you do? Do you want the TV more or less than the average 4 hours a day?