The Christian Science Monitor reported on a Census Bureau report issued on Wednesday. It appears parents are more active in regulating their children’s media consumption.

US kids get new trend: more active parents | csmonitor.com

Among other things, parents are reading more to their children and placing more restrictions on their television viewing than they did 10 years earlier. Nine percent more children are taking classes outside school, and 5 percent fewer 12- to 17-year-olds had to repeat a grade.”It appears parents are more involved with their kids than they were 10 years ago,” says Jane Dye, a family demographer with the US Census Bureau who helped compile the data, which was based on the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation.

The news may seem startling to those accustomed to headlines about kids glued to the TV, but experts say the Census data confirm a trend of more protective, involved parenting that has been going on for some time.

If so, I’m glad to see this happening. When I (eventually) have children, I intend to keep them away from the TV and computer as much as possible. That includes video games. On the menu are grass, legos, coloring books, and worms (think, fishing;). I know, I know, it is hard to make this commitment so far out in the future when I haven’t had to deal with a child, dinner, and homework all at the same time. But I mean it. It will be difficult, but I think my wife and I can work things out with a little team work.