Dear Grandparenting: Which ones are the worst TV shows out there for grandchildren in your opinion? I can’t be bothered owning a TV set. My daughter in Virginia has three of them and they are always on. She says it quiets them down. My grandchildren eat and do homework in front of TV. They would spend their whole life there if they could. That’s not a great habit to have. Everyone says TV rots little brains. I am paying them a visit next month to see for myself what you think is really bad. Carolyn Hunt, The Villages, Florida

Dear Carolyn: Don’t mistake us as avid watchers of children’s televised programming. Who can keep up with it all? Thanks to the growth of cable television channels like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, young viewers are targeted with an endless stream of televised content. As a result, television has strengthened its grip on the hearts and minds of grandchildren. Those born after 2005 spend a whopping 35 hours a week in front of the screen — almost the equivalent of an adult workweek.

Thousands of studies on the subject paint a disturbing picture of TV’s impact. The social interaction that babies and toddlers crave arrives in the form of TV shows geared to audiences under 2. Instead of absorbing the wisdom of adult caretakers, grandchildren take their cues from what plays out on the screen. Repeat something enough times, and they come to believe it. Older grandchildren who grew up watching TV can suffer in ways too numerous to count. Their sleep, grades, behavior and family life are more apt to take a turn for the worse.

Insidious as it may be, there’s no doubt TV is a great babysitter. Is it all that bad? Of course not — whole entertainment and educational content abound. But that’s not what grandchildren may have in mind.

You inquired about the worst shows, but the greater question is how to manage the blizzard of TV programs at a grandchild’s fingertips. To our way of thinking, TV’s drastic potential for damage calls for drastic measures. Either eliminate cable or actively monitor what your grandchildren watch. Or take it one step further — we have yet to find a grandchild who crashed and burned because they grew up without the boob tube, period.

GRAND REMARK OF THE WEEK

Monty from Las Vegas, Nevada, admits he sometimes loses his temper when his grandchildren get on his nerves.

“So I found this little sign that reminds me to behave when they visit. It says, ‘Lord give me patience, and I want it now!’”