The Galveston County Daily News

You know the symptoms. Slack mouth. Reduced auditory response to parents’ voices. Lethargy, even seeming paralysis.

It’s TV zombie syndrome.

It can lead to high blood pressure in children, even to eventual alcohol abuse and cigarette smoking, according to recent research.

But there are treatments. Just ask some of the folks in Galveston County who specialize in getting kids off the couch. In volunteer and career work, they coordinate scouting programs, the Boys and Girls Club and church youth ministry.

But they don’t play nicely with TV.

“Just turn it off,” the Rev. Norman Van Johnson, youth pastor at Macedonia Baptist Church said. “I believe the TV ought to be turned off at some time, at some point, in the house. Just absolutely turn it off.”

Cheryl Chatman, director of the Johnny Mitchell Boys and Girls Club in Galveston, points to the bad influences cabled in through television.

“TVs show a lot of violence nowadays,” she said. “If we can just kind of redirect them (children) in doing things that are more fun, then they can learn in the process.”

Rosey Ruiz, who assists her husband, Richard, in his leading of Boy Scout Troop 246 in Texas City, points to the advantages of an off-the-couch lifestyle for children.

“It’s important for children to stay active because your body and mind need the stimulation,” she wrote in an e-mail interview.

Here are suggestions from youth workers on three alternatives to allowing kids to become TV zombies:

• Get your child involved in activities outside of the home.

“It needs to be something where they can fellowship with other children, where they can be taught something positive,” Johnson said.

He grew up the oldest of six in a single-parent household and participated in Saturday church programs as a child.

For boys, Ruiz suggested sports, lawn work, Boy Scouts and teen church group.

For girls, she advised dancing, horseback riding, gymnastics, choir, sports, lawn work (“quality time with Dad”), teen church group and Girl Scouts.

Chatman coordinates a full slate of activities at the Boys and Girls Club Monday through Friday.

“We keep them busy, whether in sports or some other type of activity,” she said. She has worked with the club more than 16 years.

• Get your child involved in volunteer work.

Chatman’s daughter, a high school senior, volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club after school.

Ruiz’s son is involved in student council and national honor society volunteer work. Both her son and daughter are involved in scouting programs that emphasize volunteer community work.

• Set up a real-time relationship with your child, both at home and school.

Johnson, the father of two teens, advised visiting the child’s school at least three times during a grading period.

“Visit to let the child know, ‘I am checking on you, and you are important to me,’” he said.

He also advised reviewing homework with the child.

“I know our parents are busy; they have a lot on their plates,” he said.

“But it is crucial that there is some time spent with the child doing homework ... one-on-one communicating.”

Johnson visits students at school in a ministry of encouragement, persevering to help students in disciplinary programs.

“A child wants to have — not a new Nintendo, not a Playstation, though they may say that,” he said.

“We may believe what they really want is our time.

“That’s what they really need. They need someone who’s willing to pay attention to them and make them feel special.”

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At A Glance

• San Jacinto Council of Girl Scouts, contact Kim Ferrell, 281-212-2933, kferrell(at)sjgs.org or check www.gssjc.org.

• Bay Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, www.bacbsa.org, contact Lisa Stegman, 832-385-5217, lisa.stegman(at)scouting.org.

• Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston, www.bgclubs-houston.org, for ages 7-17; the fee is $3 a year; contact Cheryl Chatman at 409-763-2227.

• Galveston Island State Park programs for children on Saturdays and Sundays, contact Friends of Galveston Island State Park, www.fogisp.org, e-mail FoGISP(at)aol.com, or call 409-737-1222.

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Details To Note

• Boy Scout Troop 246, sponsored by St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Texas City, is having a Pumpkin Patch fundraiser at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School, 1600 Ninth Ave. N., in Texas City, through 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. today and from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.