AREA FAMILIES HAVE TV-FREE ENVIRONMENT

One-fourth of the people answering a survey said they would not give up watching TV for a million dollars. Good news for "TV Guide."

On the other hand, the most recent edition of the venerable "Weekly Reader" is dedicated to the proposition that "Kids Watch Too much TV!" Featured is a 10-year-old who is going to college and has no time for TV.

Nancy and Ben Uzoaru of Cape Girardeau purposely have raised their four children Joe, 12, Marisa, 10, Alisa, 8, and Quinn, 6 in a TV-free environment.

Nancy, a speech therapist at Washington School, wrote one of her graduate papers on the effects of television on children. She discovered that typical preschool children were spending more than a third of their waking hours in front of a TV.

Her paper's conclusion: "Active learning is impossible without participation and mental effort, so the passivity encouraged by television must be overcome if television is to be a tool for positive learning experiences"

Though Nancy remembers "Gilligan's Island," she says, "I was never hooked to TV when I was a child." Ben grew up in Nigeria, attending a Catholic boys school where TV was forbidden. When they met in grad school at Memphis State, neither had a TV.

Nancy is not opposed to her children being entertained. They go to the movies 2-4 times every month. But, illustrated by her work teaching children with speech difficulties, she says learning is not a passive activity.

"You learn to talk and express yourself by interaction with other people not by watching TV."

Ben, who teaches finance at Southeast Missouri State University, views the question analytically.

"We had a feeling the benefit of not watching outweighed the cost of watching," he says. "If they're not watching TV they get involved in all the creative things.

Joe, Marisa and Alisa take piano lessons. Marisa and Alisa also are in the competitive dance program at the Royale Ballet in Cape Girardeau.

They put on shows for their parents. Quinn specializes in puppets.

Aside from his TV diet, Joe seems an otherwise normal boy, a mechanical whiz who likes ice hockey and roller blading.

But both he and Marisa are in the gifted programs at their schools. "The children are really high achievers," Nancy says. "Of course, there's always an argument between whether it's genetic or environmental."

Joe quips: "It can't be genetic."

Marisa, who read 100 books last summer, has told her friends she doesn't watch TV. "They think it's weird," she says. "Then they forget about it."

The Uzoarus finally bought their first TV last year, so Joe could play his Nintendo games. They now watch two shows a week: "60 Minutes" and a teen situation comedy called "Saved by the Bell."

If, when the children become rebellious teenagers, they want to watch TV voraciously, "that wouldn't be an option," Nancy insists.

That kind of TV-watching occurs "if the kids have formed the habit when they are young," Ben says.

Both say a byproduct of severely limiting TV-watching is that their children aren't exposed to the negative aspects of TV, which they view as violence, sex and advertising pressure.

At least that's what they've heard. They don't really know what the network programming chiefs have been up to lately.

"I have nothing against TV as far as entertainment goes," Nancy says. "But I still think it should be limited. It should be a treat, not part of your daily diet."

The "Weekly Reader" reports that a recent Saturday morning of TV yielded 79 TV ads featuring sugary cereals, 59 candy ads and 35 fast food ads. But Brenda and Delmer Lewis swore their children off Saturday morning cartoons for other reasons.

"So much evil is being infiltrated," Brenda says. "Witchcraft and sorcery."

"Papa Smurf is a sorcerer," says 17-year-old Becky, a senior at Christian Faith Academy in Scott City.

The Lewises object to programming that so often conflicts with their Christian beliefs. "It was very difficult to say, `This is the way we live,' and then watch a lot of TV that is extremely different," Brenda says.

"I'm offended by most TV shows," Delmer says. "(They go) against my beliefs, and it has gotten worse over the years. Many shows are anti-family and anti-Christian."

The family's nomination for worst program on TV is "Married with Children," which chronicles the adventures of the Bundy family. Becky has a particular dislike for it.

"They have a slut for a daughter, their son only thinks about sex, there's a husband who doesn't like his wife," she says. "...And the wife thinks his purpose is to make money for her to spend."

The Lewis family lives on a 129-acre farm just west of the Cape Girardeau city limits. The rolling land is dotted with the cattle they raise. Delmer also works at Procter & Gamble.

Daughter Anita, 20, is an elementary education major at the university. Their 14-year-old son Rob also attends Christian Faith Academy.

Two older children already have left the home.

TV was declared persona non grata in the Lewis home on a Sunday six years ago. The older son stayed up late watching the night before, and couldn't get up for church. Delmer cut the TV cord.

"It was a violent act," he says, laughing, "but doesn't quite rate what you see on TV."

He followed by eliciting a six-month commitment from everyone not to watch TV without permission. As with the Uzoarus, the effect was positive.

The children's grades rose. Anita has a GPA above 3.7. Becky is making A's and Rob's close. All three play two instruments. Becky and Rob are on the swim team.

Brenda, who worked in a beauty salon for 25 years, says she knew lots of people who tuned into the fantasies of TV soap operas and were dissatisfied with their own lives.

"I can say that as far as husbands and wives are concerned, if they are watching TV they're not relating to each other," she said.

For the same reason, Becky doesn't like movie dates. "I would rather sit down with someone and share how I feel," she said. "I think that would be the best date."

Brenda thinks too many parents use TV as a baby-sitter. If parents don't relate to their children at a young age, she said, they'll be unable to relate to a teenager using drugs.

Since the cord-cutting day six years ago, the family's TV privileges have been loosened somewhat. But the parents expect to approve any program their children watch.

About once a week they make popcorn and slip a Disney flick into the VCR for "family night."

They're also watching the World Series. But sports and some Christian programming are all the TV they want to see.

Brenda says they keep up with current events "by word of mouth."

"How do I know who I'll vote for?" she asks, anticipating the question. "I think I'll pray on it."