According to The Nielsen Co., watching television is almost a full-time job for preschoolers.

The latest research from the company that measures television usage indicates that the average American child between the ages of 2 and 5 is in front of the television for more than 32 hours a week.

Yikes.

That's more than 4 1/2 hours a day. For kids as young as 2.

Yikes.

They're spending almost almost 26 1/2 hours watching live or recorded telecasts; more than 5 1/2 hours watching videotapes or DVDs; and more than an hour playing video games.

(See info below. The totals reflect that kids may watch TV and play video games at the same time.)

The numbers are somewhat lower for kids ages 6-11, but not a whole lot. And the most obvious explanation for the difference — about four hours less total — is that the older kids are in school.

Still, kids ages 6-11 are spending more than 23 hours watching live or recorded telecasts; almost three hours watching videotapes or DVDs; and nearly 2 1/2 hours playing video games.

Yikes.

According to Nielsen, these numbers represent an eight-year high.

I'm the last person who will tell you that television, in and of itself, is bad. On the contrary, there are literally hundreds of hours of worthwhile programming on TV every week — everything from "Sesame Street" to documentaries.

Not to mention just plain good ol' entertainment.

But just because there are hundreds of hours of worthwhile programming doesn't mean kids need to try to watch every single minute.

And let's not kid ourselves here. We all know kids aren't spending 32 hours a week watching the healthy stuff.

If you leave kids to choose either apples and oranges or candy and ice cream, which will most of them decide to eat?

How much of the time kids spend in front of the TV are they ingesting empty calories? How much of that time are they exposed to programming that's downright bad for them?

That's a question that can only be answered on a family-by-family basis.

Chances are that most parents would be shocked if they actually sat down and counted how much time their kids spend watching TV. And I'd be willing to bet that, almost without exception, almost every parent would be shocked if they knew exactly what their kids were watching.

Sure, it's anecdotal evidence, but over the past 20 years I've asked a lot of kids what they watch on TV. Again, almost without exception, every group of kids comes up with shows that are clearly inappropriate for their age group.