Quality day care providers were probably shocked by the survey results: Children in home-based day cares can spend as much as two-hours a day in front of the television.

One local provider pointed out the very real and simple issue with television and children: "I hope it doesn't go on that much," said Stacy Scheck at Daisy Day Care. "TV is not the way to teach our preschoolers."

No, television isn't the way to teach our children. Studies show that too much television leads to lethargic children, development issues and attention loss.

But to our local day care providers, we would say don't be shocked, be comforted in the fact that most are doing a good job, parents will seek out your services and demand similar quality from others.

The key is parents. For parents, it's easy to tell the good daycare provider from the bad - talk to your kids and pay attention. Leave the bad providers behind and find better services - that's a parent's responsibility.

And when you get home, share in the responsibility to keep children from getting too much television time. A second part of the study added more concern to the amount of television time children were getting - it's reported children get the same or more television time at home meaning in any given day young children could be parked in front of the television for more than four hours.

Television has been criticized since the first black and white television crackled to life decades ago.

In 1961, Federal Communication Commission chairman Newton Minow delivered a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters and called television a "vast wasteland." He challenged providers to put quality, socially-responsible content on the airwaves.

The vast wasteland he perceived more than 40 years ago today is littered with 24-hour options and hundreds of channels from which to chose. The challenge today isn't so much making good programming available (History channel, National Geographic etc.) it's relying too heavily on that medium to provide quality time for children.

But television can't do that - parents and quality daycare providers can.

Good daycares - in-home or those in centers - aren't planting children in front of televisions for hours on end. Good daycare providers interact with children, read, play and stimulate their senses; parents have the same role.

We should be concerned by the survey results but use them as a reminder that when the television goes off, young minds go on. And turning that young mind on is a responsibility we all share.