We all know that it can be hard to get the kids to move, especially when they’re plonked down in front of the television, but did you know that TV time could be doing your young ones more harm than good?

The Irish Sun reports that toddlers who spend most of their time in front of the television are more likely to be fat and unfit later on in life. In fact, every extra hour of television that a child aged 2-4 watches on a daily basis leads to almost half a millimetre increase in their waist measurement.

Even more worryingly, children who watched more than 18 hours of television per week were almost a centimetre wider around the middle by the time they reached the age of 10.

These couch-potato style results come from a study that was carried out by the University of Montreal in Canada.

“The bottom line is that watching too much television is not good,” said Dr Linda Pagani, the lead researcher of the study.

“These findings support clinical suspicions that more screen time contributes to the rise in excess weight. Watching more TV not only displaces other forms of educational and active leisurely pursuits, but also places them at risk of learning inaccurate information about proper eating,” she added.

So, if your child has a habit of sitting in front of the television, it might be a good idea to do what you can to get them out and about.