Katrina Tweedie ELLEN Currey-Wilson was a former TV addict who decided her son would not watch television before the age of six.

"I wanted my son to grow up knowing his own friends better than the cast of Friends," said Ms Currey- Wilson, the author of The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-addicted Mother Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid.

Without the prompted stimulus of TV from an early age, her son Casey developed more unusual pastimes such as map reading and Ms Currey- Wilson admitted that at times he missed the same social reference points as his peers, such as when they discussed or playacted a favourite TV programme.

He was almost regarded as eccentric by other parents, reluctant to invite him for play days because he had little interest in watching TV like other children.

"It's not that easy to get a young child to watch television at first," said Ms Currey-Wilson. "Babies are programmed to be in close contact with those around them, affectionate people who laugh and smile. But TV producers work hard to woo babies to their shows, and so do parents."

Having never developed a TV fixation or habit, Casey, now aged 12, still has little interest in watching the box.

"We do have one and the option is there to watch it but Casey has never showed an interest in TV, computer games or surfing the net, much preferring his hobbies instead," says Ms Currey-Wilson "He hikes and loves taking photographs which he downloads and turns into presentations. We'll watch a movie once or twice a week as a family but it remains turned off the rest of the time. When Casey's friends visit we find interesting activities for them to do.

"Casey has much more time for other interests because he isn't obsessed by TV and whatever he does he does intently, with great concentration.

"I think the internet is a fabulous tool if you exercise balance and control and Casey uses it for school and research."

The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mum Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid by Ellen Currey-Wilson is published by Fusion Press (£10.99) www.visionpaperbacks.co.uk