It’s not rocket science:Good parents turn off TV and pick up a bookMost days, I’m a pretty good mom.I adhere to a regular bedtime routine, I’m a stickler for balanced meals (I bribe my 3-year-old with dessert to get him to eat his vegetables) and my 8-year-old son isn’t embarrassed yet to hug me in public.In fact the best compliment anyone can give me is to say, "Lori, you’re such a good mom."I’m not alone feeling this way.Most all parents will do anything for their kids, and they love their kids more than anything in the world.Unfortunately, love, vegetables and a bedtime routine aren’t enough, according to child development expert Hilary Stecklein.I and a roomful of other conscientious parents were a bit humbled by her presentation, "How to Build a Better Brain," Tuesday in the Luverne Elementary School commons.We learned that despite our best efforts at stellar parenting, we often fall short and let the TV mind the children.Stecklein said TV and other media (computers, video games, etc.) aren’t necessarily bad. They’re only bad if parents allow them to be.In essence, she said, too much screen time (anything more than two hours per day) causes brain damage — especially for developing children.It’s partly due to bad messages and stimulation overload, but it’s mostly due to the fact that when children are watching TV, they’re not doing other positive things that promote healthy brain development.For example, they’re not playing creatively, they’re not socializing, they’re not getting physical exercise and they’re absorbing all kinds of negative messages about violence, body image, etc.Stecklein empathized with parents, but encouraged us all to try harder.She said the sad truth in most homes is that many days we and the kids come home tired, hungry and — consequently grumpy. It seems the best fix at those times is to turn on the TV and decompress.The problem, though, is that it often never gets turned off.Her No. 1 challenge Tuesday night was to at least turn off the TV at meal time and have everyone sit down and eat together — to actually speak to one another, face to face, without media competing for attention.Her other equally important challenge is to read to our children."The message you’re sending them," she said, "is that nothing in the universe is more important than this moment."Stecklein, a pediatrician, points to an abundance of scientific research that says too much media decreases children’s success in life, and that reading to them — even if it’s only 20 minutes a day — markedly improves their chances at success in life.It’s really not rocket science.Common sense would dictate that a little one-on-one with a book is better for kids than TV is.But common sense for tired families requires a little effort, and that, Stecklein said, is the challenge, even for the best parents.