Regiment are to be welcomed.

The Regiment serves a valuable role in Bermuda, both in its ceremonial role and as a force for preserving internal security.

It also serves a broader social role, giving young men and women discipline and self-respect they may not be receiving in the rest of their lives and also in breaking down race and class barriers between young Bermudians. When rich and poor and white and black take on challenges together -- whether at Warwick Camp or in the Jamaican countryside -- they learn they are not so different after all.

But this is a good time for the functions of the Regiment to be looked at again. It has been 22 years since the last serious riots, 19 since the last General Strike and 12 years since Hurricane Emily.

The Regiment had a vital role in all three of these incidents -- it was embodied on each occasion -- but an examination of what role the army should now play is also needed, especially since the closure of the US Bases has left the Island without a close naval and air-sea rescue operation.

An expanded Coast Guard capability and more adventure training to keep soldiers' interest up could all be examined while the Regiment continues with its traditional roles.

More of the Island's young people, not fewer, would benefit from the camaraderie and discipline which comes from the Regiment; it might be worth cutting the period of compulsory service back to two years from three but expanding the intake or number of training camps each to allow more young people to benefit from the great experience of the Bermuda Regiment.

TV TIME EDT TV time On Saturday, we published an excerpt from an editorial in a US newspaper which commented on the dangers of children under the age of two watching television.

The American Academy of Paediatrics warned last week that children under the age of two who watch too much television lose vital opportunities for close interaction with older people and other stimuli which are important for a child's social development.

While the Academy acknowledges there has been little reliable research done, it seems common sense that a small child who is dropped in front of the television for hours each day is unlikely to develop as quickly as a child who is exposed to a range of different stimuli.

Too often television become a form of pacifier; the infant, mesmerised by the screen gives harried parents a breathing space. But there are risks that peace won at that age could lead to greater problems later, such as obesity or shortened attention spans -- problems often attributed to TV.

The Academy recommends that infants should not watch television if they are under the age of two and that children under the age of eight should not have TVs in their bedrooms.

For many parents, keeping babies entirely away from TV may not be feasible, but monitoring and limiting TV watching for children is good advice -- when children get off the couch, they will find there is an infinitely more fascinating world waiting for them.