New research is suggesting that if you want to stop your children pestering you for toys, ration the amount of TV they watch.

Researchers have found that children in the US, who now see some 20,000 TV commercials a year for toys, are noticeably influenced by advertising.

And if you are one of those thirtysomethings who wonders why children today seem to want for so much more than you were a child in the 1970s, it could be because the number of adverts children see today is double compared with 30 years ago.

The study, published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics challenged pupils at one American school to watch less TV and video games. Children at another school were given no encouragement to avoid watching TV.

Researchers found that those who watched less TV were less likely to report asking their parents for toys than children from the other school.

However the difference may have been fairly negliable because parents said they hadn't noticed a significant reduction in the number of 'I wants'.