To be fair, about the kid being close to the TV, you had to have the console right by the TV and this was the era before wireless controllers.
Your best bet was if you had the ability to pull the console away from the TV, which most of us couldn't do, and then just the 5-6ft of controller wire.
Any further and you felt like a Suspension Bridge, and were at risk of pulling the console from its shelf (which we did, and it still worked afterwards!).
Risky business.