For those of you who let your kids watch TV...

[amber913]

what are your rules, if you have any?

My 4-yo would sit and watch Sponge Bob all day, if I let him. I can't seem to come up with a time limit/time of day to watch that works for us. He's only in preschool twice a week for 2.5 hours, so we're home quite a bit.

Thanks!

[fridgeart]

I'm not a fan of TV because of the commercials, but we let our 3YO watch dvds, so we can limit the exposure (both in terms of time and content.)
She watches up to an hour after lunch during the week (she dropped naps and I need some quiet time!). No exceptions. Any later than that, and she's nutty at night, any more, and I feel guilty about putting her in front of the tv. I hate it, but it buys me some time to do house stuff, play with the baby, or you know, eat and relax
My mom let her watch a bit of tv one morning while we were visiting, and we had to hear about it for months, that Gma let her watch out of her "normal" time.
It's going to be hard during winter when we can't get out as much/as easily! Does he play board games/independently?

[mamabella]

My son is also in preschool for that same amount of time and is about to turn 4. We try to stick to either 2 shows in the morning (like a PBS, noggin, etc. 1/2 hour show) or 1 show in the morning and 1 show while I am making dinner. If he doesn't ask for the show, I don't remind him.

I don't let him watch tv during mealtimes. Also, if he nags me about it a lot or we have a particularly *challenging* day - like if he doesn't listen/obey me, refuses to clean up or does other typical 3 & 4 year old manipulative things that annoy me (like doing what I say but doing it at the pace of a sloth while smirking at me) - then his tv priviledges are the first thing to go and he has to earn them back.

Also we let him choose 1 movie a week from the library for "family movie night" on Fridays - we eat dinner early and make popcorn together for that and let him stay up a little late. In a perfect world this would mean we all get to sleep in a little later on Saturday morning but alas this never happens...

I do have to add though that my son LOVES music and would listen to that all day if I let him - its usually the first thing he asks for in the morning and the last thing he asks about at the end of the day. So we do play an awful lot of music in our house of all different genres (depending on whether mama decides its her turn to "share" the cd player). I do think that he plays a lot more creatively though in a "quiet" house - when the music and tv is off - he will go through a brief "I am bored" period where he is just into everything he shouldn't be and then he will settle down and play really intensely for a while by himself.

[Jessy1019]

I'd try to distract him before I'd set a limit -- that's always worked for my kids. They enjoy watching tv, but they prefer to be playing a game with me, helping me cook, taking a bath, doing a craft, etc. They sometimes defer to the tv out of boredom, and distraction works.

[DevaMajka]

I let ds watch tv. He's good at self regulating though. He turns his cartoons off by himself every day, often before they are over (he watches Kids CBC, which is like PBS, which ends at the same time every weekday. He watches videos on weekends), and sometimes only watches a half hour and is done and moves on to drawing or playing.

His limit used to be 2 hours a day (very little tv before he was 2 or 3). I set it at that because it seemed to be the amount that he was satisfied with, and I thought that left plenty of time to play and do creative stuff the rest of the day. Basically, it looked to me like after 2 hours, he was just watching tv to watch it, not because he really wanted to, if that makes any sense. I was right- after that time, when I suggested (sometimes it was a strong suggestion) turning the tv off, he was fine with it. Somehow he got way better in a short time after that, because he rarely watches that much tv in a day now, by his own choice. I pretty much stopped having any limits, because he's pretty good at limiting himself.

I'm not much help on limiting it. Sorry. I definitely believe that some kids are not very good at self regulating tv. I know my ds is horrible at self-regulating candy/sweets (he'd eat WAY too much if I let him).

[Alyantavid]

My kids are in daycare and school so most of the day they aren't watching anything. In the afternoon/evenings, I try very hard to find other things for them to do and we just ignore the tv. Weekends are the same. They usually watch cartoons for awhile and then maybe a movie. I've found they're much less snippy if they haven't seen a whole lot.

They did spend the last 2 days home sick with Daddy and I think they watched tv all day long both days. So we'll have to work on the withdrawls from that.

[rabbitmum]

Only after dinner for a maximum of half an hour, i.e. from about six to half past six. He can choose betwen a DVD or a children's program. He is never left alone to watch, either I or my husband will watch it with him (so he has to wait until everybody has finished eating). We try not to make TV after dinner too much of a habit, so if he's busy playing we don't ask him if he wants to watch TV, and if we're out we don't hurry home to watch TV.

I never let any of my kids watch TV in the daytime - except for special family film afternoons when they're a little older.

[The4OfUs]

I limit content, but don't really limit time, because most of the time the kids aren't really watching, it's just kind of on...they're off playing this or that, and if they see a show they like they'll stop for a few minutes. I only let them watch Playhouse disney in the mornings, and PBS kids or Noggin in the afternoons. I was letting them watch Boomerang, and they were watching SpongeBob every once in a while, but I didn't like things they were picking up from the shows, so we went back to just those 3 channels. Or a DVD we have, if they want - though we've had to recently limit content on those too as my younger picked up a few unkind phrases from supposedly 'kid friendly' movies....the 4 yo understands to not copy them, but the 2-yo doesn't get it yet.

SO some days, there's a lot of TV watching here, sometimes there's very little. They don't *need* TV, and it doesn't turn them into zombies - they're fine if it gets turned off, and they get involved in other stuff. It's just one of many things they do throughout the day.

I have friends whose kids do turn into the stereotypical zombies, i.e., just sitting there staring and sucked in - so they limit time...if I had kids like that, I would limit time too...but my kids aren't sucked in/zombie type kids, so I just limit content. I don't let them watch shows where the characters are rude, sarcastic, unkind, etc. It's all gentle, friendly, nonviolent, noncommercial, etc.

[Caneel]

DS is three and the only thing he watches on TV is Sesame Street and once in a great while, Bob the Builder. He does have a few Sesame Street DVDs as well as Nemo and the like. So far, he doesn't know that things like Nickelodena (sp?), Disney Channel, etc. exist.

He doesn't watch every day and his desire to watch goes in spurts. I will admit to popping a Sesame Street DVD (or 3) in so I have time to start dinner and relax on a Friday night.

I am not thrilled with the Nemo/Cars viewing but I find it interesting to see him use the characters and events as a springboard for creative play.

What DS does what a lot of and it is becoming a problem is the news. DH is a news junkie and watches the nightly national news, CNN, CNBC, Meet the Press, etc.

DS is starting to pick up on some of the more distrubing stuff and asking questions. One particular event sticks in my mind is DS seeing war footage and being distrubed by the human suffering aspect.

[SleepyMamaBear]

we are pretty RU's so we dont limit time on the screen. its an option for dd1 to choose, just like computer games, crafting, board games, dollhouse, groovy girls, etc. we do limit her to watching Sprout, Noggin, and some Nick Jr, playhouse disney, etc. sometimes she watches spongebob when she feels like it.
i try to let her self regulate, and it works out ok for us.

[treemom2]

Our DD only watches TV on the weekends, usually at night and usually videos as a family. We are usually too busy to watch very much TV, so it is usually 1 or 2 movies a weekend or less depending on the weather. DS stays up later than DD during the week since he gets up a lot later in the morning (and it's a lot easier for me to get DD ready for school before having to deal with getting DS ready as well). At night he might watch a couple shows on a video after she goes to bed. . .so maybe an hour. We don't have cable for American TV or for Japanese TV, so it is all videos in our house. Sometimes our children do go to the neighbor's house and she records Japanese anime for them to watch. . .but that isn't very often (DD does have a fav show that's on Sundays and is 1/2 hour that we will let her go watch when there is time at the neighbor's house).

[meemee]

is he just sitting watching tv all the time? or is the tv on and he is doing something else and coming back to watch it once in a while.

with my dd i have never stopped her watching tv. i have told her how much and then left it up to her. that worked in my house.

the other thing is i have noticed with her is two kinds of tv watching. 1. out of boredom. 2. out of interest.

boredom is the one i try to cut out. by getting some interesting activity going. and then inviting her to join me. but if she is enjoying tv she doesnt need to. 9 out of 10 times she comes over to do the activity.

but sometimes she gets tired and does stuff on her own.

dd did go thru a phase i think around late 2 or early 2 when she was glued to teh tv. and i allowed her that - coz that is her personality. she takes a lot in. and then is done.

at almost 3 1/2 she watched tv 8 hours a day for a month. i was at my moms oceans away and didnt have too much for her. i was too distracted to pay her much attention. seh would watch and play with things on the bed.

today at 6 tv is no biggie. i have no rules anymore except content.

so i treated tv as a toy. a phase. sometimes she was sooo into it. then she was done.

[dawncayden]

We don't have a limit.
Everyday is different. Some days he watches too much because its rainy/we are lazy/we are sick etc.
Some days he watches only 15 minutes.

I enjoy not having a set limit so I don't feel guilty I also find that when I look back on the past week of tv watching, it has all balanced out.

If I want him to turn the tv off, I suggest an alternative first.

We also don't have cable, so when I say tv, its downloaded stuff or dvds.

[veggiemomma]

I limit content pretty heavily. THey can watch some things on PBS - they like Curious George and Martha Speaks and Superwhy. They also like to watch Andy Griffith and my ds loves to go to my dad's house and watch "If Walls Could Talk" where they discuss the hidden history of old houses.

They watch one hour in the evening while I fix dinner, although they usually end up coming to help me instead of finishing their shows. Sometimes, we watch a movie in the evenings if we have enough time after their baths. DH and I usually don't even turn the TV on until after they are asleep in bed.

It's hard when it is right there in the room, especially if they can reach it. What really helped us was putting our TV in an armoire where we could close the doors when we didn't want to watch it. Out of sight, out of mind - believe it or not, it kinds of works. Good Luck!

[eccomama]

i dont let dd watch live TV. I dont think she knows what it really is. i have on demand so she picks a show from there and once an episode is over, it's over. i also have some shows taped that she will ask for.
she's in pre-k all week so she will only ask for a show sometimes in the eve (especialy now that the eves are so dark). movies are reserved for weekends, we have one movie night either fri or sat eve.

[Justmee]

In the morning before gan if they are ready (rarely more than 5 min) before we go.

When they get home maybe 1 show (20 min). Two shows (40 min) if I'm having a hard time or whatever. Many days I don't turn it on at all. If we have friends over no TV allowed since a lot of people here don't allow it and it's easier to have a blanket rule than for me to go around calling parents and asking if they allow tv / dvd / video / etc.

[LynnS6]

Our kids are allowed about 60-90 minutes of 'screen time' a day, which for TV works out to be 2-3 shows a day (usually 2 shows on weekdays and 3 on weekends). We have a DVR and the shows they like are 25-30 minutes. But, if they play computer games, then there's less TV.

Our "rules":
They can only watch kids' shows or DVDs. Since we have the DVR they either watch that or "On Demand" stuff, and they don't channel surf.

Once their limit is up, it's up. No more (unless someone is sick - parent or child, then we tend to get a bit lax).

No TV/computer games after dinner. I found it was winding them up too much and they weren't settling down to sleep. (And it's not like they go to bed early. We eat dinner at 6 pm, and they go to bed at 8:30 or 9 pm.)

What it usually works out is that they watch 1-2 shows in the AM and 1-2 right before dinner. Since it's part of the 'routine' and they know the limits, it's not that much of a battle any more.

[KathinJapan]

it goes in spurts here. weeks and months can go by with hardly any watching, then suddenly DD1 is asking to watch almost every day. I also live in Japan but do have American TV. Mostly we do DVDs or videos. limit is usually one.
Kathryn

[tommom]

My ds will be 4 in April. He watches some tv in the am as he is still waking up and a little crabby, usually 8:30-9:30ish depending on if we have to get out that day. No more tv until after nap is a big rule here and if the behavior is bad the tv is the first privilege to go. So he can watch a show or video as he is waking up from nap and then that's it. No tv after dinner. That time is for quieting down, or at least trying to. I have found that the times tv is on around here the choices are usually good for his age-Little Einsteins, Sesame, Curious George, Superwhy are probably his top four. If I can't find something appropriate on it must be a video instead. I just tell him that only junkie tv is on that only bigger kids (like his cousins) can watch. If he can't handle that then sorry no tv.

[Phoenix~Mama]

We don't have a time limit per se... She watches her ballerina movie, then when it's over it is time to play with something else. We don't let the TV be on all day. It is always off at meal times.

Typically at our house she doesn't watch shows, but rather DVD's of things we know are okay. I got her the Littles full collection for Christmas and Charlotte's Web.

I just feel mor comfortable with the DVD's than most of the cartoons on TV these days.