how much television...

[mommariffic]

Do your children watch?

I was anti TV until Paige was about 14 months, but now I'm happy to let her watch a DVD or Little Bear on-demand. I try to fill our days with crafts, outings, books, and lots of nature and baking but we DO watch TV. Maybe 1 hr in the morning [if that] and 1 hr at night [if that]

Some days, like today, she's cranky and tired from a busy day before, so we watch a few movies throughout the day. I kind of take my cues from her - she doesn't really nap anymore, and I know if she's not into her books or is just screeching, she needs a rest.

So, how much TV do your kids watch?
Do you monitor it, or try to limit it?
Do you think that TV maybe isn't the devil, and it's all about balance?

This is one of the topics I obsess about, so I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[umsami]

My kids watch a lot less since we went to basic basic cable (only normal stations, PBS, and weather channel.)

They usually watch about 1/2 an hour in the a.m. ... and then maybe 1/2 hour to an hour in the afternoon.... but not always.

Back when we had Noggin and Disney, they watched it almost all day long. It was always on.

Now, when we visit my Mom and Dad who have uber-cable, they sit there with their eyes glazed over. Kinda scary.

[Drummer's Wife]

well, it's varied though out the past 8 years.

We've gone from having cable and the kids watching quite a bit of tv, to going tv-free for a year where they only watched movies and shows on netflix/computer.

Now, we have one television set up in the family room, but no cable. That limits the kids shows to PBS, and that tends to equal about 1-2 hrs per day, if they happen to want TV during the time period that there are kids shows. And really, they are busy doing something else while it's on. My older two kids are in school until 4:30, here PBS is over by 5 and they tend to want to play outside at that time anyway... so it's really just the 2 and 4 yo who watch anything during the day.

Mostly, though, the TV is used for the wii or DH and I watching a select amount of shows in the evening (24, Idol, The Office and the occasional news). The kids sometimes watch with us, and sometimes not.

We intend to get digital cable in the next couple months; I just hope that doesn't up the TV use. My DD, I know, would sit and watch the Disney channel constantly if we had it.

[mar123]

My kids are school age. We do not watch any TV at all Monday-Thursday. Friday nights we all watch something together, picnic on the floor and just relax as a family. The weekends, it really depends on the weather and what other things we have to do. My son watched quite a bit of TV when he was younger. I was teaching, he was at a sitter's house. She LOVED him and the feeling was mutual, but he did get addicted to TV. It is the only thing I really regret. TV totally turns his brain off- he becomes hyper focused. My girls are not big TV watchers and I am thrilled with that. The only time they watch any significant amount is when they are sick.

[momasana]

My DS is 20 months old and does not watch much television. Some days if one of us is feeling droopy we might cuddle up and watch Wild Kingdom on Animal Planet or something similar, but that is not very often.

[St. Margaret]

This past week of fever and utter illness, a LOT. It's the only thing we can do to help pass the time and take our minds off of feeling crummy. But she told me today (we hit playgroup for the first time since getting better) that TV is "over" . She gets that it's just for special times. Occassionally we'll watch a two minute youtube video of rubber duckie or a 30 min yoga kids DVD. It tends to come in fits and spurts, so we don't sweat it, when she's asking for it a lot. WE agree with the research that it's not good for kids, but we do a tiny bit for sure. At a year she was obsessed with Signing Time and it was dreadful, but I think she just really wanted to learn to communicate. Once she had learned all the signs, she stopped asking for it. So I chill when she asks for rubber duckie every day for a week, b/c I know for a month after we'll have no TV

I hate having the TV on. I like watching a select few good quality shows for good acting and storytelling, but having it on makes me feel lousy by the end of the day. So I never wanted to have it on kids shows or daytime shows all the time, as a SAHM.

[SeekingJoy]

I hate how much DS watches, but I haven't found a solution to fully occupy him while I put DD to sleep. If I leave him with toys or books, he still finds a way/reason to come "check" on us. It works out to about 30 right after lunch and another 45min-1 hour at night.

[bubbamummy]

Id say my 13 month old son watches maybe and hour a month. He only watches it when I need to clean the bathroom (our bathroom is SUPER small and takes about 5-10 minutes to clean!!) and I dont like him being around bleach and bleach fumes, so during that time he watches Nick Jr. That is all though. The TV doesnt go on at all during the day normally and I only usually watch The Office and House (so 2 hrs a week )

[mylovere123]

They like watching TV very much...

[pixiekisses]

We don't have a TV, we don't want one.
(Or, we have one actually, but it's down in the basement somewhere.)
We have a big Mac screen in the library and we watch a film there when we want to, but it's not every day. Sometimes, in summer, we can go weeks and months without watching anything at all.

[cappuccinosmom]

In the winter, as much as 2 hours a day. However, it's not random TV, but dvd's picked by me, so it's slightly less awful.

In spring and summer, much, much less. This year I would like to see us watch no tv at all through the summer, though I doubt that will happen.

[zoedeansmom]

When everyone feels well and the weather is decent, DD1 is usually too busy outside to ask for TV. When we're inside, she wants it constantly. I got tired of making the decision over and over all day of when we could have it on, etc. So, I got out 4 poker chips. She gets them at the beginning of each day. One "tv token"=I show (20 min w/o commercials). It takes 2 tokens for a video since they usually contain 2 episodes. All together, still a bit more than I would like her to see when she uses all of them. But way less than she was seeing on some days before. And it's teaching her simple math and budgeting skills. And no more arguments. No tokens=no more tv. End of discussion. It's also something I can take away for discipline reasons. I've only done that a couple of times, but it really made an impact!

[zoedeansmom]

Oh! And to keep ourselves in check and so we wouldn't be hypocrites, DH and I each get 4 TV tokens a day, too. 1=1/2 hour of tv. But we don't watch TV during the day and dvr all the shows we keep up with, then watch them after the kids are in bed. But on the rare instance I want to see a Daily Show or Oprah interview during the day, DD sees me "turn in" a token. And she still has to ask before she uses a token so I can approve whatever she's going to watch. She's incredibly responsible about it, even pulling a chair over herself to put a token on the shelf I put "used" ones on if I'm distracted or forget. And she turns off the TV herself immediately when the show ends. We're hoping not only to limit TV, but to teach her to only have it on for the duration of a show, not to get into the habit of leaving it on as "background noise" or to just flip through channels when bored.

[kirstenb]

DS rarely watches TV. He's not very interested yet. He's also in daycare during that day so there is no time in the week when he would watch, and the weekends we are running around. He never used to pay attention to it at all even when kids' shows are on, but I noticed the other day when we were visiting friends that he was watching it for short periods of time. I don't mind TV in moderation so if he did want to watch a little I wouldn't have a problem with it.

[kirstenb]

zoedeansmom, I love your token idea. I'll have to remember that for the future.

[mar123]

I love the token idea as well! I am a teacher, and I don't put my kids in camps all summer. You can only do so much when it is 98 degrees outside, so TV can easily get out of control at the age my kids are. I think this is a wonderful idea!

[umsami]

We have an actual token TV timer. I don't let DH give me tokens unless I've exercised that day.

http://www.familysafemedia.com/tv_ti..._tv_timer.html

[NiteNicole]

I don't really stress about how much she watches daily. If the weather is fine and we're all healthy, we'll spend most of the day outside. If the weather is awful and/or some of us are sick and we've exhausted all the other inside options (you know, day four of constant rain and no one wants to play play doh or make one more sofa fort), she will watch a fair amount. I'm much more worried about what than how much.

I sort of figure as long as tv is fairly far down on her list of things to do, as long as it's not her first choice and I'm having to pry her off the sofa to get outside, we're ok.