going tv free with older children

[oliversmum2000]

my children are 9, 7, 4 and 1.

my 1 and 4 year old could cope if i restricted tv a lot more and even my 7 yo wouldnt be so bothered, but my 9 yo is a very high needs child who is very intense and has always had a huge affinity with screens, computer or tv and i know he would really really struggle with having no tv.

i was just wondering how people have coped with reducing or eliminating screen time for older children.

[Mama Shifra]

If your children are going to school, within the next few weeks it will start up. Rahima Baldwin suggested in her book You Are Your Child's First Teacher that times of life's transitions are great times to go TV free. So you could say something to the effect that "with the new school year starting, we are making a new start at home too. With your [the children's] new homework schedule, you are afraid that they will not have enough time to play between homework, school, etc."

[The Harpy]

I am not sure I agree w/ Mama Shifra in that way, I think it will make the child resent school and homework and see it as punishment...

[robugmum]

Our TV "broke" about 4 years ago. We haven't missed it. When it happened my eldest (also, very high needs) was about 7 or 8 years old. We still watch the occasional DVD but TV is just never an issue. I was suprised how simple it was,.

[justKate]

Originally Posted by oliversmum2000

my children are 9, 7, 4 and 1.

my 1 and 4 year old could cope if i restricted tv a lot more and even my 7 yo wouldnt be so bothered, but my 9 yo is a very high needs child who is very intense and has always had a huge affinity with screens, computer or tv and i know he would really really struggle with having no tv.

i was just wondering how people have coped with reducing or eliminating screen time for older children.

I've never posted in TV-free before, but let me tell you what has worked SO WELL for us. Huz and I got rid of cable/tv programming about 45 days ago and we are happy. What we've done is budget (for us, $25 per member of the household) an amount of money that we can spend on iTunes, which has TONS of tv programs. We sold our computer and bought a mac mini, which we have hooked up to the tv. So whatever DVDs we have are allowed, and each person can buy tv shows off of iTunes. When your $25 runs out, you're done (we're on the honor system now, because it's just me, huz, and a toddler). So basically I can buy two seasons of my favorite tv show every three months or so; huz can do the same, and it is still cheaper than what we were paying for cable.

Re. older kids, (we think) this will be a great tool for learning about money. So 9 yr. old gets $20/month (for example). He can buy 4 episodes of X Show plus 4 episodes of Y Show @ $2.50 per episode, or he can buy a whole season of X Show (say 27 episodes) for $20.00. Which will he do? Then he can decide again the next month.

Re. sharing, say the 9 yr. old and 7 yr. old get $25/month to share. Which shows are they going to pick? What will they do if there is money left over? Good values to be taught.

I think you could do the same thing with DVDs, but iTunes just makes it really accessible, which is nice.

There is A LOT less tv watching going on in my house these days. I think I should make a thread about this, maybe....