TV vs. Movies

[Adaline'sMama]

Another thread got me wondering about how many TV free moms do let kids watch movies or go to the movies. We arent completely TV free, but we dont really have TV at our house, other than the occasional streaming netflix or redbox movie and DD doesnt look at the screen for longer than about 5 minutes because she just doesnt seem to care unless its something geared towards kids. Personally, one of my biggest problems with tv is the commercials, and there are no commercials when you rent a movie.

I have taken her to the movie threater and she LOVED it. She had a blast- it was only a 75 minute movie, but she loved every bit of it. We also watch Youtube videos of babies, because she asks to see babies on the computer about once a day (this is probably because she sees me on MDC and my user pic is a picture of her as a little baby). Anyway, we watch the videos so she can see babies since we are about to have a baby. We also look at fish on the computer a lot.

I'm a big fan of "all things in moderation" so I dont really see a big problem with going to the movies every now and then or watching the occasional rented Yo Gabba Gabba with no commercials.

Are there other moms who do movies or commercial free TV but who are pretty opposed to regular television?

[LoveOurBabies]

Yup, me.

We don't have a 'TV' as such, but we do watch movies on the computer. DVD's, appropriate you tube videos etc... It's all good. Today the kids watched a few episodes of Bugs Bunny.

Sitting there vegging out in front of the screen bugs me in general, but one of the major issues I have with TV watching is the constant bombardment of 'buy me' - Children don't need that and neither do adults for that matter. Also live TV seems to never end (you go from program to program to program), whereas with a DVD or movie, there is a stopping point. I think it's a lot healthier than watching TV in general.

We also go to the movies about once a year. The kids love it (understatement).

I like to take the middle of the road approach for everything - Dont eliminate something entirely (otherwise it becomes very lucrative) and don't give in completely. Moderation and careful selection is the key.

I let the kids watch what we used to watch as kids - Looney tunes, Jetsons, Tom and Jerry, old Mickey/Minnie/Goofy cartoons etc. They love it and we enjoy watching the shows too. I can't and don't do the modern cartoons and children's shows - that's where I also draw the line. Modern shows (to me) seem to be quite commercial in nature, moreso than the good old fashioned belly laugh time that the shows of the 70's and 80's used to provide. 

[Imakcerka]

When we got rid of cable we found that they had more screen time with movies.  With cable I allowed 30 minutes or so and with movies they would want to watch one or two.  Mostly because they couldn't agree on a movie and so we would end up allowing two movies in a day when we had down days like rain or no need to go out.  When we went back to cable, they were back to their 30 minutes if that a day and for the most part I can't get them to stay inside long enough to watch tv.  They go to bed pretty early and get up early so they have all the day light hours to play outside.