TVs in bedrooms of children

[sneakymom]

What about during the summer time????


QUOTE]

Well- my kids do a lot of "stuff" during the day in the summer. My oldest has to take at least 4 violin lessons over the summer, which means she also has to keep up with her practice schedule (20-30 mins a day, 5x a week).

They've also had "fun" summer school a couple of times. They go to summer school for about 3 hours in the morning, but it's fun stuff. Youngest dd had a fun one last year where they learned about vaudville, oldest got a 2 week course in Latin.

They'll go to sleep-away church camp for a week. They might even go to grandma's for a week (if we have time to schedule it- we're actually thinking about Disney in August before I go back to fall semester). And then there's a week of VBS where we have to be out of the house by 8:30 am, so they can't stay up all night.

When they're home during the day, sometimes they have friends over. Sometimes they just hang out and read. I also require them to do a library reading program where they read for about 30 minutes a day. Oldest dd has to read and take a couple of AR tests at school. Or I take them to the pool to swim. We push bedtime to 10-10:30, and some nights we watch movies, some nights we do board games.

 

[tiffanyl]

I will admit, my 6 yr old has a tv and dvd player in her room. I don't even have one in mine! Go figure! My mom bought her the tv (Mickey Mouse) and DVD player (Disney Princess). She bought her hte tv when she was 4 and the dvd player for Christmas last year.

 

[gemlady]

Originally Posted by ugaimes

For my niece's THIRD (yes, third) birthday, she got something like a 28" TV because she was complaining that her smaller TV was too small!

Why does a 3-year-old need a big TV (or a TV at all) like that in their bedroom in the first place?!?!
I do not find it at all coincidental that we are seeing younger and younger TVs in children's bedrooms at the same time that childhood obesity is on the rise.

I'm shuddering thinking of what will happen when she turns driving age.

Originally Posted by momof3rugratz

I think I made the mistake of letting mine have one. But they are grounded now and I took all cords

They now get a blank screen.

Originally Posted by Dixie_Darlin

My boys have a tv in thier room. Along with a dvd player, V-Tech VSmile game, a couple plug-n-play games and a vcr.
They are NOT allowed to watch it after 8:30pm nor play the games. If they misbehave that day (We use 3 strikes and you're out) they don't get to watch TV at all. I've been known to take all the power cords from EVERYTHING for DAYS at a time

I didn't get a TV in my room until I was 16... and it was an old one too.

A friend of ours did this with all the TVs in the house after remarrying a woman with two pre-teens. This was about 30 years ago, so it required reworking the cords.

And I appalud you for doing this! I have seen episodes of the nanny programs where the kid deserved having the TV taken away.

My first TV in my room? The old B&W portable which got one station after we got our first color set (1984).

 

[momof3rugratz]

I figured if my kids dont want to help me then why should I pay the extra bills for them to watch TV all night.

 

[luckygirl]

Originally Posted by IloveSiamese

What about during the summer time????


When I was little, like 8 years old, me and my 3 younger sisters all slept in the half finished basement (carpet, bathroom, laundry room and one bedroom and the rest open space with 2 double beds in it and a tv) and we'd have disney movie marathons until we fell asleep.

That was by night, but during the day were had to be outside for 80 to 90 percent of the day playing, so there was a balance to things.

That was my summer time too Kallie! We were outside ALL day long, came in for lunch & dinner & then we had to be called in for our bath & bedtime...but on the weekends, we were allowed sleepovers, and would make a point to stay up as late as we could watching nick at night or video's from the video store.... there was no harm done, and we'd all sleep in sleeping bags in the basement!

Those were the times!!!

 

[reesespbc]

Originally Posted by ugaimes

For my niece's THIRD (yes, third) birthday, she got something like a 28" TV because she was complaining that her smaller TV was too small!

Why does a 3-year-old need a big TV (or a TV at all) like that in their bedroom in the first place?!?!
I do not find it at all coincidental that we are seeing younger and younger TVs in children's bedrooms at the same time that childhood obesity is on the rise.

Ok that's just wrong *lol*

You're right though. If more and more kids are inside watching tv instead of playing, that's not good for their health.

 

[momof3rugratz]

I do get lucky my boys love the outside and stuff. I already told them this summer no more then 1 hr of TV a day in the livingroom only rest we are walking, swimmimg, bike riding... See am having a baby I have to use them as my exercise lol. o and basketball. I forgot to tell them I signed them up for soccer in April LOL.

 

[pinkdaisy226]

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Kids need more than TV. They need to read, create, think, be active.

Students these days, in my personal (and very limited, since I've been a teacher for all of 2 years) experience, are seriously lacking in imagination - because they spend too much time watching TV and playing video games. They don't really need to think to do those things and so when it comes to them writing a story or even a sentence about something, anything - they don't know what to do... they've grown dependant on being told what to do instead of coming up with something on their own.

I don't think there's anything wrong with iPods... I can almost guarantee that my child will want/have one when she's got the grades, age, etc to show for it... I'm probably going to be doomed to having a child who wants everything tech-wise (speaking from the woman who has a laptop, the video iPod and a Blackberry) but I'm sure it's all about moderation and, like mentioned already, continually parenting... having firm rules in place and letting them know that these things are priveledges that can be removed for not following the rules. And then following through with the threat.

 

[belongstoevie]

I think a lot of you hit the nail on the head when you said it's not so much about the TV, as about the parenting (or lack thereof).

Still, my personal (and so humble!) opinion is that there is no reason for kids to have their own TV. Time is better spent with the family. Even if that means, in the family room, one person on the PS2, one on the TV, and one a laptop, at least everyoone is in the same room and can interact. I do that all the time with my family now a days!

That being said, I never had a TV in my room as a kid. I was allowed to buy one for myself after I got my first job AFTER graduating high school, before graduating all my money went to daily life and college! When I moved out, I moved in to a studio, so of course my TV was in the same room as my bed. It was no big deal, until my BF moved in with me. Now that we're in a 2 bedroom, I don't think I'll ever have a TV in my room again! He's one that gets GLUED to the TV, and I can't stand him in front of it all night long while I try to sleep... I'll admit, though, even as a kid with no TV I would stay up until 5AM hiding under the covers and reading with a flashlight...

And my kids will never have a TV in their room, either, until they have their own money to buy one for themselves. This way, it is something they've earned for themselves, and they can be proud and respectful. I can't stand parents who use the TV as a babysitter- don't even get me started on TVs/DVDs in cars!!!

I went on 5 week long road trips starting when I was 5 or so, and there are much better ways to entertain yourself as a child in the car- whether it's 5 mins to the store or 5 weeks across country!!! <Getting off my soap box now!

>

 

[tavia'smom]

Well we didn't have a tv in our room but I wish we had our dad watched news and stupid movies, some of which were too graphic for us, and if we were watching something he would turn it when he came in and even now if we was sitting in his favorite chair we had to hop up and move either to the other chair or to the floor and he usually made me let my sister sit in the chair so as not to upset her because she would throw tantrums. Even though I was the oldest. And I enjoyed reading but my dad would not allow me to read most of the time because by the time I was done with homework and dishes and such it was dark and he said I should read in the daytime because the light bill would go up if I read at night. But we had kind of a mixed up childhood. Now I would let a child have a tv in their room provided they met the rules to earn it.

 

[momof3rugratz]

My kids need to read this thread LOL. If ya saw my post last year you noticed we do alot together and alot of fishing and hiking, my kids said it wasnt good to spend so much time with me LOL. Little do they know you all here feel it is good and well I already have the rest of there lives planed out lol So they are stuck with me.

 

[belongstoevie]

Originally Posted by pinkdaisy226

Students these days, in my personal (and very limited, since I've been a teacher for all of 2 years) experience, are seriously lacking in imagination - because they spend too much time watching TV and playing video games. They don't really need to think to do those things and so when it comes to them writing a story or even a sentence about something, anything - they don't know what to do... they've grown dependant on being told what to do instead of coming up with something on their own.

Warning:

<--- me

I know I just posted, but you are SO right, I had to jump back up on that soap box for a minute... I have some DEAR friends, whose kids I love with all my heart, like they were my own. They range in age from 2 to 16. I can see a HUGE difference in their creativity levels. A three year old friend of mine is baby sat by her TV all the time. She can barely entertain herself for 15 minutes before she gets restless and fussy. A 12 year old friend always needs to have her computer or TV on when she's home, unless she has company. She drives her mom crazy if there's nothing good on TV because she can't find anything better to do with herself.

No matter the generation, the motto of every childhood is "I'm bored!", but it seems that is becoming a way of life for the newest generation, and I think that is so sad... When I was bored as a kid, I was thrown outside or in with my toys to draw or any number of activties. When my young friends are bored and I sit down to do these same activities with them, I just don't see the same level of interest. I have to guide them a lot more than some of the other, not-TV addicted kids (Could just be personality, I know), but I've been told many times "Can we just turn on the TV?"

OK, for real this time, I'm off my soap box!!