At what age should a kid have a TV in her room, if ever?

[bas71873]

I was not allowed a TV in my room until I was a senior in HS and while at the time I "hated" my parents for it, now that I am a mom to DD6, I get it and have been adament that she would not have a TV in her room.

In our old house she had a small TV in her playroom, but we recently moved and now that she has a huge bedroom, it serves as both bedroom and playroom and I'm having the TV in the room debate (mostly with myself) again. It's not that she watches a lot of television,, but she is very into movies, especially musicals, and is rarely idol while watching. She is famous for watching a movie, Alladin for example, yet she has on her Jasmine costume and all her Jasmine/Alladin related figurines and castles and plays along with the movie.

So, long story short, do your kids have TVs in their bedrooms? At what age did you allow them? Are there restrictions with watching them? Oh, and on a side note, my DD is not a video game gal. We don't have any playstations, WII or handheld DS's and stuff like that. She's just not into video games at all, so I don't have to wonder about constant video game play because she's not in to that at all.

TIA for any advice and experiences anyone cares to share

 

[HM]

Our rule is no TVs in kids rooms. We have plenty of televisions around the house, they don't need one in their rooms. My youngest (14) still occasionally tries to get one put in her room. This is one rule I've stuck to and will continue to stick to until they are gone from home.

My parents let us have one in our room when I was in high school. We would sometimes sneak to watch shows after bedtime. Yes, we had a bedtime (and so do my high school kids) because we have to get up so early (have to be at school around 7:15).

I know my kids would fall asleep with the TV on if they had one in their rooms.

 

[LynnTH]

My kids are 10 and 8 and have each had a small TV in their room for as long as I can remember. They don't watch TV all the time (nor do I let them). If I feel they have been watching too much, I just go turn it off and tell them to find something else to do, and they do. They mostly watch them at night when they get into bed. Then I set the TV Timer for about 30 minutes and when it shuts off they go to sleep (of course, many times they are asleep before it even shuts off).

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Basically your house and your rules, really. There is no magic age.

When my dd's were little they did not have TV's or computers in there rooms.

Now they are teens everything is in their rooms. They do play video games sometimes, 12yodd has the Gamecube and 18yodd has the Playstation 2 and I have the Wii. They rarely watch TV.

The computer is the thing we have to watch.

 

[Deb in IA]

Never for us.

No one, including us, have TV's in the bedroom.

From the AAP website:

1. CONSISTENT, FREQUENT TV VIEWING CAUSES BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS

Consistent, heavy television viewing (more than two hours a day) throughout early childhood can cause behavior, sleep and attention problems. In the new study, "Children's Television Exposure and Behavioral and Social Outcomes at 5.5 Years: Does Timing of Exposure Matter?" researchers assessed data from the Healthy Steps for Young Children national evaluation effort pertaining to the effects of early, concurrent and sustained television exposure at age 2.5 years, and again at age 5.5 years. The effects of having a television in the child's bedroom were measured at age 5.5. Sixteen percent of parents reported
that their child watched television more than two hours a day at age 2.5 years only (early exposure), 15 percent reported that their children watched more than two hours of television daily at 5.5 years only (concurrent exposure), and 20 percent reported more than two hours of television viewing daily at both times (sustained exposure). Forty-one percent of children had a television in their bedroom at age 5.5. Sustained television viewing was associated with sleep, attention and aggressive behavior problems, and externalizing of problem behaviors. Concurrent television exposure was associated with fewer social skills. Having a television in the bedroom was associated with sleep problems and less emotional reactivity at age 5.5. Early exposure to television for more than two hours a day, which decreased over time, did not cause behavior or social problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no television viewing for children under age 2, and no more than two hours of daily media exposure for ages 2 and older.

 

[hopemax]

The rule in my house, growing up, was that if I wanted a TV in my room, I had to pay for it myself. I got one when I was 14, paid for with money I earned from my paper route.

 

[Tink888]

My kids are 14 & 12 and my stance at this point is no t.v. in their rooms. We have two t.v's in our house and the kids have a t.v. in the basement that they use for their game systems. They basically just use their bedrooms for sleeping in. I'm not for or against having them in there, that's just what works for us.

 

[luvmy3]

My dd has had a TV in her room since she was 5 or so. My boys have on in their room as well. Just because a child has one in their room does not mean they will watch TV 24/7 and do nothing else, unless you the parent, let them. We still have rules in place and they apply to all the TV's in the house, no matter what room they are in.
Their TV's are not hooked up to cable, they are only used for video games, and movies which is a lifesaver for me. There really is only so much of Disney tween shows a parent can take

 

[NHdisneylover]

Up until January (when we moved) we had no incomming TV signal at the house at all for five years. Turned it off once for hte summer and did not miss it enough to pay for it again. We did still watch DVDs from Netflix pretty regularly, but here is what the kids had which might work for you:

in their room we out an old TV/VCR unit. We found you can buy old VHS tapes dirt cheap at garage sales, library sales, etc. In a few months we ammassed about 50 movies (all Disney and old musicals for the most part). VHS is easy for them to work without worrying about scratching something and htey wer every cheap to buy. The kids could watch those whenever without me worrying about them seeing anything I would worry about. Often they put something in just for the "soundtrack" while they played--or dang along. When we moved another family bought the whole thing (TV/VCR and tapes) for almost as much as we spent on it for their kids.

Now we only have the one TV in the living room--but the kids do watch things online with their laptop sometimes in their rooms.

 

[MrsPete]

When they're adults, they can buy a bedroom TV if they want. I don't have a TV in my bedroom.

 

[ckay87]

I promise you that this will turn into another perfect-parent contest. Maybe not, we'll see. But this has been one of those hot topics in the past.

My kids have tvs in their rooms, but no cable. There lies the the difference for me. They can only use the things to watch a DVD, so they are not used all that often. They were a gift.

 

[PirateSnowmen]

I turn 18 on Saturday and I've never been allowed to have a tv in my room. My parents said I could have one, but I'd have to pay for it with my own money and it wouldn't be allowed to have cable. I already had a small portable dvd player that I used in my room for xbox and gamecube (this was about 4 years ago), so I didn't see the need to have a tv. Now I have no problem just watching the main tv and I use that to play my Wii.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I put a TV in my DS's room when he was born because I was up all night and wanted something to do that wouldn't wake my DH. The TV stayed there. Then when my DD was born the following year I had the same problem but didn't want to take the TV out of DS's room because at 14 months, he would still require around the clock care from time to time, so we put another TV in DD's room. I have always had a TV in my room.

For the record, I LOVE TV before bed, it helps distract me from the day and off I drift to sleep. My kids watch TV before sleeping too, but seldom during the day. I suspect we may watch about 1-2 hours of TV in this house a day and we have TV's in almost every room. Just because they are there doesn't mean we turn them on.

 

[Shmily1]

My kids are now 19 and 18 and have always had a tv in their room since they were little. They have and are good kids, graduated high in their class and will both be starting college next Monday, DS for his second year and DD for her first year. I don't really feel I've done them any injustice for allowing them to have a tv in their rooms and don't think they've done bad things because of it. Actually, DS had a blast driving all the drinking kids around all night since he doesn't drink, smoke or do any of that stuff.

Oh, they do both have glasses and contacts though....

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

My advice - ask your pediatrician. We allowed them to have a TV in their rooms at one point (they were both younger than 10). They both started doing things like sleepwalking. Their doctor told us to take out the TV and see if their behavior changed. It did - they stopped within a few days.

I am not against TV in the room, but it can effect sleep patterns in some people (at any age)...

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd13 has one, because she's on the 3rd floor, with a "suite." Worst mistake ever. It wasn't a problem when she got it (age 7), but now that she's 13, we don't see her anymore, and I think she'd be downstairs more often if she didn't have her own TV.

 

[shortbun]

I had a no TV rule because I didn't want to lose my child to his room or lose supervision over what he watched and how much screen time he used. It became apparent to me through several actions of his that this would not happen so last Christmas, age 13, he got a flat screen for his room. He has his 2nd choice video game console attached to it and he watches it about an hour at night but after he's had dinner with us and played a game or had some kind of family interaction. He hasn't spent much time at all this summer in his room because he's an outdoor kind of guy and when his friends are over they play on the big screen - his Dad says 'why don't they go upstairs in his room and leave the big TV to us?" lol! The other day they invited me to play Call of Duty with them-I'm horrible and I was their entertainment factor - but it's pretty cool to know that your child can have a TV in their room and prefer to spend family time EVEN when they have friends over at age 14. IF my son had been the type to hide from us, we never would have put the TV in his room. I think it's a very personal, child by child issue. My nephew had a TV at age 6 because his parents wanted him out of their way and in his room. Different strokes...

 

[paintnolish]

Mine have both had tvs in their rooms for years, but I control the amount of time spent watching them.

 

[threeboysmom]

When they move out. Seriously.

 

[Robinrs]

Never for us.

No one, including us, have TV's in the bedroom.

From the AAP website:

1. CONSISTENT, FREQUENT TV VIEWING CAUSES BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS

Consistent, heavy television viewing (more than two hours a day) throughout early childhood can cause behavior, sleep and attention problems. In the new study, "Children's Television Exposure and Behavioral and Social Outcomes at 5.5 Years: Does Timing of Exposure Matter?" researchers assessed data from the Healthy Steps for Young Children national evaluation effort pertaining to the effects of early, concurrent and sustained television exposure at age 2.5 years, and again at age 5.5 years. The effects of having a television in the child's bedroom were measured at age 5.5. Sixteen percent of parents reported
that their child watched television more than two hours a day at age 2.5 years only (early exposure), 15 percent reported that their children watched more than two hours of television daily at 5.5 years only (concurrent exposure), and 20 percent reported more than two hours of television viewing daily at both times (sustained exposure). Forty-one percent of children had a television in their bedroom at age 5.5. Sustained television viewing was associated with sleep, attention and aggressive behavior problems, and externalizing of problem behaviors. Concurrent television exposure was associated with fewer social skills. Having a television in the bedroom was associated with sleep problems and less emotional reactivity at age 5.5. Early exposure to television for more than two hours a day, which decreased over time, did not cause behavior or social problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no television viewing for children under age 2, and no more than two hours of daily media exposure for ages 2 and older.