Do your kids have a tv in their room?

[goodstarr]

I'm curious to find out if people have tv's in their kids' rooms and what age are they. Also, how were you raised concerning television viewing? I watched tv from the minute I got home from school (straight thru homework but not during dinner) until I went to sleep around 9-9:30. I was an honor roll student, have my bachelor's degree and have been happily married for almost 10 years. I had a tv in my bedroom for as long as I can remember (and I still fall asleep to the tv). My DD-7 also has a tv in her room. Although she doesn't watch tv as much as I did, she does watch it at night before bedtime. Grades are good and she goes to sleep very well.

 

[Alice28]

Our DS's share a room and there is a TV with a DVD player built in. But, there is not cable hookup in there, so they can't watch TV, only movies. We did that on purpose.

 

[Tinkbell]

I have to fall asleep with the tv on. I set the timer to shut it off after 60 minutes. I didn't have a tv in my room when I was a kid, but then again, we only had one tv in the house. I don't have any children, but if I did, I wouldn't have a problem with a tv in their room.

On the other hand, one of my friends is dead against tvs in any bedrooms. She says bedrooms are for sleeping. To each his/her own.

 

[luv2nascar]

We love our tv in bedroom and fall asleep to it
DD got a tv/vcr at 3 or 4 yrs old
we encourage other activites besides tv but don't really restrict it unless it is a punishment for something
She watches alot of educational stuff and really prefers to have her nose in a book instead of watching tv
other DD is 7 1/2 months old and doesn't have a tv yet

 

[RNMOM]

My teen boys don't have them. I never thought it was a good idea. We have 4 TV's in the house, living room, family room, parent's room and the extra bedroom/workout room where they go with friends to play and watch tv/dvds.

I kinda think the bedrooms should be for quiet working on homework, quiet times and destressing.

 

[tcfdick]

We have four TV's in the house. My DD and DS each have a TV in their room. They don't watch them all the time, but one is generally turned on. They can't watch anything until all homework is completed! Sometimes they don't get to watch any shows at all because of homework!

 

[cgcw]

"Santa" brought DS9 one a couple of years ago. It has an old VCR hooked up to it and a PlayStation 2.

DH bought a 50" tv in November to replace ours in the family room. So, the old family room TV went into DS3's room with an even older VCR. Sometimes when he's wound up, he'll relax in his bedroom watching a movie.

Even though my boys both have TV's in their rooms, the TV time is still controlled. I don't want them to be couch potatoes (like DH tends to be at times ).

DH & I don't have one in our bedroom. LOL! Doesn't it figure, the kids do, but we don't.

 

[cindysteve]

We have a TV in each bedroom and one in the living room. I grew up with a TV in my room, and do not restrict the TV watching time, only the programming. In addition, DS9 has an XBox, DD7 has the PS2, and DS17 has PS. Cable and DVD/VCR's all around. My DD usually opts to watch videos. DS9 usually watches Cartoon Network or plays XBox. They both fall asleep to the TV's. Of course they still do other things like read, play outside with friends, scouts etc.

 

[Robinrs]

My family has always been known for being TV fanatics! Michael has a TV in his room but rarely watches TV in there, he watches the TV in the living room or in my room and only sleeps in his room. It has no cable but is connected to a VCR and a DVD player.

 

[cruisnfamily]

NO! Our kids DS8 & DD11 do NOT have TVs in their rooms and nor will they ever! I think they are the only children on the planet that do not have TVs in their rooms but that's our rule.

We don't want them to disappear into their rooms and never see them. We want to sit with them and watch TV or at least wander thru the living room and see what they're watching. We have a TV in our family room and our living room and that's all we need. DS8 hardly ever watches TV but he does use the TV for the Gamecube...again, we want him out in the living room where we can see him(and the game he's playing). DD11 watches TV in the evenings after homework and would like to have a TV in her room but it's not gonna happen.

Same thing with the computer, it used to be in DD's room and she'd be in there all the time IMing friends, etc. We moved it out into the family room and she's still on there alot but at least we see her.

Now my two nieces(ages 11 & 5) both have (in their own rooms, so this is X2): TVs, VCRs, DVD players, and computers. Very excessive IMO. My SIL's reason: we don't want them out here hogging our TV and getting in our way...this way we can just send them to their rooms and not be bothered.

 

[bambii]

their own room and t.v. it has cut down on fighting and now Im not stuck watching fairy odd parent (which I hate.) They 5 year old has like five stations and my 11 year old has like ten.

on school night the tv goes of at 9:00 there bed time are 7:00 for the 5 and 8:00 for the 11 year old

The weekends are different they still have the same bed time but the t.v goes off at 11:00 the are sleeping by then ...

 

[DISshopkeeper]

Both my kids have TV with cable in their rooms. But they didn't get them until they were 15 yo.

My mother hated TV and we were forbidden to watch on school nights/days. When she began to work full time she took the TV cord to work with her!! I hated when all the kids at school talked about Brady Bunch and Partridge Family and I was left out! Then my Dad retired on disability and all heck broke loose, TV-wise! But by that time I was almost in high school AND had developed a LOVE for reading that persists to this day. AND I am still not much of a TV watcher.

 

[shortbun]

my brother had a TV in his room. He'd spend hours in there with
the door shut OR he would be gone. Often, my parents didn't
know if he was even at home because his door was always shut
and the TV was on. Granted, my parents could have done a
better job monitoring. Neither his son nor mine has a TV in their
rooms. We are well aware of the pitfalls. I won't bore you with the details, just know that my brother was very sick and depressed without my parents knowing because they had little
interraction with him. Not happenin' in my house. We have
2 TVs and DS get plenty of screen time but not shut up in his room
without supervision.

 

[Cruisin]

Only bedroom to have a tv in it is our son age 20 who has cable internet and tv access and dvd on his computer. He doesn't really watch it much though, sometimes he watches movies on his dvd player.
Between myself, son, and daughter 16 we are not really much tv watchers. We are on the computer or reading books.
Now my husband is another story. He pretty much watches tv from the minute he gets home until he goes to bed. They didn't have tv at his house until he was about 13 yrs old so maybe he was tv deprived when he was young and is trying to catch up.

 

[mudnuri]

Neither DD has a TV in their room.

3 TV's in our house, 1 in living room, 1 in play room in basement and 1 in our bedroom. living room and bedroom have cable, basement has dvd/vcr player.

I agree with an above poster that I prefer to know what they are watching, and can monitor the amount etc....I despise most "childrens" shows, ie. sponge bob, fairly odd parents etc... and they are NOT allowed to watch those. They stick to the disney channel, pbs etc...

They can not watch tv until after homework, and usually for only 1 hour...

DD6 told MIL that she has a tv in her room...mil was shocked that I would allow it, when I explained it's the tv/vcr combo that goes in the truck, and actually it's in her closet, up on the top shelf, she laughed that DD said it...

We did just buy them each a portable DVD player, which I may allow them to take to their rooms and watch a DVD occasionally, however I'm not decided on that, they are for trips in the truck/car....

FYI both my brother and I had tv/vcr with full cable in our rooms when I was about 10, made DB about 13...we also had nintendos each...

2 laptops and 1 desktop in the house, desktop in my office, and laptops in the living room usually. I do allow DD's to use my laptop here in the living room to go on disney.com nickjr.com etc. however they don't know how to "get to a page"...so I type in nickjr.com etc... then they navigate around a site..

Brandy

 

[aprilgail2]

My 4 year old daughter sleeps with me so I guess that counts as having a TV in "her" bedroom....she takes it over every night before bed when Pokemon, Spongebob, Jackie Chan,Yu-Gi-Oh and shows like that are on..she loves cartoon network in the evening, in the morning she watches HBO Family or the Disney Channel. She has a computer with internet access in her playroom and also the bedroom and she can use them both to surf the web but there is no IM's on it or email (not that she can read that great anyway) but she can go to her list of favorites I set up and click on what she wants to do from there. A few more years the computer will be moved into the middle of the living room so I can see what she is doing on there. She really likes playing toontown, I orginally got hooked on that when someone on the boards mentioned it and I tried it out and now she has her own toon and loves to play it.

 

[chager]

DS9 has had a tv and vcr since he was 4. He now has XBox too. He also has a computer, but not internet. He spends most his time with me in the living room but if we are watching a show/movie he doesn't want to he will watch/play something in his room. Although I have found his tv on often I have found him playing or reading and not watching it. We also have a tv in our room however it isn't plugged in yet. The stand and tv are too heavy to move and I didn't leave enough room to get the plug in.
I had friends that had a tv/vcr in their DD room from the time she was 1 so she could watch "her" movies in there instead of the LR.

 

[Karel]

No, my kids do not and will not have tvs in their room. I don't want them hiding in their rooms. I want to know what they are watching and I think things should be watched together. Children's shows don't bug me. Sponge Bob and Fairly Odd Parents are meant for people of all ages and they are pretty funny. (I like to watch Power Rangers once in awhile too - shhh, don't tell anyone.) I don't like the tv on for background noise either, unless I'm alone in the house and cleaning. I'm trying to teach my kids that you watch a show or two and then turn it off again to do something else. If we had a playroom, I might think about putting one in there but I probably would hook up their game systems.

OTH, I have always been a tv fanatic and can't see not having one. I admire people who do but I'd miss it too much.

 

[VintageKnight]

1 tv w/ cable, 1 vcr for his tapes and yes he has his own computer that he got for christmas, no internet.....read into this i spent a whopping 5 dollars total on the thing....and yes a ps1 and leap frog.......only reason he has the tv is mom and dad are packrats and tend to be the dumping ground for older electronics... (6 tv's 3 are hooked up 3 vcr's 4 dvd players...13 computers....4 of which arte currently parted out....etc....)

he watches his disney and nick and of course cartoon network...though i normaly dont have an issue with the first two i put a limit on what he watches on cartoon network. dont have an issue with him watching anything else hes four if its not cartoons hes not interested...

i finally got more than 4 stations of tv when we got directv in 1993. we went from 4 to 90....a big jump...specially since i was 17 at the time.....

he has no door on his room, so he cant hide from us tho it does get a little loud when his friends come over...

come to think of it we only have 2 doors in the house, main bathroom and master bed room... and this is a 3 bedroom house....guess its my version of wide open spaces....=D

i have a switch on the ceiling of the entrance to his room ( why the heck they put it there i dont know, guess for the same reason i use it) so when hes in trouble i can auto shut off all appliances in his room and hes to short even on a chair to get to it...

ohh well....



DisneyVK

 

[kaseyC]

We have three TVs in the house with Dish Network. Our DD's TV time is monitored. My oldest DD (8yrs) asks every once in awhile for one but we tell her "she can have one in her room when she is old enough to buy her own and her own home to put it in."
My DH and I both grew up in homes where we had a family TV not a TV for every child.
As a matter of fact we have more computers than TV's in our home and a ton of books. I never say no to a book.