Do your kids have tvs.....

[clownchk]

no TV either in our kids' room.

We have one in our bedroom where the DVR is, one in the kitchen hung from the ceiling so I can get some adult TV in the AM and when I"m cooking dinner One in the living room and one in my DH"s recording studio in the basement that also has each of the older 2's computers which they only use when DH is down there, too.

DH is the HUGE tv watcher, but I do like a few shows (There are none that are MUST SEES) but I sometimes like to have it on for "Company" at times LOL!

my kids DO have a stereo with CD and tape player in their room. At night I put in a soothing CD and let them fall asleep to that with a 2 hour sleep timer on. Same for nap time. THey have to stay in bed while the music plays.

My computer in in my office right off hte living room. And DH has his own computer int eh studio, too.

 

[freckles and boo]

No tvs in their bedroom or their playroom. But they do have our oldest computer in the playroom. It has no internet access but they can use it for their kiddie games or for "typing" letters to their friends. It hasn't been on in a couple weeks because they prefer to just play with their toys. They don't get to watch tv after six-ish anyway so it doesn't matter where the tvs are.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I agree with what another poster said about getting cable in each room, no way could I afford the bill

Wow...I'm totally floored that some places charge per room/outlet for the cable. Holy cow...I guess my opinion would be different if that were the case for us. We have Comcast (although I know rates and stuff vary for them according to where you are). We only get charged for our main tv in the family room because that is the only one with a cable box on it for HD. We don't subscribe to HBO or any other additional pay type channel, we just get extended basic service, so that keeps our bill lower I guess (Comcast still gouges though). Our main tv is the only one that gets the upper channels...all the other tv's in our house only go to about 60-something, which allows the kids to watch the Disney channel. It never occurred to me that some folks get charged per outlet. That is crazy. Guess I am going to have to make sure to check that out when/if we move again. Definitely a good thing to know.

 

[Darcy03231]

My kids have tv's in their rooms (13 & 15) w/ a dvd player. TV's aren't hooked up to cable so the only thing they can watch in their room is dvds. DS also plays his playstation on his. I've found they really don't use them much.

 

[beattyfamily]

Yep, my girls (ages 7 and 10) do have a TV in their bedroom.

They watch TV at bedtime only on weekends or vacations.

 

[Twingle]

Nope - no tv's in the kids rooms. But then, we don't have a tv in our bedroom either. We have one tv - in the family room. Our kids will not get a television in their room while they live here, I guess we are just old fashioned in that regard.

But then, we also have a no television rule during the week, and are the only family we know that do that.

 

[CampbellScot]

my step kids have TV's in their rooms. I was initially WAY against it, but it's turned out to be okay. The tv's are hooked up to V-smile and some other "educational" video games. Both TV's have DVD players built into them. They are allowed to watch a dvd at bedtime for 15 minutes. It helps my step son to calm down and get ready for sleep. Other than at bedtime though, they don't watch tv. They are involved in sports and dance class and a zillion other things. My step son would rather be outside bugs hunting than inside.

they are nice for when the kids are sick, or when they are getting on each other's nerves and it's too cold, wet, hot to go outside. They go to their rooms, pick out a DVD and just CHILL OUT for a while.

I think it all depends on the kids you have. If you have a child who is a TV junkie and would rather sit in front of the TV than do anything else, I might not allow it. But if you control the television and when it is turned on, it's not a big deal.

 

[Mean Queen]

We had always said we wouldn't put a TV in our DD's bedroom, yet when the new baby came along, we did. But, the TV has no antenna or cable attached. Just a portable DVD player that we can take in and out of the room so she only watches it when she's allowed. One day when she gets older, we plan to get her cable but she's only 7 and we want to keep a close eye on what she watches. By only allowing her to have her approved DVDs, we feel it's a compromise we can live with. She gets to feel like a big girl with a TV in her room, and we get to know she's only watching approved DVD's at approved times.

 

[dougsmom98]

We have two TVs for the two family rooms and my kids have TVs in their bedrooms. They don't watch them that often. Sometimes they just don't like what their siblings are watching on the family room TV so they will go watch the TV in their bedroom. It wasn't really a necessity until we had our youngest. Her idea of a good TV show is far from what her brothers would watch. So, if I want to ever watch the news or a TV show myself, we needed them to be able to watch TV elsewhere.

 

[sacall]

Wow...I'm totally floored that some places charge per room/outlet for the cable.

It's not that they charge per outlet, but we have Dish and you need a receiver box for each TV. You can get one receiver box for two TVs that are close to each other. Plus, there are no cable outlets in their rooms (built in 1946), so that would cost extra to install. Just not worth it to me.

Stacy

 

[tmarquez]

We are electronic junkies. We have TV's everywhere in the house. DD has a TV in her room and has had one since she was old enough to say "Blue's Clues". As far as watching TV, we watch about 15 mintues of local news on weekday mornings, and DD(4) watches about 30 minutes of whatever happens to be on the DIsney channel as she gets ready for school. Then at night she watches part of a DVD before going to sleep. DH watches a ton of tv (I think he'd even watch it if it was turned off). I watch about an hour a night before bed. On weekends there's very little time for TV (unless it's football season, then we all watch).

When DD has friends over on the weekends I actually have to unplug the TV and declare it off-limits because her friends that don't have free access to a TV act like junkies around one. Off-topic, but the same behavior applies to candy.

 

[beattyfamily]

Wow...I'm totally floored that some places charge per room/outlet for the cable. Holy cow...I guess my opinion would be different if that were the case for us. We have Comcast (although I know rates and stuff vary for them according to where you are). We only get charged for our main tv in the family room because that is the only one with a cable box on it for HD. We don't subscribe to HBO or any other additional pay type channel, we just get extended basic service, so that keeps our bill lower I guess (Comcast still gouges though). Our main tv is the only one that gets the upper channels...all the other tv's in our house only go to about 60-something, which allows the kids to watch the Disney channel. It never occurred to me that some folks get charged per outlet. That is crazy. Guess I am going to have to make sure to check that out when/if we move again. Definitely a good thing to know.

We have Comcast too. We only have a box in the family room. That is so we can get the upper (over channel 99), scrambled channels like HBO, Toon Disney etc....

Our other TVs still get all the channels below 100 though; they just don't get the scrambled channels.

 

[kt_mom]

I had a TV in my room when I was kid. I was still a big reader and am to this day. Both of my parents are big readers. DD4 has a TV in her room but it's not hooked up to cable, just a dvd player. She likes to have it on when she's playing in her room. I think for the sound. I've watched her and she doesn't really watch it that much, she's too busy playing with her toys. At bedtime I tell her how much she can watch. Many times she gets up and turns it off before she gets to that point b/c she's ready to go to sleep or when she has watched to the point I said she will turn it off. Occasionally she will fall asleep with it on if she's really had a long day, but usually she turns it off herself and goes on to sleep. She loves to read and we read together alot. We have had no problems with it at all and its nice not to have to watch Cinderella ALL the time. But like I said she is usually playing and too busy to do anything more than listen to it.

 

[luvmy2sams]

DD8 has had a TV in her room since she was 3. No actual satellite access, just a DVD player. If she wants to watch something other than a DVD, then that's what the family room or mom and dad's bedroom TV is for. She uses her DVD player more often for playing CDs than for watching TV in her room nowadays.

DS3 doesn't have anything in his room, but we'll probably do the same as in his sister's room at some point this year. It's nice to be able to pop a DVD in and cuddle on the weekends.

We used to put movies in to lull the kids to sleep at night, but in the past year we've reserved that for weekends and vacation time only. During the week DH and I switch between kids and read books at bedtime.

 

[Brier Rose]

Wow...I think I win the most tv's/overindulged kids award!

We have 6 tv's, with each of the kids 15 and 8 having TV/DVD/VCR, AND Digital Cable in their rooms!

We have a HUGE tv in the movie room for them upstairs that has a DVR/Digital Cable, Playstation 1, 2, and 3, Game Cube, and X-Box hooked up to it!

We have Digital Cable on the Tv's in both the living room and our master bedroom, and just basic cable on the TV in our Master Bath...yes..our master bath!

Believe it or not the kids don't watch TV that often. DD prefers to read, and DS plays games.

I think the fact that it's readily available just makes it not that big a deal to them.

 

[beachgrl001]

We have tv's everywhere too, except the bathroom but if it was bigger I would have one in there too with my extra large jacuzzi tub and fireplace(I wish!) DS 12 has a tv w/basic cable, wii, and ps2. He dosent really watch it much he has a computer that he is always on, he makes movies and draws anime pics and likes to put his art on the computer he is never allowed to close his bedroom door (unless he's getting dressed) his father and I are constantly over his shoulder and he dosent seem to mind(not that I would care if he did). He has always been an A student if his grades dropped I would take away his computer before I took away the tv I gotta say I love my tv I also love to read and will usually go through about 1 book every 2weeks. My 2y/o loves Blues clues too and Mickey Mouse club house

 

[mom2alix]

No tvs in my kids rooms and I don't think we'll get them. I really don't know where we'd put them and our house doesn't have cable wired upstairs (long story). Any way, we have the tv in the family room w/cable and the DVR for times when we want to watch shows that are on at the same time (Lost/Medium for me!). We do have a tv with built in DVR/VCR in the master and I often let the kids lay on my bed and watch a movie after bath/before bed, especially if DH is wanting to watch something I don't think is appropriate for them to see. Usually that means they fall asleep and I have to move them to their beds.

 

[jenrein]

Wow...I think I win the most tv's/overindulged kids award!

We have 6 tv's, with each of the kids 15 and 8 having TV/DVD/VCR, AND Digital Cable in their rooms!

We have a HUGE tv in the movie room for them upstairs that has a DVR/Digital Cable, Playstation 1, 2, and 3, Game Cube, and X-Box hooked up to it!

We have Digital Cable on the Tv's in both the living room and our master bedroom, and just basic cable on the TV in our Master Bath...yes..our master bath!

Believe it or not the kids don't watch TV that often. DD prefers to read, and DS plays games.

I think the fact that it's readily available just makes it not that big a deal to them.

My kids have cable in their rooms- but we only have the DVR in the livingroom and my bedroom. The kids were filling the livingroom one with Full House and Zac and Cody so we got our own for our room

 

[kanga24roos]

my older 2 boys 10 & 7 have a tv in their room hooked up to basic cable and gamecube. They only really watch it at bedtime they are extremely active with surfing, skateboarding,snowboarding that I don't really worry about the amount of tv they do watch. And as soon as I get the other bedroom ready I will probably put a tv in there for my younger 2 boys 4 & 2.

 

[kinntj]

Our kids 3 and 5 don't have tv's in their room. They can watch the one in the guest bedroom, but the only thing they can watch in there are the 2 PBS stations. LOL!

I want to instill reading before bedtime and hopefully that will become a habit. They get to watch tv in the morning for an hour and an hour in the evening while I make dinner.

Just do what feels right for your family. We do plan on buying laptops in the future for our kids, but not tv's.