Do your kids have tvs.....

[jenrein]

Not no computer, just no computer in the bedroom. My kids have a bed in their bedroom. period

OH- ok....I was a little concerned

 

[bluesaturn]

Well I'm in college now, but I had a TV in my room since I was 4, and a VCR and evenutally a DVD player. I also had a computer in my room for all 4 years of high school, with DSL. I got straight As all through school, and I was involved in lots of after school activities. And yes the TV was always on, but because I use it as background noise. Most kids spend all their time listening to music as background noise, and I just used the TV for that (i'm not really into music). I spent very little time actually watching it.

In fact I am one of the only people I know who doesn't have "shows". There's nothing I have to watch every week. I think it is because I never felt like TV was anything special, so if I wanted to watch something I just did, never planned my life around it. Also, I was not allowed to watch anything PG-13 until I turned 13, nothing R until I was 17, etc. I wasn't allowed to watch the Simpsons, Married with Children, Roseanne, etc. I never really broke those rules cause I knew my mom would catch me if I did. We also weren't allowed to have locked doors in our house (unless we were changing etc.) so I knew my parents could check on me at any time.

On the other hand my sister usually doesn't have a TV or computer in her room. She doesn't behave as well or get as good grades, so she just can't handle it. That works fine for her. For me, the threat of having my TV removed was enough to make me behave. I think, not only to each family their own, but to each kid her own.

Edit: I also wasn't allowed to watch TV to fall asleep. My mom will still come in and turn it off if I fall asleep with it on now days.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Having a television in the bedroom contributes to bad sleep habits. It is best for children to learn to fall a sleep themselves and not rely on others things. Also, all research has shown that TV should not be watched at least two hours before bedtime as it usually contributes to excitability and makes it harder to calm down. It is also bad Fung Shui.

I wonder if that research applies to adults too? Maybe that is DH's problem...too much tv too close to bedtime.

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

my 3.y.o. has a t.v. in her room, but it doesn't have cable, so she can only watch tapes in her room. She is not allowed to have the T.V. on at bedtime or while she falls asleep. She doesn't nap anymore, so I make her have a "downtime" in her room for 30 minutes after pre-school...sometimes "downtime" is quietly reading books, other times, its a 30 minute video while she lays in bed. The only other time I allow her to watch tapes in her room is if she is sick, she may lay in bed and watch videos.

 

[kribit]

We have 1 tv in our house and we barely watch it. So, the answer is no our kids do not have tv's nor will they ever.

 

[disney_fan_fam]

Nope, no TV in their rooms, heck I don't allow it in MY own bedroom....

 

[MiniGirl]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Wow!!! I never expected so many, but I do appreciate it. I'm also glad to hear that we aren't the only family that doesn't allow their kids to have tvs in their bedrooms. Like I said in my original post, I'm not necessarily against it in general, but I just know it would be too much for my girls.

I also appreciate how the thread also morphed into computer usage. We are actually on the 'puter more than we're watching tv. We have 3 in our house -- our main one is in the home office, an older one with internet access is in the family room, and we have a laptop that dh will often bring to work with him. (He is an airline pilot, so he is often gone.) However, even if we do eventually allow a tv in the girls' room, we will never allow a 'puter with access in there. I love the internet and the hardest part of giving up cable would be my cable modem -- not the television programs, but they will not be enjoying it w/o us monitoring it for a long, long time.

 

[lee]

My children did have tvs in their rooms, but I took them out because it seemed all they did was watch tv. Now, we watch as a family and it's usually the Discovery channel or something we all enjoy and can talk about. Overall, they are now more responsive and interact with us more. No regrets here. As a treat, we may let them take a small tv in their room on a weekend night to have a "slumber party" and movie night together, but we're still having too much fun together.

 

[ilovefh]

Funny I found this thread! We just had this conversation at work! I never had one growing up for a few reasons.

#1 So my parents could monitor what I watched!
#2 So I would go to bed at a normal time (I work at a middle school and I'm amazed at the number of kids who tell me they were up late watching tv! When I ask what their parents think many of them say it is after their parents go to bed)
#3 So we would spend more time together as a family.

My kids will also not have tvs in their rooms.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

My older dd has a tv in her room. It's been there a while. The room was a den before we had kids and when she was born the tv went in the 3rd bedroom. When we had our 2nd child we put the tv in the basement for a while. Finally we stuck it in the older dd's room because there was a cable hookup there. She can only use it certain times -- and she knows and complies with the rule. For example, she cannot use it after bedtime or during homework. Also, if she is on restriction for punishment and she loses tv she cannot turn the tv in her room on. She really uses it on weekend mornings and sometimes during the week if she wakes up early.

 

[meandtheguys2]

No TV in the bedrooms. There isn't any positive purpose to it in our home. They do have books and music in there, if they need time away from the crowd, or wake up and need a bit of a distraction!

 

[WildGrits]

Instead of my girls having a TV in their room, they share a bedroom so that they can have a playroom with tv and game consoles.

My mom falls asleep to the tv. I hate that.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Ds got one at 13. I really wanted to be sure he had some self control and was at the age we did not really need to monitor what he watched so closely. It has not been an issue at all. He is now almost 15 and watches some TV in there but also watches some with us. We also have a large bonus room so he has that for his PSlll. We also have 4 TV's with cable but honestly we do not watch that much. We choose not to allow a computer in DS's room. It is in our office room. DS also sets his own bedtime and rarely does he not have light out by 10:00 on school nights. I absolutly did not aloow one when he was little. In fact had to tell MIL NO when she bought him one.

 

[LilBlackSheep]

We have 1 tv in the house...and it's in the family room.

 

[hsmamato2]

My 3 kids don't have tv's and probably won't ever. That is because we already have 4 others in the house. The major reason I won't let them is because they have all become avid nighttime readers. I am convinced it is because the tv is not there.

We make them get ready for bed between 7:30 and 8 and they usually will go read in their beds for an hour to an hour and a half. I don't have any other friends whose kids read like that.

Agreed! I have plenty of friends with kids who don't read much,except when they haveto....in our house,when we go to bed and wind down,we read!
We have 2 tv's elsewhere,but I find tv a diversion,not a relaxant-from the time the kids were toddlers, they could read all night in their beds, but no tv-
It's amazing how much reading an electronics obsessed teen gets in with this system! We all always have a book on our night table-
Tv can be great- but it can also bring too many problems....so we exercise alot of moderation,if ds had one in his room,he would watch endlessly!

 

[Momof2princess]

My older DD (7) does have a TV in her room, while my younger DD (4) does not. They also have a TV in their playroom. I have no problem with this at all, it is not allowed on bedtime...no discussion, in fact I do not think that she ever has asked for it to be on at bedtime.

 

[brandylouwho]

We recently put a TV in our 3 year olds room to try to entice her to stay in her own bed & own room at night on her own (and I felt like a really bad parent for doing it). Guess what...she hardly watches it! I think Her dad and I use it more when we are in there with her than she does. (For example, last night she really didn't want to go to bed, but it was late, so I sat on her bed with her and watched a TV show while she laid down/got settled in. It took maybe 15 minutes for her to fall asleep, but I was able to continue watching my show).

If she is playing in her room during the day she usually doesn't even turn it on, but it is nice for those times when it is cold outside or night time and she really wants to watch a cartoon-but I really don't. Then we allow her to watch a kid appropriate show on her own TV.

Occassionally she will watch a few minutes to a half hour of TV before she is ready to fall asleep, but just as often she will ask us to read books instead. Now I don't feel like such a bad parent anymore...I feel like I am giving her opportunity and choices (hello-the real world has TVs in it) and I am proud when she (on her own) chooses to play with toys or to read instead of watching the old tube.

 

[Hope73]

I am totally against it. My kids are 6&8. Our boy 8 has asked for one. WE have two tv's on our main level and feel that is enough. I like that he is on the level wiht us if he is watching a show.

We have video games as well and he is only allowed to play on sat and sun, but not all day long.

 

[canouangirl]

my boys (4 and 2) dont have and never will have TV in their rooms until college age.

We have a playroom with a TV, which they never use, they like to watch the TV in our sitting room between breakfast and time for kindy and then again between 5-6, .... Disney channel only unless theres a movie like Cars or Bugs life on a movie channel

I dont like computer games at all so no Xbox or PS in their future, (they'll probably hate me !) but where we live theres SO much to do, its great weather all year round and I dont want them loafing infront a computer screen.

what they will get when they're 5 is the V-tech laptop which has preprogrammed learning programmes and cant do internet or games etc...

its important that they learn about how to use computers but I dont want them doing the xbox type games.

they are both very active, they swim and play every day and have a great imagination play with each other and their toys, I'd hate them to grow up and be one of those kids glued to an xbox in the dark in their room or watching TV until they grow to 300lbs.

 

[designermv]

No TV in my daughter's room, and it will stay that way. She watches DVDs in the family room.