How much TV?

[jcamacam]

I'm curious as to how much TV you let you kids watch. This includes any movies, etc.

I have some friends who say, "my kids hardly watch any TV" but they're not counting all the DVD's they watch.

My DH thinks I'm a little too worried about this. We have a 4 year old (and a 1 year old who doesn't watch TV yet). My 4 year old DS watches 1-2 hours some days, some days doesn't watch any at all and other days can watch up to 3 hours of TV. I think all in all, he watches probably about 15 hours a week (including weekends) max.

Does that sound like a lot to you?

Also, I try to keep what he watches age appropriate. For example, I see nothing wrong with SpongeBob for the older kids but I don't think it's the best thing for a 4 year old to watch. Right now, he's into Higglytown Heros, Little Einstein's, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and the Backyardigans.

Last question, what do your kids watch and what are their ages?

 

[Minnie824]

I may not be the right person to answer this question cuz that seems like hardly any to me! DH & I have a tv on alot, whether we're watching it or not. DDs (age 4.5 and 2) watch tv in the am, maybe an hour, during lunch an hour, DD4 a movie in the afternoon usually, then they watch some shows while I'm making dinner, then DD4 watches some shows at night with us. Now...that being said....we don't just sit and watch tv that whole time...we read books, we play games, dolls, etc while the tv is just on also.

 

[mom2isaac&ella]

The Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours a day & this includes computer & video games too (this is for ages 3 and up - they don't recommend TV before age 3, we let ours watch a baby einstein video a few times a week until they were over a year old). I have a DS4 & DD2 & that's what we try to stick to & it sounds like you are too. My guys like all the shows you mentioned along with Veggie Tales & Blues Clues & a recent obsession with Scooby Doo. My 2 year old is into all the Disney princess movies & we tell her she just gets to watch one, of course she still may throw a fit, but we try to stick to our guns. My kids have learned so much from watching educational shows. Sometimes they come up with things I know they learned from a show. I'm a teacher and I had been working on the letters with my son, but he wasn't interested until he watched a LeapFrog DVD & now his teacher says he's the only one in his preschool class that knows all the letters and their sounds. As long as they are also particpating in other types of play through out the day and get a chance for some excersise a little TV is not going to hurt. We make exceptions for sick days & long trips (Disney movies will be on our van's DVD player all the way to Orlando this summer!)

 

[CEDmom]

My DD is 6. During the week she watches 1-2 hours a day on average. Somedays it's a little more and others less. In the morning she'll sometimes watch Playhouse Disney for a 1/2 hour before school and then she'll watch a bit before bed. There are days where she doesn't watch anything at all and of course if she's sick or we're snowed in she'll watch more.

Besides Playhouse her favorite channel is the food network. It's a big treat for her to stay up and watch Emeril . On the weekends she sometimes watches more because she may want a DVD but it's normally 3-4 hours at most. So I guess on average she watches 15-20 hours a week. Her computer time is probably under 5 hours a week.

 

[Hannathy]

Our TV is on all the time. Do they sit there and watch it doing nothing else, sometimes but usually it is on more in the background while playing. My 7 yr old watches a lot but rarely kids shows he really prefers the military channel, or history channel or science stuff. He has all three Lord of the Rings dvd's and all the Star Wars ones and he will watch those. My DH always has the Living room TV on to Fox News or documentaries. So the TV's are on whenever anyone is home but the kids rarely just plop down and sit there. I would guess he probably "watches" about 4-5 hrs a day and a lot more on weekends. My teen is about 2hrs- too much homework for much more. He is probably on the computer 1hr a day and much more on weekends.

I don't understand all the fuss about amount of time if they are watching history shows and learning things, still play with things, play sports and activities I don't care how much they watch.

 

[jennobrn01]

We are TV free. But my 3 year old watches on average 1-2 hours of Thomas DVD's every day.

 

[roadtripper]

DD, 11, watches American Idol on Tuesdays, Extreme Home Makeover on Sun, a DVD on Friday night, and usually the same DVD Sat AM. DS 9 has little interest in TV (and boy, are there times I wish he did!) DH and I watch about an hour at bedtime, or sometimes a DVD if I have remembered to mail them in!
We have 13 dollar cable, so there's not much on at our house. DD is sure we are the only people on the planet without "real cable" and she craves it when we go on vacation, sleepovers, etc. AS long as it's Disney channel, we are ok with that. Maybe that's why they're so good on the car trips to WDW-- endless DVDs!

 

[sara74]

Loved to see this thread! DD is 4 and DS 1.5 He sees 15 minutes in the AM while I shower and DH shaves/dresses since he is an early riser. After that the TV goes off. On the days I work (M,T,W) the kids don't watch TV otherwise. On the days I am home (Th,F) they watch 2 hours a day. They are also allowed computer time those days as well, but less than an hour a day. On the weekend they watch one movie and a couple of shows 1.5-2.5 hours. We have digital cable so we have lots of free kids shows on demand. We do that much more than videos and much, much more than 'regular' TV. I am very commercial and age-appropriate paranoid. We try to stick with things that are age appropriate for bothon TV. Many of our friends have 4 year olds watching Kim Possible, Fairly Odd Parents and Rugrats but I think they are too fresh at this age. Even 4 yo's watching That's So Raven!

We are a big music family so after dinner we put the iPod on the stereo and all dance. Funny how I am so conscious of the appropriateness of what they see, but we dance to anything incl. Gwen Stefani and Green Day! I am so hypocritical! DD asked Daddy to wake her up 'when September ends'. Luckily she doesn't understand the words to some songs and we download 'clean' versions of others.

The kids love Blue's Clues, Dora, Diego, Franklin, Little Bear. DD loves the princesses but won't watch many of the videos as she is afraid of all the bad guys. Likewise she won't watch Aladdin, Lion King etc either. And yet she can't wait to go to WDW! Go figure!

 

[Grendalynn]

This for sure is a touchy subject. Has been for some time now. I am honestly not sure that I think my boys are watching too much TV; That is a matter opinion. I try not to have the TV on for long amounts of time. An hour here or there then its turned off and on to the digital music channel (no videos) and they are encourage to play out side, and/or with their toys and what not. Its harder in NH in the winter bev=cause of the cold though. Both boys (DS6 and DS3) are very social, have great imagination, go outside daily and play educational games on the computer. DS6 know his way around a PC better than DH. They are also at school or preschool from 9-4 week days and we usually dont get home til 5 or so.

But honestly, I grew ups watching the ole' **** tube with no time limits and see no developmental or social flaws in myself or my sisters. Mom surley kicked us outside when it was a nice day or just to get us (there were 5 of us) out of her hair. Believe me, our TV time was very much screened by my parents, who were very strict on what we could watch and what we could not. We were not able to watch PG 13 movies until we were like 15+, R was out of the question. If we were watching a movie with them and if exessive swears or the F word was said - the movie was immeiatly turned off. I respect my parents for that now in hindsight. I think we were the only kids in high school who did not have or were not allowed to watch MTV when it first came out in the 80's. And now as a parent, I dont blame them a bit.

And DH - forget it - he could not survive w/o his TV -the History Channel, SPEED, or the NFL channel or TV to boot. When he gets home from work after a 16 hr day - thats how he relaxes and then its sports on weekends when/if he/we are home. Don't get me wrong, he by no means tunes us out or is not a functioning parent. Playstation time does have limits in our house. A little bit of that goes a long way. I myself like to watch the food Network and TLC. But there are many days that I wont have the TV on at all til the kids go to bed. I like the quiet and ease of no background noise.

I think as long as your children are able to still function and not have tunnel vision when the TV is on, its Ok in limited amounts. Anything Disney goes in our house. DS 3 is a Bear in the Big Blue House fan, Play House Disney, Sprout by PBS and Thomas the Tank Engine fanatic and DS6 is a Boomerang Freak; Which airs all of the cartoons from the 60's, 70's and 80's that we used to watch, Toon Disney as well, and the History Channel with daddy on occasion - a big hostory buff. As long as its suitable for the age of your child, so be it. I don't run my life by what a book or the Pediatric society says; Its what is good for my family and what parents are comfortable with. But as I have said before - "To each His/her own".

 

[megand]

I get so tired of hearing all this, too much tv, blah blah blah. I try to watch but not stress about it. I just get tired of all the parental stress studies and other parents put on each other. Do they watch too much tv, are they in enough activities, are they in too many activities. Can they read by age 4, can they write cursive by 5. "My kid only eats organic". I just say let kids be kids and don't push. Like someone above said, I don't remember all this stress when I grew up and I turned out fine, God forbid, I even ate Twinkies and processed food! One of my favorite shows was Threes Company! Maybe ignorance was bliss, but I sure wish we had back some of that bliss from the 70's, when I grew up!

 

[Grendalynn]

I get so tired of hearing all this, too much tv, blah blah blah. I try to watch but not stress about it. I just get tired of all the parental stress studies and other parents put on each other. Do they watch too much tv, are they in enough activities, are they in too many activities. Can they read by age 4, can they write cursive by 5. "My kid only eats organic". I just say let kids be kids and don't push. Like someone above said, I don't remember all this stress when I grew up and I turned out fine, God forbid, I even ate Twinkies and processed food! One of my favorite shows was Threes Company! Maybe ignorance was bliss, but I sure wish we had back some of that bliss from the 70's, when I grew up!

Well said - short, sweet and to the point! I'm with you ... If I had a dollar for everytime we ate SPAM..

 

[BuzzNutt]

My 4 yr old son sounds very much like yours. I see nothing wrong with that. He entertains himself with many other things outside of televeision and videos so I have no worries and neither should you.

 

[JoyG]

We probably watch alot of TV compared to what everyone else has posted...hopefully not compared to everyone lurking too!

Anyway, the boys (5,5, and 3) watch 2 movies a night after school. The movies are about 1 1/2 hours long each. So I guess that's about 3 hours a night. They don't just sit there and watch though...they play toys while it's on and sometimes act out the scenes. They are not interested in broadcast TV, there are no shows at all that they watch regularly. They like their Disney videos though! (wonder where that obsession comes from! ). Toy Story is playing right now.

Joy

 

[tracilicious]

Ugh, this is my big guilt thing right now. Before dd was born ds (3) rarely watched tv/videos. I find it very hard to get her down for naps without the tv. He also gets up very early and I am not a morning person at all, so I tend to turn the tv on until I feel more human. He probably watches two and a half hours a day. That really bothers me.

There are good reasons why small kids shouldn't watch tv. It affects their brainwaves. Also, kids learn by playing, and when they are spending 14+ hours a week watching tv, then they are losing a full day of playing. I think that is very detrimental to them. I just can't seem to get by without it.

 

[all4fun]

OK for those of you who feel like you may be letting your kids watch too much tv, here's an article for you: http://www.slate.com/id/2136372/nav/tap1/?GT1=783

DS probably watches "too much" but like the pp I try not to worry about it and just do what's right for him. Meaning I do limit it and tell him no when he's asking and I know he needs to go do something else, but there are also times the tv is invaluable (keep him occupied so I can get dressed for work or fix dinner). I try to keep it age appropriate - Baby Einstein, Sesame Street, Wiggles... and I can tell he's learned from some of these shows (ABC's & Counting for example). He also watches House of Mouse and until he started watching that he couldn't say any of the character's names (hey, this is an important milestone, OK. lol).

 

[Twingle]

Really interesting thread - so glad the OP started!

With my 6 y.o. DS, he is allowed six hours during the school week, in 30 minute time slots. Now, he can use all six hours at once, or spread it up over the five days, whatever he likes. But, once the six hours is done, it's done. No more until the weekend. This includes anything with a screen - television and computer. My DH and I noticed that during the school week the more tv he watched the harder it was to engage him in things. Also, he is NEVER allowed to watch before school, he would drag his feet way too much. He's on a big Scooby Doo kick right now, but he really likes Animal Planet and the Food Network - both channels that I think are fine for his age. On the weekends he is allowed to watch more, but he needs to split it up and do other things. For instance, he may watch a movie that is 2 hours long, but then he either needs to go outside, play, read, whatever, for the same amount of time until he can either watch something else or play computer.

My twin DD's on the other hand, are a totally different story. They are two right now, and just bonkers. They may watch the Wiggles sing two songs, and then read a few books, and then watch Strawberry Shortcake for fifteen minutes, and then color, and then watch part of a Baby Einstein, and then run around like whirling tops. The television is on quite a bit, but I think the time actually spent in front of it is pretty small. To make myself feel better about the time it is on, I will usually watch with them and give a running commentary about whatever is on. I like to believe that they learn more that way

This is just what's worked for us for right now. Sick days and vacations are different, as is whenever something is on that my kids just "really" need to watch (the latest was the Spider Hunter on PBS), we make exceptions for that.

Eventually, I would really like to be tv free during the school week, but I don't know if that will happen. I can dream! My poor kids do have pretty big censors in this house though - my parents never regulated anything I watched, and I learned LOTS at a really young age - way too young, in hindsight. I saw my first rated "R" movie at FOUR, if that gives you any ideas!

I think there will be a ton of viewpoints on this matter, but you really have to look at what works best for you and your family.

 

[bord1niowa]

The TV is almost always on, if it isn't then the music is going. We watch a lot of TV, not all bad stuff. Believe it or not there are some good and interesting things on TV too! We watch a lot of learning channel, National Geographic and all sorts of things like that. To me they're educational and just open the mind. I grew up watching a lot of TV and it hasn't hurt me, nor our kids, who have been turning out just fine too! I don't pay attention to applying certain time limits on TV because as long as it is understood what it is...pure entertainment and educational, then it'll be handled well. BTW, the schools play more TV than what many of you think your kids get in a week....lol. Not all educational either...lol Just ask em....

 

[KimberlyC]

My New Year Resolution was to watch movies (with my DH) that were not brought to me by the letter "G" or the number "3". Can we say my DS (20 mths) is crazy for Sesame Street/Elmo DVD's. I am not crazy about him watching lots of TV and his ear doctor says he shouldn't. Books good, TV bad for kids with hearing problems. Ok I get that, but his hearing is better now since his little surgery and he loves Elmo. So he gets about an hour in the evening (no TV at day care thankfully). The problem is the weekends. If we are home he wants it on non-stop. When I can't take it anymore (Elmo can be annoying), I say no, he tantrums, I say tough and he gets over it...eventually. He does learn from Sesame Street, and Barney and Baby Einstein so I guess its not too bad, at least that is what I tell myself, but if he starts to want to watch TV instead of say, playing outside on a nice day we'll have to initiate some changes.