TV in kids room?

[disneymagicgirl]

To keep the temptation in check - I just shut off the router at bedtime and it disables all of the wifi. I don't think there is away to choose specific devices.

Another riser kindly pm'd me a way to do it. I am going to work on it tomorrow but also realized I have a plan B if I can't figure it out...I can create a guest acct specifically for her and shut it off at the designated time, leaving the main acct on for my use.

 

[superme80]

Our boys will not be getting a tv in their room. DH and I do not have one in our room. If we want to watch a movie in our room he has his phone and I have my NOOK. The boy's bedroom is for sleeping and playing.

 

[DisMom2HAS]

My kids, now 10, 8 and 6 all got TVs when they turned 5. DD10 plays basketball, ballet, piano. DD8 plays soccer, jazz, piano. DS6 plays soccer and baseball. All have excellent grades, are in scouts, youth group and love broccoli. They honestly don't have a lot of tv time and prefer to ride bikes or swim. Simple rules...no tv on school nights after dinner. But can watch when chores and hw are done before. Usually after dinner we will all watch jeopardy together in the family room.

Now when my niece and nephew come over, they have 1 tv with no cable, they are always begging to watch tv. And will sit there like zombies.

 

[HM]

My kids asked on and off over the years. The answer was always no. We had two other common area tvs they could watch.

My son is turning 20 tomorrow. He had a tv in his college room and it was set up in his room at home over the summer.

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

My kids asked on and off over the years. The answer was always no. We had two other common area tvs they could watch.

My son is turning 20 tomorrow. He had a tv in his college room and it was set up in his room at home over the summer.

My 20 yo did the same. But TV in college is more about gaming from what I've seen.

We own one tv.
It's in the living room.
Never had one in the bedroom.
I can think of more fun activities for the bedroom than watching tv...
Never had one for the kids in their rooms.
Play, read, do homework, draw something, create something.

We even put our tv our in the barn for a year when they were in 2nd and 5th grades and simply did without.
Great year
We played played outside, had a consistently clean home and farm chores completed without fuss and we read tons of books, both as individuals and read aloud.
We actually conversed with one another, had family talent shows, learned and played lots of games like checkers, chess, monopoly, uno, crazy 8s, pinochle, battleship, etc.
Tons of fun! Precious memories.

Kids grow up too fast as it is and tv just seems to suck the time away.
We pretty much turn off the tv at night these days- there just isn't anything good on unless it's Retro TV.
Most times we just find the Waltons on the internet and watch that.
Good stuff.

Folks have to choose what works for their own lifestyle.
This is what works for ours, YMMV
Hey to each her own...

 

[scrapquitler]

My boys have been asking to have a TV in their room, they are 11 and almost 8. Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this. I did not have a TV in my bedroom until I was married.

Our kids have had TVs (and DVD players) in their rooms since they were about 3 or 4. (bad mommy....) My son (10) has the dvd player and tv, but it's not hooked up to cable. My teenage DD has only the basic cable channels (no digital channels) on her tv and she also has a DVD player.

My brothers and I all got tv (with basic cable) in our rooms for Christmas when I was in middle school (early 1980s)...they were 13" black and white tvs

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My kids have Tv's but they aren't hooked up to cable or our satellite dish.

They are for viewing movies and playing video games only.

I don't have a TV in the the master bedroom. I can't stand the TV on all the time and if there was one in there my husband would have it blaring constantly. He drove me nuts this weekend with his waking up and then turning on the TV in the living room immediately. and he wasn't really watching anything - he just wanted the noise.

 

[luv2sleep]

I don't have a TV in the the master bedroom. I can't stand the TV on all the time and if there was one in there my husband would have it blaring constantly. He drove me nuts this weekend with his waking up and then turning on the TV in the living room immediately. and he wasn't really watching anything - he just wanted the noise.

I can't stand that either. Constant TV noise really bothers me. We only turn it on to watch something specific. Then it goes off.

 

[hsmamato2]

Our kids have never had TVs in their bedrooms.
For most of their childhoods we had basic cable (like 8 useable channels--they grew up on PBS Kids and no Disney Channel). I've told them many times that they will never get to the end of their lives and wish they had watched more TV.

This is Us! There is too much to do IRL for that many screens IMHO

 

[gorkt]

We own one tv.
It's in the living room.
Never had one in the bedroom.
I can think of more fun activities for the bedroom than watching tv...
Never had one for the kids in their rooms.
Play, read, do homework, draw something, create something.

This is us, pretty much.

Although the kids do have iPads and watch shows on them occasionally, but that is rare.

I had a TV in the bedroom at one point and I didn't like it. I found that it kept me from sleeping.

 

[lauradis]

Laugh tracks are what is annoying about tv almost every program has one.

 

[WantToGoNow]

The only one in our house with a TV in their room is my adult dd - and she never turns it on. We don't have cable and only get about 5 local channels. When my ds12 was about 8-9, he did have a TV in his room, his room was in the basement, and he would stay up half the night watching it. His grades suffered and he was always tired and grumpy. We moved 2 years ago and the TV did not move with us, nor did the one in my/dh's room. Neither ds12 or dd9 have asked for TV's in their rooms since.

 

[peyjax]

I asked my teenage neice about a tv in her room when they got a new house. She told me that I was old fashioned. TV's are so last decade. With nooks and Ipads who needs a tv in their room. I definitely saw her point.

In all honesty I have read many reports on how tv's can mess with your sleep pattern. I am not a fan but my dh would love to fall asleep to one. A bachelor tradition that I had to break!

 

[JaymeC]

Mine don't have a tv in their room, at 7 and 8. We do have one in our bedroom, but in all honesty that's there mostly so I have something to watch while folding laundry and to catch the 10'o'clock news. If I really don't want to listen to a movie they're watching, they get the 'special treat' of watching it in our room We don't have cable.

We have a kindle fire, but they're only allowed to use that on a very limited basis. The tv in the living room has the xbox and wii and again that time is limited (and a lot of times the whole family joins in). We're all really big readers, so they're more likely to waste their time in a book than on the tv.

We're just not very screen oriented in day-to-day life I think. We did have a problem for awhile where our oldest was getting up and playing a game on our smart phones every night. He was punished for it repeatedly and told us he wanted to stop but just couldn't. I actually believe him in this, and so I don't really want to put any form of temptation electronically in front of them until I know they're ready to make their own self-controlled decisions. But I think every family is different, and you should do what works for your family

 

[eyor44]

All of my kids were about 10 when they got one in their rooms. DD10 just got hers this past Christmas but she rarely watches it. She prefers the living room or our room. When DH is watching sports and I am working in my room, I have to remind her that she has one in her room. Most of the time she ends up doing something else. She does have days when she vegges and that's okay.
We have the rule that no tv on in the morning before school and must be turned off when going to bed.

 

[JamesMom]

My boys, 8 and 10, have had TVs in their rooms since toddlerhood. They are only hooked up to DVD players and they have a binder of appropriate movies, tv shows and documentaries to watch at their leisure. DS10 hasn't turned on his TV in months. DS8 is on the spectrum and always falls asleep with a movie playing in the background.
They both go to bed at 9 (even on the weekends unless on vacation or a party). They can use their ipods (with safari and YouTube deleted) until 10 pm on School nights complete with Amazon and Netflix streaming.
There is an Xbox, Wii, PS3 in the family room with the big TV with streaming, too. They can only play T-games that have been approved by us and NO M games at all. DS8 has a friend who has been playing Halo since age 6 - crazy IMHO. All computers are in the family room too except my DH in the study. They will NEVER have internet access or cable TV in their rooms- even on a phone until they pay the bill as the dangers are too great in our eyes.
My kids are active in Scouts (spent add 16 nights in tent last year alone) and they run a half dozen 5K races a year as they don't like organized sports. They are very active, fit and well-balanced. Lots of family time - I was in the tent and races with them They spent about 80-90% of their leisure time in the public areas of our house. They just LOVE their video games and music
I agree with another poster that one of the best skills we can teach our children is self-entertainment!
BTW - we are big gamers with DH and I playing World of Warcraft and other electronic games. We watch maybe Big Bang Theory or Master Chef, but otherwise we don't watch TV regularly anyway. Dallas Cowboys Football and streaming movies is our TV view habit. There will days that go by that I don't turn on the TV in our bedroom. YMMV

 

[Pigeon]

I don't want to encourage any more TV watching than already happens. We have one TV in the house, in the family room. Most of my kids' friends have their own TVs.

 

[luv2sleep]

I don't want to encourage any more TV watching than already happens. We have one TV in the house, in the family room. Most of my kids' friends have their own TVs.

My exact feeling. I've already got to limit it as it is.

 

[cobright]

My kids don't have a tv in their room but will probably be getting their own computers this year. I'll probably run the cable TV into their computer monitors so they can watch tv if they like.

It's important IMO to respect television as a window to the world of new and different ideas.

As the recent VMA awards demonstrated, there are things that happen that I don't like but it is not my role as a parent to shield my children from things I don't like. So, generally speaking, I let my kids pursue their interests so far as doing so is not harmful to them.

There is one thing I cannot abide and will step in to end, and that's repetition. Watch the same program all day long and I shut it off.

And maybe spongebob, I hate that guy.

 

[kkmcan]

I think you know your kids best and can decide based on that. I never was a fan of tv in the kids bedrooms when they were younger but now that everyone has their own shows that they like to watch I changed my mind with all the arguing over what to watch. It was hard for many years when night time came and dh wanted to watch a game, teen dd wanted to watch Glee, DS wanted to watch kid shows and I wanted to watch Parenthood or Amazing Race.

I figured that they were good kids and didn't like to spend time in their rooms alone as it was so I really didn't think it would be a problem. They got 19" flatscreens for Christmas 2 years ago (they were 14 and 11) and they only watch them right before bedtime. They like having the freedom to watch what they want in the evening and yet most of the time if there is something on in the family room that they like they will watch with us.