Parenting: kids and TV

[Don Stugots]

The parents of .net, what are the guidelines for your kids TV viewing?

Type of shows, how much time spent viewing, etc.

[Farmer Dave]

I don't really set an alotment of time. When the weather warms up they would rather be outside playing so that pretty well takes care of itself.

My daughters are 10 & 5 y/o. They watch the Hannah Montana and such, but also Animal planet, Discover, Food network, and that type as well.

[eeroomnhoj]

We allow our kids (7 and 9) to DVR shows that we say are okay (mostly stuff on Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel and America's Funniest Videos). Then when they want to watch a show they can chose something. We let them watch about an hour a day. It doesn't always work out that way, many times they are busy doing other things and they don't watch any TV.

We do not let them watch Hannah Montana (not the image I want my daughter's striving for).

[Don Stugots]

I ask because I got into a heated argument with a friend about it last night. His son watches TV every waking minute while his wife and him are of the thinking of "we work all day, we want the silence". When I gave them the option of listening to music they responded with "when you have kids you will understand".

What the hell? I lived with my sister when she was raising her first son. I know what it is like.

[Ritalin]

Very interesting thread for me, because I just had two kids enter my life in the past year.

The first is a 9 year old boy, and he llkes his TV, but he's not obsessed with it. He was used to watching in the morning, and we cut that out right away. I think tv on the weekdays before 5 in the afternoon makes one dumb. The other thing we do is have him ask permission before watching. The answer is yes more than it's no, but a fair amount of the time I'll stop and think if there's something else he could do that's a better use of his time, and he's cool with that.

Our other child is a 4 month old boy, and it's fascinating how quickly they latch on to a moving image on the screen. If the tv is on in the room, he'll crane his head to see it. I'll hold him in my lap when I'm on the computer sometimes and he'll just sit and stare at the screen. And he already has youtube favorites that he can watch over and over again. I can't say that we won't be those parents who use the tv as a baby sitter, but I can't sit here and pass judgement. I think you do the best you can.

And I don't think tv is the devil. We all watched a fair amount of tv when we were kids, and we turned out ok. My 9 year old comes out with some pretty funny and smart things sometimes, and he picks that up from some of the really well done shows that he watches.

[ToiletCrusher]

When I have little ones of my own there will only be tv from after dinner to 8pm up to 10 years old. After that it goes up an hour for each year in age.

When the kids reach high school, they may have a tv in their bedroom but only if they are in good academic standings.

[~Katja~]

Well my son is 3, almost 4. He did not watch tv until he was almost 2, not because I would not let him but simply because he showed no interest in shows like Baby Einstein, so I just played music instead.

He then started liking annoying shows like Teletubbies and he could only watch it on video cause it was rarely on TV.

After that he was watching shows on sprout, but obviously only in the evening or some morning hours on the weekend (if we were even at home) or the evening to unwind.

I understand your friend's statement about wanting/ needing the silence... I see it like this; when I get home from work I have been out of the house for almost 10 h... and so has he. He had to behave and follow rules all day long at daycare, he learned and played and really by the end of the day is just pooped... just like us adults who worked 8h.
So while I make dinner he gets to watch, and then after dinner he watches again, but then there is bath time and all...so he really only watches maybe 2h total and 30 minutes actively, cause he will play with his toys and climb around during that time as well.

The summers are better on the weekends cause we are always out and about... Zoo, friends, parks.. beach... there is barely a weekend at home and inside.

[Furtherman]

I watched a ton of TV as a child and look how I tur.... never mind.

[mikeyboy]

My eight year old would watch TV all day if you let her, so we don't. She is limited to 1-2 hours a day, and doesn't even watch that much during the week because of other commitments. She generally only watches one channel -- the Disney Channel. Sure, most of it is pretty vapid sitcom-stuff aimed at tweens, but at least you know you don't have to monitor for inappropriate content. The 3 year old likes TV as well, but she is limited to an hour a day while her sister is at school. Almost everything she watches is on demand stuff from PBS Sprout, so there aren't any content issues.

[mikeyboy]

I watched a ton of TV as a child and look how I tur.... never mind.

When I was a kid, there were a couple of times when I when I sat and watched TV for so long that, because I spent so long staring at the same spot, when I started looking around, my eyes had some soreness.

[~Katja~]

My eight year old would watch TV all day if you let her, so we don't. She is limited to 1-2 hours a day, and doesn't even watch that much during the week because of other commitments. She generally only watches one channel -- the Disney Channel. Sure, most of it is pretty vapid sitcom-stuff aimed at tweens, but at least you know you don't have to monitor for inappropriate content. The 3 year old likes TV as well, but she is limited to an hour a day while her sister is at school. Almost everything she watches is on demand stuff from PBS Sprout, so there aren't any content issues.

don't be too sure about that, they teach children that bunnies grow up without parents and that sisters are annoying brats (max & ruby)

[~Katja~]

When I was a kid, there were a couple of times when I when I sat and watched TV for so long that, because I spent so long staring at the same spot, when I started looking around, my eyes had some soreness.

this just happened this morning, didn't it ;)

[A.J.]

I watched a ton of TV as a child and look how I tur.... never mind.

Exactly. Let your kids indulge themselves in TV so they can learn tons of useless TV trivia like I did!

[Thebazile78]

We didn't have cable when I was a kid, so there was rarely anything on TV that I wanted to watch. It was the very rare special treat that we'd be dropped off at our dad's parents' if we were sick ... they had cable, so we binged on Nickelodeon 'til our eyes bled.

I watch a lot more TV now than I ever did as a kid, but I also have no problem switching the thing off if I'm not really watching it.

[mikeyboy]

don't be too sure about that, they teach children that bunnies grow up without parents and that sisters are annoying brats (max & ruby)

Oh yeah. Caillou is a whiner too..

[Don Stugots]

Exactly. Let your kids indulge themselves in TV so they can learn tons of useless TV trivia like I did!


The discussion came from my view of no TV in our bedroom or in the kids room or in the car. I know I watched too much TV as a kid and I didn't read much.

[CountryBob]

TV was and is a great friend. TV was a great companion and sitter when I was a youngster. As long as homework was done I could always watch as much as i could stand. My parents let me find my way to discovering what shows and how much I could indulge. I would see how late i could stay up and watch the "late shows" sat. night live, night stalker, etc.

My life as a child: school, arcade, home and plopped down in front of the TV.
It's a wonder that I have been overweight all my life.

Being raised by the TV now has identity as an adult - I have every channel that Directv offers - including Playboy. And yet it seems that I only watch like 10 of those channels on a regular basis. I even leave the TV on if I am reading.
I love TV!

[Thebazile78]

don't be too sure about that, they teach children that bunnies grow up without parents and that sisters are annoying brats (max & ruby)

You do realize there's a group on Facebook "Where the Hell are Max & Ruby's Parents?" right? (My best friend from back home just joined it a few days ago.)

[~Katja~]

You do realize there's a group on Facebook "Where the Hell are Max & Ruby's Parents?" right? (My best friend from back home just joined it a few days ago.)

I am a member :P

[~Katja~]

The discussion came from my view of no TV in our bedroom or in the kids room or in the car. I know I watched too much TV as a kid and I didn't read much.

I think watching TV has no influence on reading or enjoying to read.
My sister would read tons of books while I was out and about or would listen to music and paint and draw a lot rather than read.

And we had 3 channels growing up with only children's programming during summer and winter break from 1-3PM called Flimmerstunde where they would show movies or shows.
Throughout the year they did a Flimmerstunde only on weekends and during X-mas season they had a few other programs that would show kids how to do arts and crafts and sing holiday music...
So we had very little TV to watch and still turned out differently in how we spent our many hours without TV

[Furtherman]

Exactly. Let your kids indulge themselves in TV so they can learn tons of useless TV trivia like I did!

Of my friends, I'm the go-to guy on TV Trivia. I'll have answers for them such as: "Flash", "Professor Whitehead and Oliver", "Heather Thomas", "Worshiped Ralph", "Abraham", "Hawk", "Burkhalter" or "Geri".

However, I didn't have cable as a kid so I don't know anything about those shows. If it was in reruns on broadcast? I've probably seen it, a lot.

[A.J.]

Let me see if I can get these:

"Flash"

Roscoe's dog

"Professor Whitehead and Oliver"

Vincent Price and the statue the Brady boys encountered in Hawaii when trying to return the tiki.

"Heather Thomas"

"Fall Guy" hottie: and subject of The 80s Heather Debate (Thomas or Locklear?)

"Worshiped Ralph"

Rerun from "What's Happening".

"Abraham"

The name of Arnold's goldfish on "Differn't Strokes"

"Hawk"

Buck Rogers' sidekick?

"Burkhalter"

General who intimidates Klink on "Hogan's Heroes"

"Geri"

Blair Warner's CP-riddled cousin on "The Facts of Life".

[Furtherman]

Let me see if I can get these:

Well done my fellow boob-tubed friend!

And yes, Hawk was from Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. He was a friend though, not a sidekick.

[topless_mike]

sean will be 4 in april.
he gets maybe a couple of hours of tv a day.
there is no tv in his room.
really, he's only watching tv if we are doing something and need a temporary babysitter.
rarely, we will sit with him and watch. only if he's out of energy and just needs some down time.

almost always disney channel or sprout, but occasionally discovery channel.
to be honest with you, he had to have early intervention because of his speech. once he figured out that he knows how to talk, whamo. wont stfu now.
tv has really helped him with long sentences and story telling.

when i see whats on now, i cant believe the stuff that i watched as a kid.

[TripleSkeet]

Well done my fellow boob-tubed friend!

And yes, Hawk was from Buck Rogers In The 25th Century. He was a friend though, not a sidekick.

I wouldve guessed Spencer For Hires mysterious informant.

Right now my kids only 1 but I do worry about TV. Only because Im a TV addict. The thing is, now that I have DVR I just tape the shows I like and watch them as I get the time, instead of scheduling my time around the shows.

For the record she LOVES Sesame St., SpongeBob Squarepants, and The Simpsons. What can I say? For such a young kid she has good taste.

[Fez4PrezN2008]

When I have little ones of my own there will only be tv from after dinner to 8pm up to 10 years old. After that it goes up an hour for each year in age.

When the kids reach high school, they may have a tv in their bedroom but only if they are in good academic standings.
Wow, that kid is NEVER going to get any sleep by the time he's 18 :laugh:

[Tall_James]

You do realize there's a group on Facebook "Where the Hell are Max & Ruby's Parents?" right? (My best friend from back home just joined it a few days ago.)

I am so joining that group.

[IMSlacker]

You do realize there's a group on Facebook "Where the Hell are Max & Ruby's Parents?" right? (My best friend from back home just joined it a few days ago.)

Is there a group for "Caillou obviously has cancer, why is it never mentioned?" too? If not, I'm starting one.

[Thebazile78]

Is there a group for "Caillou obviously has cancer, why is it never mentioned?" too? If not, I'm starting one.

I don't know. I don't think her son watches Caillou.