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Lucy over at LULU PETALS wrote a piece earlier this week about TV and the influence it has on our lives. I think about what the kids are seeing and hearing on TV today and realize childhood as we knew it no longer exists. They have become miniature ‘adults’ with what they see and experience and I believe this creates a lot of the animosity that exists in families today. When I was a kid certain types of shows came on after I was in bed. We didn’t have 400 cable channels or TIVO or DVR’s where you could watch the reruns at any time of day. In fact I had to ask permission to turn on the TV! The sex, violence and controversial topics were shielded from kids. Our parents had actual control to protect our childhoods.
How do you control your child’s TV usage?
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I keep the number of cable channels to a bare minimum. Basically, I get the local channels along with National Geographic and not much else!
Jane
Are you kidding? I thought all children had to ask permission to watch television.
We have no cable or rabbit ears. No reception at all, on purpose. We have DVDs, but don’t imbibe often.
Children should have their nose in a book or they should go play outdoors.
How can I when I love to sit in front of the TV myself??? Seriously my son is 18 so I don’t really control it but when he was little I would try to find other things for us to do.
Now that they have TV’s in their own rooms, I can’t really control everything they watch. But, our dish company has remotes that can be programmed to block out movies that have a certain rating. And there are some things I will not watch when they are in the room. My stupid husband doesn’t always follow that guideline, and it makes me so mad. Plus, you can’t control what they see at other people’s homes. Yes, you can restrict them from going to those homes, but basically, you’ll never know. I think it’s important to talk about what they see, because no matter how much we shelter them, they will be exposed to things before we’re ready for them to be. Communication is so important.
I run a daycare in my home, so the only time the tv is on during the day is Friday afternoon for Fun Friday – our designated movie day. Once the daycare is closed, we just take turns on who gets to pick a show and either my husband or myself is around watching it with the kids.
That is cool! I’ll check it out. i hope all is well with you. I haven’t been on much lately, but an doing better.
Although Disney channel, PBS and Noggin may be on here a lot the boys are not always watching. It is very rare that they sit to watch for too long of a period. It seems more of a background noise than anything.
My son must ask permission..however, I am usually sitting nearby..so I am able to monitor everything. You are right though.. I am shocked at the things they play on during the DAY!! It’s scary. It only takes a split second for something to make an impression on our children.
We don’t have cable so that helps. Other than that it’s just the tough job of saying “no” a lot.
I limit the time, and try to only put on learning shows that don’t have any commercials! I love sprout and PBS.
It’s been awhile! During the school year, they had to have all school work done before watching at night. The rest of the time they seemed to always be outside playing with friends and it wasn’t much of a problem??!!
Granted, our daughter is just two, but we do very much control her tv watching. I DVD *every-single-thing*. I want to choose when she watches a show, not be at the mercy of someone else at to what time. Also, if it’s a network that has commercials (Nick comes to mind, ticks me off as their sister channel Nogn doesn’t) I can fast forward (with a DVR it’s more like skip) without having to have the commercial actually showing.
We also choose what she watches, carefully. Most of it’s educational but in a fun way. Very few regular movies (Tinkerbelle, however is one of our fav’s).
I tend to have the tv on, to her shows, a lot of the day but typically she plays while watching which is something that I do also (stitching, reading, etc). As she gets older, she will need to be doing something while watching … coloring, playing (legos, blocks, etc), etc. We did this with my step-son when he was a little guy, and he says he credits that to being able to mult-task now as a college student.
Great question!
Cheers, Kiy
I admit I don’t really control their TV usage. Our youngest will watch a show then ask me to shut off the TV. Our 10 year old will watch for a bit then find something else to do. It’s not that important to them maybe because I don’t make it a big deal. Not sure.
I too had to ask permission to turn on the tv when I was growing up too! My kids are grown and we have grandkids now but they are only allowed to watch certain shows on certain channels that are age appropriate for them. And they aren’t allowed to watch tv all day. They have time to read and play with their toys.