Your TV rules and kids

You got 12....TWELEVE!!!!...channel in the boonies? I got 3 (and one was PBS!)! Can we trade childhoods?

 

Just for my evil kicks, I hope Dick's kids get hooked on the 700 Club. Bet the TV gets yanked out of the house right quick then.

 

My son moved the potty into the living room this afternoon, presumably for more efficient viewing of Sesame Street.

 

That's just the American Dream right there!

 

Actually -- and I have a picture -- the first thing he did was pick up a book to read while relaxing on the new furniture.

 

Get him a mini-fridge and a table and he's golden!

 

I am as concerned about what little OOP watches as much as how often. She knows she is not allowed to watch anything new without asking. That applies to the television and Netflix.

For example, she heard about Once Upon a Time somewhere. Then she found out Elsa from Frozen will be on the show this season, so she really wanted to watch it. I knew very little about it, so I watched an episode on Netflix without her, then sat down to watch one with her to make sure it was okay.

It really depends a lot on the particular child. My brother has never put much in the way of restrictions on his children's television viewing. His two older ones were honor students every step of the way. The youngest isn't quite as good in school as his older siblings, but he's doing fine in high school. And the crap they let him watch when he was little always made me cringe.

 

My kids watch a lot of Law & Order and the NFL Network.

 

Two things growing more similar by the day.

 

Well-played.

 

We don't have time limits, but we pretty carefully monitor what they're watching. They only have kids DVDs in their rooms and we're pretty good about nothing but cartoons downstairs. Oldest is in first grade and does all of her homework after she eats her post-bus snack before watching anything.

A couple of times I've become concerned over some of the violence in my son's cartoons. He's four. Some on Netflix that were obviously for kids a bit older have now been blocked. Ninja Turtles is about as violent as it gets around here now.

They're both involved in spring, summer and fall sports (soccer and t-ball), so they're busy with practice and games most of the time. And on Saturday and Sunday (when there's no football on), they're with me in the garage or in the back yard playing most of the day, anyway.

 

We're the same way with iPods/gadgets at the dinner table. Leave them in your room. I work on the copy desk weeknights, so weekends are when everyone is home (most nights) for dinner. It's not too much to ask our kids (eighth-grader and h.s. sophomore) to communicate with us for 15 minutes at dinnertime.

With football and swimming practices, plus homework, our kids don't watch much TV during the week. And we only have one set, so they have to agree on a program, which doesn't happen often.

They do watch stuff on their gadgets, though, so you try to police that as best you can.