OT- how much tv do you (or would you) let a preschooler watch a day?
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I used to be really strict about TV time for bs3. He didn't watch any TV until he was 2. Then it was very limited. But since the baby was born 9 months ago its gotten a bit out of hand.
I FINALLY have dh on board to limits bs's screen time so I need to decide what the new rule is going to be. I was thinking one show on school days and three shows on weekends?
Oddly enough, the skids watch TV 24/7 and he isnt the least bit concerned about them. Oh well, not my battle. But it is odd that doesn't care about how much TV they watch but wants better for our son (even though he watches a fraction of what they do).
But what are your TV policies (in theory and in practice)
Good for you The last thing
Good for you
The last thing you want is to have grown children glued to TV and video games to the point where they become developmentally handicapped ...
My SS is 5 and we limit
My SS is 5 and we limit TV.
We don't really have a set rule. Normally though he is allowed to watch one show or movie after to dinner to help wind down, and few mornings if we have time he can eat breakfast and watch a show but this is super rare.
If it is nasty outside DH will try to do a project or sometimes they might watch more TV but this is a rare occasion.
SS watches goobles of TV at his moms, which sometimes frustrates him, but to me a show or two a day should be max for his age, mind you we also read books and there is always a project going on at our house.
He's not glued to the screen
He's not glued to the screen now, but its more than I want him watching. Probably totals an hour on school days and 4 hours (total not in a row) on a weekend day.
Still way more than I want him watching. Up til now dh has not backed me up saying I was too harsh and to "just let the poor kid watch some tv". But he finally read the studies I have been talking about for years and agrees that TV isn't a good thing.
Hmmm... I have a different
Hmmm... I have a different take on this. My mom used TV as a way to get us to do our stuff, and so did my grandparents, and it became part of our routine,
It was so easy to turn on the cartoons on tv early in the morning, me and my sister would get dressed and brush our teeth, etc FAST because we knew we only had that much time to get downstairs and watch it as we ate breakfast and went to school. There was none of the "can't get my kids out of bed" kind of things going on in our house.
Then, after school let out, we we'd get home at 3:00, be able to watch TV until 4:00 and then had to do our homework. After, we were rushed out into the yard to play until dinner. Then at 8:00, after dinner, and after our extra prep work (math and english) were done, we were allowed to watch the discovery channel or Nature on 13 (my dad would be on the computer in the same room to make sure) until 9:30 when we had to get ready for bed. We had only books in our room, so if we couldn't sleep, we had to read. Even our toys were kept in another room (although we were allowed one stuffed animal.)
Full score on the state wide English exam, top 98% percentile in the Math portion. Straight A's in science. (Thank you, Discovery channel) The only thing that I got A- to B+ in was History.
TV, like any tool, (if you go Semi-Tiger-Mom like my mom did) can actually help, if you know how to use it the right way.
With my kids, I'm following in my mom's footsteps.
Also, on Saturdays and Sundays we had prep school, chorus, martial arts classes, which usually started at 9:00am as well, so my mom would turn on the WB channel Saturday morning cartoons at 7:00am, we'd be dressed and prepped all on our own by 7:15am so we could maximize the time we were able to watch it.
My parents would let us know that was what they were doing too, so we understood the logic behind it.
My (same aged) niece and her
My (same aged) niece and her husband (40 years ago now) had one small TV in their home which was used to watch the news and occasional special shows like the landing on the moon. Otherwise TV was not watched. Of course there is more to the story but their kids are all successful citizens.
I cannot think of one thing that is learned off of TV that isn't going to be successfully learned elsewhere. Kids should be using their imaginations and brains not being hypnotized.
Ya know... I never really
Ya know... I never really restricted it. When they were little it was Animal Planet, Discovery, etc. But they did also watch Disney movies, Nickelodeon, etc. We also did a lot of other stuff, at home and not. Museums, the arts, sports, etc.
Kids are grown now. One? A Merit Scholar. The other? Full academic scholarship. TV didn't hurt them one bit.
Everything in moderation.
I think it's kind of normal
I think it's kind of normal for these dads to have different standards for bios that they have with us than they do for the skids. I only say that because most of the time the skids are influenced 50% or more by another family with different rules and it's not easy to try and enforce anything on them.
Good for you about the TV. We don't have cable and SD only watches netflix and only at night with us. Sometimes we are so busy that it's only 20 minutes. I have gotten into the bad habit of putting baby shows on netflix for backround during the days that I am home with BD11months though..I feel like I should not get her used to staring at a TV.