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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to not want my nearly 6 year old to have a TV in his bedroom?

101 replies

saxony · 26/07/2011 19:40

How many on here have TVs in their children's bedroom. I don't agree with it while he so young but I don't want to be mean either. He asked me today as he has been with his 2 cousins and they have a TV in their room and watch cartoons before bed. Me and my son read books before bed, which would mean that that would get sidelined too perhaps.

Just curious about the general consensus.Thanks....

OP posts:

SinicalSal · 26/07/2011 20:25

God no, what's unreasonable about that?

shortround · 26/07/2011 20:26

Mine have a playroom and we also have a games room. (Many say they have tv's in thier childrens room so they can watch thier own thing) Bedtime to us is a story and sleep. For treats they are allowed to take a portable dvd up.

I didnt want mine falling into the habit of watching a film to go to sleep. Ours havnt asked for thier own TV, so I assume none of thier close friends have TV's either.

doesntfitin · 26/07/2011 20:27

Of course they need their own space as teenagers ,do people really think their teenagers will want to sit with their parents all evening?

My teenage Ds rarely watches his TV btw ,he watches most things on his laptop now

Original poster

saxony · 26/07/2011 20:27

Thanks for all your replies - made me feel that I am not being mean. I am against TVs in children's bedrooms and we do not have one in our bedroom either. My nephews (6 & 9) have had a TV and DVD player in their room for years, always watch reruns of DVDs before bed with no books at all. Sometimes when I visit, they are still running around upstairs 9-10pm because they want to knock the DVD player back on as it has finished etc. My son is in bed by 7.30 latest and goes straight to sleep after a story.
I feel the story time is a special time where you have their undivided attention. He loves books and we have read so many this way. I am hoping it is just a phase and once he knows he won't be having one, he will stop asking.

My husband completely agrees with me too thank goodness!

OP posts:

icooksocks · 26/07/2011 20:28

Well my 6 year old DD does have a TV in her room, and it even has an ariel into it, and we're buying her a freeview box too . But as her mum I am perfectly capable of monitoring what she's watching and she WILL NOT be watching it in bed/before bed. No is a complete sentence that also works with children too

doesntfitin · 26/07/2011 20:30

So only 1 TV households read to their children then?

squeakytoy · 26/07/2011 20:32

Mine have a playroom and we also have a games room.

thats great if you have so many available rooms, but the average family doesnt tend to have that luxury...

At my parents house, all the doors were glass, so there was no sneakily watching tv after lights out time.. as it could easily be seen through the glass... I did try sticking posters up all over the glass to disguise this, but they got removed

thefirstMrsDeVere · 26/07/2011 20:33

Its up to you. You make the decision.

Mine have always had tvs in their rooms.
They have NEVER fallen asleep to tv or dvds. They dont watch tv before school and they have to ask permission to turn it on.

This system has worked for my for all 4 of my five DCs so far over the last nearly twenty years.

But I dont think there is anything wrong with NOT having a tv in the room either.

But I think people will make the usual assumptions that tv in bedroom = no control over what children watch. That always happens on these threads.

icooksocks · 26/07/2011 20:33

doesntfitin this lot will be shocked to know that despite my dd's tele-I do actually read to her. I clearly didnt read the rulebook whereby you do one or the other and not both .

doesntfitin · 26/07/2011 20:35

Oh no you can't possible do both, icooksocks

TV = no books in the house

doesntfitin · 26/07/2011 20:35

possibly* before my bad spelling gets blamed on watching tv in bed

apprenticemum · 26/07/2011 20:37

doesntfitin - So do I when we are away in a hotel but I usually end up hooked into some corny film that finishes at 2am which is why I can't have TV in my bedroom. The Snug by the way is that room in the house that is bigger than a cupboard but not big enough to be a bedroom. They build most modern houses with them only they are called the nursery/study on the spec, or as I call it "What's the bleedin use of that!"

orienteerer · 26/07/2011 20:37

No TV in bedrooms here, ever.

shortround · 26/07/2011 20:39

Mine have a playroom and we also have a games room.

thats great if you have so many available rooms, but the average family doesnt tend to have that luxury...

i know .... that is why i wrote .... (Many say they have tv's in thier childrens room so they can watch thier own thing) i know its a luxury! If we didnt have that space i would still insist that bedtime is for story time then sleep!

Ismeyes · 26/07/2011 20:49

I don't think TV and reading are mutually exclusive and I wouldn't automatically assume that if a child had a TV in their room that they didn't read/were read to.

I also agree with what you say Squeakytoy, that once they get to age 10+ it is different and about personal space. But not for a 6 year old.

I can't agree with you though Icooksocks, as I have fond memories of watching 'The Equaliser' in secret on an old black and white TV my mum and dad let me have in my room at the age of 7. They never knew...I used headphones . In my defence I also regularly read under the covers with a torch until 10pm at night. I knew what the creaky floorboard meant, and I was bloody quick. They still don't know!

LunaticFringe · 26/07/2011 20:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lockets · 26/07/2011 20:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

squeakytoy · 26/07/2011 20:54

My dream is to have one of those in the wall tv's in my bathroom.. so I can laze in a deep bubble bath watching my soaps in peace...

Ismeyes · 26/07/2011 20:57

I stayed in a hotel where they had that squeaky, it was bliss....bath and TV!

thefirstMrsDeVere · 26/07/2011 20:58

squeaky the bathroom is the only room we dont have a tv in.

We even have one in the shed.

Poor DCs they are doomed to a life of chavdom.

Hassled · 26/07/2011 21:01

The rule with mine is that they get a TV in their room once they're 13. DC3 was 13 recently and I've hardly clapped eyes on the child since.

shuffleballchange · 26/07/2011 21:01

No TV's in our bedrooms here either, only one tv in the house, much to Ds and DH's disgust!!

shuffleballchange · 26/07/2011 21:02

Oh and IMO 6 is too young, maybe 10 would be ok?

Maryz · 26/07/2011 21:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

defineme · 26/07/2011 21:05

I can see why you would do it as a teenager-then kids stay up as late as parents and tv tastes will differ.
However, what parents of smaller children have time to watch tv when their chldren are awake? I don't know anyone who watches tv much when their kids are up so can't see how there'd be a clash of viewing needs.
If there's something special I want to watch like a sporting thing the kids either watch it with me or go and play.
Tbh my kids don't care about tv much and don't watch dvds so can't see the need.
I think people are judgemental because it paints quite a lonely picture-a child in their room on their own with the tv, but my kids go off to their rooms and look at books and stuff on their own and I don't think they're lonely.

I did read a study that said couple who have tvs in their bedrooms have less sex so that put me off that idea too...

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