To think that a 6yo should not watch TV till midnight

[gabid]

DS's friend's dad told me today that his DS (6) watches TV until midnight, that he sits there quietly and that he doesn't really get tired. I was amazed and assumed it was just during school holidays.

My DS (6) goes to bed at 7.30 ish and when he stays up later he will get up at 6am either way and be a pain in the butt the next day, besides I wouldn't let DS sit in front of the box for that long anyway.

What do you do?

Blimey, my daughter has never been in bed before midnight, let alone asleep. She has about 4 hours of sleep a night and only gets that because she now takes sleeping tablets. My mum tells me my brother was the same. 7.30 bedtime is like some eutopian urban myth to me.

Dd (5) will stay up that late sometimes but not as a regular thing and defo not on a school night, I always know what she's watching though as it will either be one of her DVDs in her room or she will be up watching something with us, last week she was up til 11:30 watching transformers with us but it was a Friday night.

She doesn't get very tired either as she will just sleep in the next day until around 10:30.

Janelikesjam um, I'd say you are a very stupid person for assuming someone you don't know is 'obviously a very stupid parent' and being so smug about 'knowing' you'd be 'right' in this assumption.

Even if he's watching age-appropriate content, watching TV is passive,unlike reading, lego, games. A 6 year old is too young to become a couch potato. Besides children need to learn regular hours and this teaches the little one to stay up all night when they are adults.

celadon I bloody LOVE that poem! What book was it in? DS & I just finished The BFG as bedtime story book last week and we're moving on to George's Marvellous Medicine next.

Re: telly... I don't like the amount of time DS spends watching telly (he's also 6), but at times I do just give in because it allows me to get things done and stops him scrapping with DD (who really isn't interested in watching telly). DS is a badger shift worker, like me (late to bed, finds it hard to sleep, needs noise in the background) whereas DP & DD are sensible, go to bed early and get a decent nights rest.

I don't let DS watch telly until late usually though (I've done it a few times). From what I've seen with DS, it doesn't help them sleep, it just holds them in a state of suspended animation - they're tired & need to sleep, lack the energy to do anything, but the kids programme they're watching is keeping them interested enough to stay awake. After twenty minutes or so, I go up and change the channel to 5Live - no adverts, no pictures, people talking about news & sport. DS is usually asleep fairly quickly

Isn't it originally in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory? Probably around the time Mike Teavee gets into mischief.

love the poem - by the way, the said friend of DS does get extra help in maths and literacy at school, he is not very good at expressing himself. I did wonder whether the reason might be excessive TV watching and too little talk and reading, but he might just be immature as my DS, their friendship is mainly build on being silly together.