Do children/teens need tvs in their bedrooms nowadays and do your dc's have a tv in their rooms?

[thesqueezedlemon]

Having an ongoing debate with DH. He says the dcs (8 & 9) need tv's in their rooms to watch dvds etc. I don't think it is necessary anymore, as it was when I was young. They can watch anything on their tablets now and I think ugly black tv's in bedrooms look a bit shit.

What do you all think and do your dc's have their own tv and why?

Smeaton please say that was a typo and you meant 14!

Oh for gods sake tvs in rooms do not ruin childrens sleep or education that is a ridiculous statement to make

No screens upstairs.

My DC won't be having any TVs in their bedroom. As a teacher I see daily the impact of children allowed screens in their bedrooms - poor sleep leading to bad concentration and behaviour and completely inappropriate viewing of programmes/websites. I've taught 6 year olds who were watching porn on iPads in their rooms at night! You can always tell which kids watch TV in their rooms. Please don't do it!

No, and no.

Now that they are teens they tend to spend more time in their rooms. Until very recently though we all enjoyed spending time together, whether that was out or at home watching a DVD.

No screens upstairs. No way, no how. Never ever.

Smeaton I am that your 4 year old has access to all of that in her room does she ever come out and play? How on earth do you monitor what she's being exposed to?

My dc are 13 and 10 and we don't have TVs in bedrooms. We have a TV in the living room and one in dh and I's bedroom as well as tablets etc so they can always watch their own stuff if they want to.

My dc never watch tv these days on any case. It's iPads and iPods here and they are handed over before bed.

Cant they watch downstairs? Dont like the idea of young kids in bedrooms watching tv even if dvds. Bad enough once they hit teen years and disappear until they are twenty.

Will be enforcing a no electronics in bedrooms rules when the kids are older. DS is 8 and hasn't asked yet, he watches our family TV far too much already

ds1 has a smart tv which he watches you tube and netflix on so no different to posters posting their kids watch them on the ipad in their room.

Nope no tvs in bedrooms here. They share the main tv or playroom tv. They wont be allowed tvs either as bedroom is for playing, reading, sleeping in. Not endless hours of telly or dvds at bedtime.
MrsJ, why do you think its a ridicoulus (cant spell that word!) Statement? Im curious.

No TVs in bedrooms, no screens in bedrooms. In fact we now only have one working TV in the house

No TV in rooms and will not have one. I'm very anti TVs in room because my parents allowed me to have one when I was 12. I would watch it in secret when they were asleep and fall asleep in lessons the next day. I realise that TVs have timers on etc but I reckon a kid with their head screwed on could find a way round that.

DC now 16 and 18.

They've had a TV in their room since about 5 or 6. Initially it was a very old tv/ video combi, it only worked to play videos.

Later we connected a ps2 to it for them to play games on.

Now they each have a TV in their rooms - eldest has his connected to xbox, youngest has his connected to his pc together with another monitor. Neither use them as standalone TVs.

I do always remove his remote and console controllers when he isn't allowed to play or has been on too long, he never has screens past 5pm on a school night, the TV isn't even used every day so although he does have one it is not in any way going to impact on sleep, it's still very much book then bed for 7.30pm.

No TVs in bedrooms for any of us, never had them drowning up and nor did DH so never even considered it. DCs (7 and 9) haven't asked so far.......

We have main TV in living room and a TV in the playroom with a DVD player and PlayStation so they use that - they aren't allowed any screens without asking first though so I can keep an eye easily on what they're looking at!

Mine does.
He sleeps fine
His education is going gine
His social skills are fine
He goes outside and its fine

DS has had one since he was about 4. He's now 17 and has the old one from our front room. He uses it for Xbox and Netflix. It's not necessary as such but it hasn't stopped him from interacting with the family or engaging in interests outside the home.

I have one teen, one pre-teen and a younger DC and none of them have TVs in their rooms (nor do we). However, we have 2 TVs downstairs, one of which they share to watch DVDs / play on consoles etc

My boys are 15 and 17. Both have TV's in their rooms. Have done for years. No sleep problems or school problems. The eldest rarely uses his as he's more into music and the younger uses his for his play station.

I wouldn't be surprised if fewer children have TVs (and other screens) in bedrooms these days, there is clear evidence that it is harmful for them. It's not as harmful as some other things could be but many parents wouldn't take the chance.

I think it's really easy to get a bit sanctimonious about it.
It's one of those things that's a personal choice and isn't a great or dreadful idea in isolation.
We don't have them because we've realised over a period of time that none of us do well with sleep if we have electronic anything in our bedrooms.
My eldest son was a nightmare for sneaking his phone in his room when he was a teenager but now, as an adult, chooses to switch off everything about an hour before he goes to sleep.
I think, if your children don't ctively want them, it's ideal not to but they won't turn your children into glassy eyed zombies unless everything else in their life minimises activity, conversation and sociability.