To not understand why children need a TV in their room?

[mrsruffallo]

Following on from another thread-I am quite surprised how many kids have a TV in their bedrooms.
Surely they can read to go to sleep?
Or watch the one in the living room?
Come and enlighten me, why do children need their own one?

ermm but TV's are usually placed out of the on a shelves/furniture - whereas a bike does tend to rather get in the way .

?no one on here has the right to tell anyone else how much tv is too much?

Well actually, yes they do. If a child watches 8 hours of TV a day every single day, it is actively harmful to their physical well-being, their social skills and their behaviour. And actually it doesn?t have to be 8 hours, I believe it?s in the region of 2 hours. It is well-documented, it is not just personal opinion, people who have no vested interest in the subject have done extensive research on it. You can decide not to believe their research, of course, that?s up to you.

As for the ?my DD watches a lot of TV and she is slim so that blows the obesity / TV watching link out of the water? ? well, my grandmother smoked all her life and died at the age of 98, so that blows the link between early death, ill health and cigarettes out of the water too, doesn?t it. Er, no, it doesn?t. Just because individuals buck the trend, doesn?t mean the trend is non-existent.

I'm not anti TV. My DS has a Tv in his room. But I don't feel so insecure that I have to disbelieve extensive, respectable research if it challenges my parenting practices.

Good post, HerBeatitude

Great post LittleBella.

Also, I had to come back and take issue with Pottytroll:

"If you're worried about the children having too much control over the tv in their room then your children obviously already run rings round you anyway controlling the tv in the room is just like controlling what your childs diet is when your childs bedtime is etc"

Controlling what DD1 & 2 are up to - no problem, they can self-regulate nicely with TV, computer games, sweets, crisps, biscuits etc etc.

DS - nightmare. He doesn't "run rings round me" because I don't let him, but he has no self regulation whatsoever. If he had a TV in his room, he would watch it whenever he could. As I need some sleep occasionally and also have two other children to spend time with, I cannot physically see what he's up to every minute of every day. So for me, the easy thing to do is not to have a TV in his bedroom.

Surely, once again, you tailor your parenting to your child? You are not a superior parent because you have a child without an addictive personality you know, you're just lucky .

HerBeatitudeLittleBella.....actually nobody does have the right to tell anyone how much tv is too much, why? Because what other people choose to do is sod all to do with anyone else! I really think some people need to get out a bit more and experience life, lifes too short for half the bollocks people on this thread come out with! As long as your happy with your family then keep your nose out of others' business's and concentrate on your own life.....or lack of it!!!!!

TV or no TV......does it really matter, were all adults capable of making choices so who gives anyone the right to judge? Concentrate on yourselves!

Yes we're all adults with freedom to choose.

But our children aren't.

I do have the right to impart information to people who may not be aware of it. If people choose to disregard the information, that is of course, their absolute right.

With one small caveat: the effect of your decisions upon a) your children and b) the wider society.

LOL at being urged to get a life. No no, I don't want a life, I want a new TV.

But why do you feel the need to force information on people who obviously aren't interested? I say forget what others do and concentrate on your own life. People aren't aware because if it was the only thing in life they had to worry about they would make a conscious effort to be aware of it, their lack of awareness suggests they have more to life than to worry about a bit of TV.

And my personal view as previously stated somewhere on here is there comes a point when children HAVE to be allowed to make their own decisions rather than constantly having adults decide for them otherwise they'll never be equipped to make decisions in an adult world if they're not allowed to learn how to make sensible decisions as a child.

Ditto on the new tv tho

LOL, what do you mean forcing?

I'm not forcing anyone to sit in front of their computer and read my post. They can ignore it if they want, no-one is forcing anything on anyone.`And while you may not be interested in obtaining info, some other people might be. If no one is, it doesn't really matter, as luckily we don't have to sit a weekly exam on information posted on mumsnet that week!

I agree there comes a point when children have to make their own decisions. They are more likely to make good decisions, if we as parents guide them in the right direction as long as we are able to - so to impress on them that TV isn't the default entertainment/ activity, it's just one of many, to encourage them to understand that if they spend too much time on screen activities that is unhealthy for all sorts of reasons; that eating vegetables is a Good Thing; that scoffing McDonald's for dinner three times a week is a Bad Thing; that taking exercise is crucial to their well-being; etc. etc. Even if we do all that, we can't guarantee that our kids will make good choices when they are teenagers and adults; but by taking some responsibility for the direction we give them while they are still young enough to be influenced by us, we give them the tools to make good choices. If they choose not to use them, there's nothing we can do about it, but we still need as parents to ensure that they have the tools to begin with.

Totally agree with the second part of your post

I have this big thing about live and let live it really annoys me when I see people tell others what to do with their lives, my children have a tv in their bedroom, they usually watch it as a way of relaxing at bedtimes (we live an active lifestyle) I suppose I was more annoyed at a previous poster who'd said that all children should read books instead of watch tv......my argument is what people choose to do is their own choice

But research has shown that in general, watching TV before bedtime disrupts sleep patterns. And it's not just one study: it's study after study after study that's showing this, and it's not just children, it's adults too, though children are of course more affected.

Your children may not be affected by this; but for those parents whose children sleep badly, it might be a very useful piece of information to know that using the TV to unwind before bedtime is possibly the most counter-productive thing they could do as it can lead to what researchers call "junk sleep" (ie sleep that is disrupted at the REM stage) and they might be better off trying something else. If they disregard the info, that's up to them, but at least they are making an informed choice.

I dont deny or disagree with what the research says, just think that lifes too short.

Personally tv is fantastic at bedtime for my family (not saying its right for every family), my children have a bath, story then dvd and sleep perfectly well until the next morning. And I'm sure it would be good advice to anyone who's children have problems sleeping, it doesnt mean it would work in every case though, personally I believe as long as you wind down correctly then a bit of tv before bed isnt harmful.