children with tv's etc in their rooms

[PeppermintPasty]

AIBU to think that the world has gone mad when I hear of children not getting enough sleep etc; because they have TVs, computers in their rooms and are up all night with them, or most of the night? Why don't the parents take the damn things out? I don't get it. Is it just too difficult an area for parents to get into with their offspring? Am I naive in thinking we should all have these things in one/two central rooms, or am I just hopelessly out of touch?

not read all the thread but I agree with chegirl. If kids are staying up all night, it has nothing to do with the tv. Both mine have tvs in their room, but they ask for permission before they are switched on and they are strictly limited. The younger ones are not allowed tv in their room after tea at all. They wouldn't dream of trying to switch them on after bedtime!

Have only skimmed.

I had a tv in my room growing up and also had a zx spectrum which I played games on.

This is not a thing which has suddenly happened - a new thing for this generation. Like most things it has gradually become more prevalent.

I didn't have any problems with school work or anything like that. I also rushed to the park as soon as i was 16 to drink cider so it didn't stop that

Before I had the tv and computer I often used to stay up very late reading - a couple of times I suddenly realised it was about 3am

They have shown that teens body clocks go all wonky - so the chances are that the children will stay up late doing whatever is at their disposal, if that is how they are at that time.

I'm worried about older kids with computers getting access to porn. Rather they had their own sexual experiences before being brainwashed by the sex industry. So probably will not allow computer in bedroom until late teen hood....but may be being unrealistic as son is six months...with food all over his face.

YANBU. DD is 11 and we dont allow a TV in her room, she has a laptop which she has to use downstairs and is turned off by 7:30pm.

That works well for us and it means we get to spend time together as a family before she goes to bed.

DD didn;t have a tv in her room until she was 10, and then she only had a TV/DVD combi which didn't have an aerial.

She was 13 when she got a new telly which had freeview built in.

She now has laptop as well.

I agree with chegirl - she knows that she is not allowed to watch telly after a certain time, and the same with the laptop (the bradband goes off at afixed time anyway). She would not dream of turning her TV or laptop after her allowed time.

Kids watching TV until 3 in the mormning or whatever has absolutely nothing to do with having TVs in the room, it is all to do with discipline.

my ds was 6yrs old when we got him a TV & DVD for his bedroom , he's 11yrs old now & we have never had a problem with it , he watches it for 1 hour before bed time so 7.30pm until 8.30pm then he knocks it off & goes to sleep , DD will also be getting a TV for her bedroom on her 6Th birthday .

Not read whole thread but my ds's 9, 5 and 3 have a tv in their room but they only watch it with permission. it is not about a tv in bedroom it s about parents controlling when they use it. But like someone else said sometimes at weekend they will go up and watch a dvd - lets me off watching peter pan for the 100th time.

I had a tv in my room from about 7 onwards, but no arial so I could only watch videos!

I remember just after I'd been given it, my mum recorded the spice girls on the brit awards for me, and I spent all night rewinding their performance of Who Do You Think You Are? I must have done it 30 times, and danced along every time hehe

I don't think there's anything wrong with it to be honest, as long as it's not all day every day, and good if you can make it DVDs only.

Agree with whoever said 'why does having a tv in their room = staying up late'

Both dd's (12&10) have tv's in their rooms and have done for a while now, but they go off half an hour before their bedtime. Dd1 sometimes stays up later than 9, but isn't allowed to watch anything after 9pm unless I say so.

it is personal choice. my oldest son had a tv in his room at 9 so he could use his playstation with out the little ones pulling at cables etc, but not to watch as such as no ariel, my 12 year old has a tv but his 12 year old sis doesn't, she has a portable dvd for watching movies on. apart from the 19 year old the others don't watch tv in their room, bed time is a time to read for half an hour then lights off. The computer is in the main family room so I am around while they are on in but certainly not sitting with them all the time. For pre schoolers is there any necesity to actually be on the internet?! I think parents who see other kids being allowed certain items of technology at an age they consider appropriate are very judgemental of others and I would bet that when their own kids do eventually have access to these items the reality of all this close supervision invariably goes out the window.

I had a tv in my room from about 10

I remember watching The Young Ones with the sound really low so that my mother couldn't hear it

my dd would love a telly in her room and pierced ears, but it's not going to happen

Posted a while back saying I wish I had held off for longer. I miss my teen being downstairs and I know at 15 he watches it (and uses laptop) far later than I would like. Have been thinking though...I wonder if making him wait so long back fired; it became part of independence rather than just normal to have TV in bedroom but only to watch it occasionally.

I think I may have made it too much of a marker for being 'grown up', don't know but interesting to hear how others live when I think about younger sons!

Kids don't need a TV in their room to stay up too late. I didn't have one and still managed to be up all night reading, I still do it now - this has not affected my life adversely as far as I can tell.

DS is only 6 and isn't very interested in TV yet, we all like to play on the xbox and things together and obviously his computer time needs to be supervised so it happens in the lounge.

When he is older he will probably have a laptop/TV whatever if he likes. Really don't think it is worth getting your knickers in a twist about trivial things other people do with their kids.

I really would hope to never have a TV in ds's room because I had one myself as a teen and know how you can get sucked into this zombie-like state and find it very understimulating yet impossible to switch off(still do with laptop ). Before I had the TV, I used to read.. but that was developing my mind, and TV wasn't.

I guess the way to achieve this as a goal would be to remove the TV from our room (which I probably will do, actually).

Ideally, I really want to limit access to TV to VERY little indeed. I am hoping to (at the very least) get ds to a year old without having watched it. I would love to have the strength to get rid of it completely but not quite there yet.

my ds is nearly 5 he has ASD and has had a tv in his room for over a yr we dont allow him to watch it all night its switched off after bedtime hr but because he likes to have his quiet time for his own needs his tv is his thing he likes to lay on his bed and watch tv i go in at 7 and switch it off

i think its ok if its monitored and then children are not up all night playing games watching tv they are only like that if parents allow it

I shared a room with my sister grwoing up, and we had a telly in there from the age of about six or seven I think. It was a christmas present for the both of us one year - a big present as we didn't get anything else.

It was never hooked up to an arial, and because my Dad worked in electronics they were able to set a master control to put videos on downstairs and feed it up to us. So they had ultimate control. Well, for a year until my parents split, anyway.

After they split we still had it in our room at my mum's, but it was never an issue because my mum made sure we behaved. And TBH, we were more likely to stay up playing with our dolls. Videos were kept downstairs so it was useless most of the time anyway.

As for a computer, we had one in our room from when I was about...thirteen? It was old (had a 4GB hard drive!) but it played The Sims. (which was all I cared about then!) It had been in the living room, but when my mum and step-dad upgraded they gave it to us. It was great for doing homework on, and if my mum thought we were wasting too much time on it, she took away the extension lead it needed.

I also never had internet access in my room, so I don't see why people worry about children looking at porn. You can have a computer without giving them access, and then when they're older and earn your trust, you don't have to worry about the culture shock. I was never allowed a phone in my room like some classmates, but I could always take the home phone in there if I wanted to talk to my friends in private. It's the same thing.

Mine had tv in their rooms from age 14/15 and I honestly dont think they were switched on more than a couple of times a week.Ds used to watch football which I hate and dd watched Neighbours and some pop stuff
Sometimes they watched together and tv was never on after 10pm.
Computers werent a problem 20+ years ago.

I've told ds (8) he can have a tv in his room when he's old enough to get a part time job and pay for it himself.

well, I suppose I was thinking about recent reports concerning tiredness etc, and it just seems odd to me that children may have these things in their rooms if that's going on. of course i don't think having stuff in rooms mean parents don't police, and I guess too there is of course a healthy dose of media drivel about the lost generation stuck in their rooms blah blah. Ha and I couldn't agree more about bloody cbeebies et al. If I ever have to watch sodding waybuloo I start to twitch. This should tell you that it's not an issue for me yet as my boy is only 3 and I'm 5 weeks away from having my second. My nephew is 12 however and is fairly obsessed with gadgets etc. Oh and I agree TOTALLY about cider in the park!! That was me, probably would be still if these days I didn't just look at a glass of wine and get a headache.

ages ago I said I didn't understand about the radio in a kids room
I wasn't thinking of a little bit whilst they drift off, I was thinking of other instances I have heard about (alot more than would ever imagine) when they leave it on in the childs room all night to stop them feeling lonely

When neice was about 4yo BIL and SIL got her a portable TV and DVD player for her bedroom. Instead of a bedtime story she just used to put on DVDs until she went to sleep.

I didn't like that idea at all and was determined to withstand the TV in room thing as long as poss.

DD is now 14 and still does not have a TV in her bedroom. Mind you she has got a laptop and has worked out that she can catch up on TV programmes over the internet.... But I know she doesn't stay up late to watch. As others have said you can still police their use if you want to.