Aric Sigman (loon?) said today that 50% of 3-yr-olds have televisions intheir bedrooms

[Pruni]

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my dgs has a tv in his bedroom..it plays dvds don't know if it has an aerial or not!

I don't believe that 50% of three year olds have TVs in their bedroom. I just don't believe it.

quite frankly, these will be the same parents asking about why their children won't go to sleep. Why their children seem tired and ittitable all the time etc etc. The lack of what seems to be ordinary common sense is astounding.

mine don't but I know a child who had a TV in his room from a baby - his parents used to put a DVD on at bedtime

Mine don't have a tv in their rooms at 3.6 and 5.2 (obviously the baby doesn't either) and won't get one for a long time. I want to encourage them to spend time as a family as they get older and not sit in their rooms all the time.

Rubbish. I don't know of any 3 yo who has a tv in their room. Where on earth does he get his data from??

apparently a survey conducted a couple of years ago showed that 50% of 3 year olds have a tv/dvd player/games console in their bedrooms. this rose to 80% when the children reached 5 yo. hmmm mine will be in the minority till he's about 18 then.

I don't think anyone can tell us whether our children should/shouldn't watch tv, but I do think that there is far too much children's television available and that they now have access to it 24/7, and that for those parents who don't have the time/inclination to do things with their children it can be an easy source of entertainment. I certainly wish now, looking back, that I hadn't introduced television, as I definitely think children are far too influenced by it.

I know two of DD's 5yo friends have TVs int heir room, and have had them for a couple of years at least.

DD has a TV in her playroom. It has her VSmile an dance mat attached. It has no aerial so can't watch TV on it.

Mine have already been told that they will never have a tv in their rooms (they are now 13, 11 and nearly 9). They have a playroom which has a tv in it, but it only gets used for their games consoles.

I heard this on the Today programme this morning too and he wasn't challenged on where this data comes from at all.

I'd be interested to know - like many people I don't know any kids younger than 10 with tvs in their bedrooms (accept I may be living a sheltered life though...)

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it doesn't surprise me..tvs are so cheap and people have it on as background in the way that people used to have a radio on

I'm sure lots of people do have them in most rooms of the house

whether it means children watch more tv I'm not sure..I think a lot of the time they ignore it as it is always there

It's a valid debate and I think that we do (as a nation) watch far too much tv. But I though it was a bit Dauily Mail of the Today programme not to be more rigorous with the questioning - the woman who 'debated' with him was v weak I thought.

My dd does and she is 3.

Its a small one and we have hooked her Vtech smile console to it. It doesnt have an aerial on so she cannot watch tv.
We did put the freeview box in her room a few weeks ago when the BBC showed Toy Story one Saturday.
That was a treat for her.

this is the same aric sigman who appeared on saturday morning children's telly throughout the 90s i presume? hypocrite.

that statistic was published quite a few years ago though so it's nothing new.

When I returned here from south Africa I was at the amount of televisions people owned. in SA you have to own a television licence for every tv you own and so consequently people generally own only one and televisions in childrens' bedrooms simply doesn't happen. I couldn't believe it when I went to my aunt's house to discover that they had 7 televisions. one in the lounge, one in the diningroom, kitchen, and one in each of the bedrooms. why?

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this 50% of three year olds figure is frequently mentioned in the media but i can't find where it came from

it is here in 2004

perhaps it is just perpetuated by lazy journalists

I was also at this statistic - I know some of the previous research on kids watching TV came from America, so maybe it's more prevalent there..?

I would NEVER allow my kids to have a TV in their rooms (ok, DS is only 1 but I KNOW I will not change my mind on this). In fact we have been considering get rid of the one tv we do have, the only thing stopping me is that we don't get out to the cinema any more now we have a baby and I would miss DVDs.

I've never heard of aric sigman or alec baldwin maybe i should watch more tv

My stepkids and their brother all have TV's in their room. They used to share a room and had 1 from birth! Now the two boys share a room and have a tv each in the same room! and stepdaughter has 2 in her room as 1 is broken. My dc's will never have tv's in their room until 12-13 at absolute youngest.

Sorry should have said their rooms at their mums!

My niece (2) came to stay and she had a personal dvd player - I didn't even know such a thing existed

then I saw another one today, I think there are getting to be fewer places you can go where there aren't tvs

Why is he a hypocrite to have been a children's presenter and now anti-tv?

I used to be a fucked up alcoholic drug addict and now I encourage people on here to eat healthily. Does it make me a hypocrite?

my daughter got a wee portable tv for xmas when she was ten and a half. I am reasoning that teenagers want to spend some time on their own and she only watches parentally controlled dvds on it.

obviously her brothers can't get tvs until they are of a similar age or it 'wouldn't be faaaaaaiiiiiiiir'

i feel positively victorian now.