Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

TV in bedroom

36 replies

TheFruitWhisperer · 30/07/2010 11:11

Hypothetical really, I mentioned to my friend that I didnt really agree with tv's in bedrooms for younger children, as you cant be sure what they are watching all the time (ie if they get up in the night and start watching Eurotrash or equivelant).

I also think getting into the habit of watching tv in bed, getting used to having the tv as a comforter etc isnt that great. (Read lots of things about too much tv affecting attention levels and stuff)

She got angry (as I imagine she probably has a tv in her sons bedroom) and accused me of being controlling, a boring mum and that my kids will be the sort who go to other childrens houses to watch tv. To confirm, Im not against tvs! Just tvs in bedrooms! And I wasnt saying parents who do have them are bad, just that I personally dont want my child to have one.

Whats the general feeling on this? Am I going to be too strict!?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Helokitty · 01/08/2010 13:15

I think it depends on how they are used.

My DDs have a tv in their room (they are 3 and 6). But it is not wired up to an aerial, so there is nothing they can watch in the middle of the night, or anything like that.

We have the remote controls and on saturday night when they go to bed, they choose a film to watch in bed on Sunday morning. It is their sunday morning treat. They cuddle up together in bed, and watch a film together whilst I have a lie in . We have this because we have just moved house, and in the old house they had a playroom (I personally do not like having lots of toys in bedrooms - I think it has the same potential effect of keeping children up at night as Tvs do) but until the new playroom is built in this house - the girls cannot access a lot of their toys all of the time / in the morning as they are stored in the garage. So the tv is the compromise .

With all things, the problem is not the object itself - but how it is used /abused / managed. We have very clear guiedelines as to when / how it is used - so we have avoided all the problems you mention, and as the tv is wall mounted, the girls cannot just go and turn it on at all - and they don't get to keep the remote anyway [evil controlling mother emoticon].

bruffin · 01/08/2010 16:45

14 and 12 year old never had tvs in their rooms, nor do we FWIW. DS has just got his own laptop so now does watch that in his room occassionally.

LucyLouLou · 01/08/2010 21:07

I'm pregnant with my first so I don't have first hand experience with this choice, but I don't intend to have a TV in this child's room or the room of any subsequent child! I'm not anti-TV either, this is just a choice that's right for me. A family member of mine uses the TV as a cheap babysitter for her child and as much as our relatives have tried to coax her away from this, she continues to keep the TV in there. The child is borderline overweight (watches TV from the moment she gets home from school to the moment she goes to bed in essence) and has noticable speech delays (she is 6 and can't really hold a basic conversation properly yet). We are convinced the TV, while not the sole problem, is definitely a part of the cause.

I've got nothing against them for older children. Perhaps weekend bedroom TV's for teenagers would be the compromise I'd find okay. I think your friend probably already regards her choice as iffy and got defensive because of that. Not that that gives her the right to unload onto you....

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General parenting

shipsladyg · 02/08/2010 11:30

I agree with the OP. We're telling our daughter that she can have a telly in her room when she can afford to buy it for herself. The computer is staying downstairs too - but then we're lucky enough to have a separate study.

nelix2000 · 04/08/2010 09:09

DS is 3 and has one mounted on the wall, no external ariel, for dvds only as a treat. He has fallen asleep to movies in bed at times, he gets read to every day before bed. Its an occassional treat and he only has it as we were given a new tv for our living room. I don't think it makes us bad parents at all.

People who get overly defensive about something are usually provoked, or use it to much. Your friend sounds a bit nuts and maybe uses the tv as a babysitter and has some guilt about it

BollockBrain · 04/08/2010 09:12

mine all have them and have done fro a young age (another neglectful parent )

lolalotta · 04/08/2010 12:11

I don't intend on ever letting my lo have a tv/pc in her room, it's too isolating!

conkie · 04/08/2010 12:13

I have one in my sons bedroom. he is just over 2 and half but he only gets DVD's and has no aerial in it. I am not ashamed to admit it either

PatsyStone · 04/08/2010 13:35

Not having a tv in your childs room doesn't make you a boring mum anymore than having one in there makes anyone a bad mum. Your friend sounds like she was protesting just a little too much!

My ds (11) has had one with an integral dvd player for a year or so, ONLY because my silly mil offered it to him without consulting me first. However, it has no aerial so he can only play a couple of old nintendo consoles on it and watch dvds and he asks permission before using it. Tvs in rooms don't have to mean unfettered access to all sorts of awful programmes day and night.

MollieO · 04/08/2010 13:46

No tv in bedrooms now or any time in the future. No computers either. Not sure I understand the point about allowing tv in bedroom but keeping the remote. My ds can operate our tv without the remote, not exactly rocket science imo.

I would be very concerned at the thought of ds watching programmes that aren't at all suitable.

Sidge · 04/08/2010 14:20

I don't have a problem with TVs in bedrooms.

Bedrooms aren't just for sleeping; my children play in theirs, and sometimes have a DVD on in there. It's not like they put the telly on and disappear for 6 hours. They don't have the TV on for bedtime, we read stories instead.

And they have NEVER put the TV on during the night.

I can't see why some people get their knickers in a twist about TVs in children's rooms. As an adult surely you have control over what they watch and when they put it on? If you make it quite clear from the start what the rules are then I don't see how it's a problem.

Flip

1 2