what are your rules around watching TV...

[mummy23x]

Do you let your children sit for hours in the morning after they have woken watching TV for example from 7.30 am to 10.00 - 11.00 am??

I have a DS1 aged 7 DSS aged 3 DS2 aged 6 months and another baby due in October. Although we do things as a family, I feel the children excluding 6 month old, should be able to entertain themselves without feeling like TV is there main source of entertainment...

I'd be interested to hear how other mums and dads do this..... :)

No telly or computer time at all here and maybe 3x20mins on the DS per week.

Completely agree that quality programming for 5-8 year olds is non-existent.

no rules really. No time for it mostly. Dd sometimes watches about 40 minutes on Saturday before she goes to sport but doesn't always. Other than that, we sometimes flake out and watch a dvd together. She is 11 now though and busy with school and actiivties , a lot of music practice, meeting up with friends so she doesn't get round to it unless she is sick. Then she catches up on British tv shows (we are overseas), things she likes. Watching regularly every day or every week, we just never got into the habit.

My 6yo likes Deadly 60 and masterchef (the adult or junior version) if that helps?

Mine are all grown up now. My major rule was ABSOLUTELY NO television before they were totally ready for school - like walking out of the door ready for school.. I sort of regulated television when they were little but not now they are older (youngest in Y11). When the homework was done etc then they could have television but not before. Mine have more or less found their own level of television watching. My DS is currently A* to B in his GCSE's - as long as they all do as I ask then I have no problem about them watching anything they want to. I have to say I tend to watch i player and the odd recorded programme as I am busy for most of the time in the house - the televisions are there in the house (all six of them!!) and funnily enough everyone regulates what they want to watch - my youngest two are more than happy wandering off and listening to music and reading - so to all you mums worrying about television - don't worry to much it sorts itself out in the end. And as my DS will tell you - television isn't the only entertainment medium available in our technological age!!

It can go on at 5pm during the week, but this is discouraged if it's light enough to play outside. Not allowed in the mornings.

At the weekend, 7.30-10.00 is OK, as is from about teatime onwards.

DD is 7.6 and has been watching TV since she was 9 weeks old (The Shiny Show was the only thing that would distract her from raging colic!).

The only rule we have is that generally, come 6pm it's Mum and Dad's TV choice.

If she sat doing nothing but staring at the screen I'd come down harder but she is always doing something else at the same time and if we are doing a specific activity together it gets turned off so I don't feel the need to make a big issue of it.

I'm not that bothered about TV, really and the DC can take or leave it.

I restrict some programmes because I don't like their message / tone, but am pretty free and easy about amount of viewing.

The rule is basically that you only watch TV if we're not doing anything else. Pretty much any other activity trumps TV.

As they are only 6, 3 and 9 months I get to choose when / what our other activities are!

Now computer time, that's a different battle and I do restrict that and enforce screen breaks.

Ds is 4.5. On weekdays (he's at nursery full time) he has about 20 mins before bed. He does watch TV at nursery sometimes and use the computer there.

At the weekend, he'll watch an hour a day max. He might watch a bit more before bed or after lunch. There are no hard and fast rules though, if he asks to watch something he usually can. He's hardly watched anything this weekend as we've been busy and the weather is so good, he'd rather be playing in the garden anyway!

DS (7) doesn't watch TV anymore. He just goes on the computer and looks at Lego Starwars reviews on YouTube, there are a couple of websites he goes on or he watches a DVD.

DD (3) watches 1/2 hour most mornings or a DVD and before dinner a DVD but not always. DD would sit there for hours if I let her, but DS always got bored after 2 programmes of CBeebies.

Over here we never ever have the TV on before school. Weekend mornings the DD's (8 and 5 yo) can watch as much mindless shite as they like because it means DH and I get a bit of a lie in sometimes till 11am (we are lazy)

Maybe once a week they get 1/2 an hour or so after all dinner/ homework / activities / packing school bags / baths are done.

The other thing I never allow is watching TV while they have friends round. I mean WTF? Your friends are here for you to play and interact with!!

No rules except only cbeebies or sometime cbbc (no adverts). I tape David Attenborough programmes for them and they also see / hear BBC News when I need to hear adult voices, although I quickly mute it if something very distressing comes on (like last weeks school shooting ).

It can be on from 7:30 onwards but the dc's (5 & 3) don't sit on the sofa and watch it all day, just dip in and out of it.

DS is in reception and they have mentioned his excellent speech and imagination. It really doesn't seem to have done any harm at all. If they sat glued to the sofa all day I'd crack down on it though.

I tend to be a bit more flexible when they have friends round. With some friends it seems to be an expectation, with others not really. When DS (7) goes to a friend who has unlimited TV they go to the friend's room, put DVDs on for the duration he is there, what they do, I don't know but they seem to be quiet while I chat to his mum.

" I couldn't play the games my friends all played containing TV characters... I used to end up playing the horse, or the dog, or the baby." ha that made me laugh poor smellofsickmummy :-( :-)

No television allowed at all during school nights/days. On weekends, 1 hour of tele total or 1 DVD.

We have a limit of 2 hours screen time (TV or computer) a day, although they don't know that's my limit and on school days I only let them have an hour. Otherwise they do nothing else after school and forget how to play. :)

They only watched CBeebies until very recently (aged 8, 6, 4); have now discovered CBBC, although the quality doesn't seem nearly so good, but what they really really like is Pop (an Australian channel on Freesat). My dcs watch Kid Detectives, Lab Rats and Backyard Science all week - and they all suddenly think science is fab. CITV was discovered a couple of months back but has been forgotten!

'Tis a shame about the adverts, I suppose. 4yo said to me the other morning, "Mummy, you need wake-me-up foundation."

Interesting to see how other people handle this. I tended to be reasonably relaxed when it came to TV but as my children get older (7 and 9) and also want time on the computer or their Ipods, I was finding their screen time was starting to get excessive. They were rushing their homework and not keen to do other things when they were home. So I recently adopted a rule that a friend started, no screens (tv, computers, itouches) during the week, only on Fridays/weekend. I thought it might be a cross for me as much as for them but it's working well and has encouraged them to do other things -they play more together or in the garden now that weather is improving. I'm not rigid about it eg if they're not well or I have a work call I can't put off, but they know the basic rule and have adapted really well to it particularly as they have after school clubs some days and homework so there isn't much time at the end of the day. It doesn't seem to have made any difference to how much they watch on the weekend -seems to be about the same as before, mainly in the mornings and in the evenings if we're not going out, we'll do a movie night together.

Don't have a television so the kids don't watch it at all (I have five year old twins). Because they have each other they tend to play together instead or pick up books and sit on the sofa and look at the pictures. or draw.

I was brought up without a television (I am now addicted to iplayer - it has been my curse!). The children are allowed to watch one DVD a week which is a big, exciting treat.

The kids say they like school because of all the television - they sit down in front of a white board when it rains and watch random bits from disney films or fifteen minutes of postman pat. Can't say I'm impressed. We never did that at my (inner city state) primary school.

One advantage of no television is that I can take them on extremely long distance plane journeys - have done since they were three - and they will sit spell bound and silent the entire journey watching whatever is on the screen. makes them brilliant travel companions!

oh by the way: at their nursery their teacher told me that they were incredibly good at playing! - which I was a bit surprised by (I thought all kids were good at play - isn't that what they DO?). She said a lot of kids she saw didn't really know how to play at all - perhaps because they were sitting watching tv/doing computer games and not working out how to use time themselves. Certainly my kids are very inventive and don't complain about being bored. But, as I said before, it might have a lot to do with the fact that they have each other.

no TV mornings when school but yes weekend mornings. I am interested in comments about grumpy bad mood after TV - how did you make this link? i thought DS was tired and grumpy so watched TV, hadn't occurred to me the TV controlled the mood?

I loathe having the tv on in the morning (or during the day for that matter)
but dd is allowed to watch a few mins after breakfast on school days once washed/dressed/ready to go (she's usually rushing so this rarely happens!)

No tv after school until homework done.

Then I do allow her to watch what she wants (within reason) for the following reasons:

(a) tv has been a great help to dd with her language learning and development (we live abroad and she is schooled in two languages different to her native language)

(b) she never watches it for that long because she usually finishes her hwk around 5.30/5.45pm and we eat between 6-6.40pm

(c) we have a digi-box so we can just save programmes and watch them to fit in with us, not the other way around (it's a god-send actually)

(d) at weekends, the tv is off during the day but we make a point of watching something all together in the late afternoon/evenings

However, I still don't feel we have it quite right, because our tv is in the same open plan room as our dining/sitting room and therefore, as a constant presence, the temptation to just flop in front of it is always there/too easy. Ideally, I would prefer a separate tv room, away from kitchen/dining/general living, where you have to make an active choice to go and watch it.

Three and a half hours of computer video a week, not more than two hours in one day. DVDs only, usually wildlife ones, not child specific.

I made a point of getting a pile of books like Charlie and Lola, Octonauts, Peppa Pig etc so my child is in the same cultural landscape as her friends who watch more TV.

Because I was brought up without TV I almost never watch it. We had one sitting in the living room for years that I never knew how to turn on after it went digital - couldn't be bothered reading the instructions. Just took it to the dump.

I have never had any set rules, although I have always limited the amount of TV DS watches. The actual amount I allow depends on the circumstances at the time. He gets more in winter, or if he is ill. At the moment he is watching almost non as he is going through a phase of seeming to just want to watch TV and not wanting to play with his toys. I am hoping this will soon pass!

I am fine with my children watching TV I am not going to stop them and then allow myself to plonk in front of it. One rule for them, one rule for me.
My son loves books and on occasions seeing something on TV has encouraged him to read up on the topic or read the book. I do try to limit screen time especially on the laptop as I worry about glare.

We do loads of other activities in between watching TV and they are never sat in front of it all day. They have in on 10 minutes in the morning just after breakfast and just before they have to start getting ready. If we come straight home from school then they are allowed it on for 20 minutes before tea, goes off and then we do reading etc. We went to see the Gruffalo Live recently and I bought them the DVD, watched loads after school for a 30 minute chill out. The way I see it if I make a massive issue about not letting them watch it they will only crave it more, at the moment they can take it or leave it.

Yes & no, - weekend mornings, depending on DD being up to date with her homework, chores done etc, then yes, she can get up & put the TV on & watch what she likes for an hour or so - she'll normally "catch up" on programmes she's missed in the week, but she'll just as often read, or do something crafty

weekday evenings vary, depends on above too, but as a general rule, no