Child on playdate has just told dd...

[eemie]

that she has a tv in her room and is allowed to watch it till 10pm (they're 8)

that bedtime stories are babyish

and that for her packed lunch she has a sandwich, a packet of crisps, two chocolate biscuits and a scotch egg

dd has to stop watching tv at the close of CBBC (7pm) goes to bed at 7.30, has stories till 8 or so, and has no tv or music in her room. She'd love to have packed lunches but I've always said that, until she eats more fruit and veg, she has to have a cooked meal. Also that when she does have packed lunches they'll be healthy.

Am I trapped in the 1950s?

No, you're not. My dses will not be having a tv in their rooms until they are teenagers.

No, you're not - and I suspect that your dd's friend is telling porkies.

good point wwb. I'm not always so gullible, honest.

My DD is not having a TV in he bedroom until she earns enough to buy one herself!! Mind you she is only 2.6yrs so it will be a while.

Having rules and a decent bedtime routine is good parenting be it 1950 or 2007.

Your DD's friends parents seem to have taken the lazy route to parenting their DD.

oh I wish you were right WWB but sadly this child probably does have all the mod cons she says.

My DD is 7 and her friends all have tv's or DVD combo's in their rooms, 1 seven YO came into school today with her new phone a "pink Pebble" beause her old one, it was a razor, was so out dated.

Her mum has told me that she has a tv, dvd and a mini fridge in her room that is kept stocked with snacks.

I know my DD's friends bedtimes are later because they used to call for my DD to "come out and play" at 8.30pm

I go into school once a week to help with the reading and I know that a lot of the kids dont have a bedtime story but can tell me everything in EastEnders!!

My DS is 9 and some of his friends have tv's, laptops, xboxes in their rooms.

oh, that's sad. why do they have to grow up so fast?

a girl in dd's class who is 4.5 has just got a mobile phone!

TV's in bedrooms are banned in our house, for both adults and children. Stick to your guns on this one, especially since the stuff after the watershed is more liberal nowadays. Don't think there is anything wrong with insisting on a healthy lunch, although I guess it depends on what you consider to be a healthy lunch... My sister and I always had penguins, sandwiches and a drink in our lunch boxes and it never did us harm, but we were also always outside playing, rather than sitting around inside.

eemie, you sound like me, so if you're in the 1950s, I'm there with you. Bedtime is important in our house, so are bedtime rituals, stories are the fuel for the imagination and a healthy lunch (and enough sleep!) is fuel for the body, imo.

My dd is 10. She has no TV in her room, she does have a laptop, but hours of use are limited. She does not have a mobile. She goes to bed at 8 and is allowd to read until 8.30

Well I'm definitely trapped in the 1950's. Both my H and I have agreed. Never tv's in the bedrooms or computers. Neither will we succomb to peer pressure and buy computer games xboxes, Wii's whatever. I don't agree with them and would much rather my little boys were out playing and being active. When they have plenty of their own money that's something else. But they'll never be in the bedroom.

Not at all eemie.

I refuse to allow mine to have tv's in their rooms (although not an issue yet - they arent even at school yet).

However, DP has mentioned about getting one soon for DD (she is only 3.9!!!). I said "NO". and "NO, we wont have a tv in the kitchen either".

Bedroom is for sleep and I want to keep it that way.

We don't a have a TV in the kitchen either.

We do now have an Xbox , but again its use is limited. Kids most often play with other stuff.

My ds, who is 5, was told by his friend (a month younger than him) that he had playmobil knights, but got rid of them because they were too 'babyish'. How can that be? The bits are tiny. He's only just grown into it I thought...

Quite sad really. I hate it when children feel they have to grow up so quickly.

A fair few of DD's friends already have TVs and videos in their bedrooms, and they are only 4 and 5 year olds.

DD doesn't have a TV in her room and won't be getting one any time soon. She does have a CD player in her room - she and her friend slike to sing and dance up there, and she sometimes listens to a story tape at nighttime. DD does also have a laptop, but it was just a spare one DD's work had - no one wanted it as the wireless router inside is faulty and won't work. o DH brought it for DD. She has her games on there, Word for writing, paint for draing and she downloads all her pictures onto their - she got a digital camera for Christmas.

I think I may be in the 1930s....I will never be allowing my kids TVs, computers or electronic gaming toys in their rooms. We'll never buy them an X-box or whatever- I would far rather they climbed a tree, built a model plane, rode a pony (the end of the sofa in our house!) or just sat and chatted. At least they would be living in the real world rather than some fantasy land some geek dreamt up for them. And healthy lunches. My poor kids, their mum loves them!

I went to a lunch last week and the mum was complaining about her daughters appetite. Afterwards dd (7) told me that there was a mini-fridge in her room stacked with coke and chocolate!

my DD1 (11yo) left MSN on last night when we went to bed at 9.15 and her school friend sent her a message at 11.30

Well it's c.1954 in the Star household every night of the week...which is not to say ds1 and ds2 (13 and rising 12) don't try their best to bring us all into the 21st century. We also have an 8 and a 3yo and it's stories all the way for them.

I take lots of lazy parenting shortcuts, believe me, but there's something really sad about Tv's, phones and fridges (fgs) for little ones.

Well, just to be controversial, my DD (almost 6) does have a tv/dvd in her bedroom but only because it means I can get dressed in peace in the mornings without having to watch bl**dy Hi-5 with them. At night it goes off by 7:30 latest followed by stories and bed. Just because it is in her room doesn't mean she has control over it IYSWIM.

As for other kids being allowed to do stuff that mine aren't - like when DD says "K is allowed to chew gum - can I have gum?" or "B stays up until 10pm at the weekends, why can't I?" or "S brings chocolate bars to school for her snack every morning, why do I have to take apricots or grapes or a cereal bar?" - I just explain that different parents have different rules and that she has to follow the rules that DH and I set. She doesn't always like it but she does understand.

OMG! Just saw the bit about the girl with coke and chocolate in her room.

I'm planning a DD's birthday party and the place we're having it provides all the food. Of course it's a lot of the usual rubbish - chocolate fingers, fairy cakes etc. But I thought, at least they'll get sandwiches. What kind of sandwiches do you think they offer? Jam and chocolate spread! How much sugar do they really need? They agreed to make me tuna and cheese sandwiches instead.

I am particularly about the mini fridges in the room. That is a new one on me. So the child who is sat watching TV/playing computer games doesn't even have to get up and go downstairs for a drink/snack.

DS is almost 6. Currently he is in bed for 7.30 and has no gadgets (beyond a leappad) in his bedroom or to call his own). He has school dinners and loves his bedtime story.

I have just booked DS's party magnolia at the local Italian (they have a function room downstairs). I think we are having pizza and garlic bread followed by ice-cream. But as it will be made by the restaurant it will be reasonable quality and the ice-cream is gorgeous.

i'm absolutely gobsmacked at the thought of putting a fridge in ds's room.

Quite taken with the idea of one for me though.