Has your toddler got a tv in their room?

[Paula1]

I can't believe that one third of children under 4 have a tv in their bedroom. Noone I know has a tv in their childs room. Where are these people? Have you ever been asked questions like these that go to make up these facts?

We have but the kids don't, good grief, how on earth did wqe all manage when we were kids without a TV in our room or all the various other electronic games etc.

That should be we not wqe, I have not slipped into a rare Scots Dialect!

Nope, no TVs in bedrooms for us. My husband, however, would most likely tell anyone stupid enough to ask him that question for a survey that my son has had a TV in his room since birth. He likes to make stuff up, doesn't like surveys and would fine it funny.

Many under-4-year-olds share a room with an older sibling - and their TV. Could this be why the research quoted such a high proportion of toddlers having bedroom access to one?

Personally I think that an under-4-year-old is way too young to have free acces to a TV. I cannot think of one thing in its favour.

When I read the statistics of the number of children (not just under-4's) who have TVs in their rooms, and see the stuff that's on terrestrial (never mind satellite) TV immediately after the 9 o'clock watershed, then I'm not surprised that young people lose their innocence at such an early age. We have never allowed ours to have unrestricted access to a TV because we don't like the values that are promoted by many programme makers. Obviously, as our family grows up we have had to allow greater flexibility over their viewing habits, but try to point out these issues and encourage them to think about the messages they are receiving. My girls love MTV - but think about the image of women promoted in most pop videos. Sometimes I get so tired of trying to hold back the tide of popular culture, it is so strong.

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I was not surprised by this statistic, as I have heard of a couple of my daughter's friends (aged 4)who have TVs and videos in their bedrooms. I agree with Bloss that it is handy to have more than one TV, so everyone can watch what they want, but I am adamant that I will never let my 2 have TVs in their rooms (NB, there were lots of things that I was adamant about before I had children, one by one they've fallen by the wayside, so I shouldn't really say "never" about anything!) We're lucky to have a playroom, so at some point in the future I expect we will put a TV and video in there, but the advantage of that is that it is downstairs, and I feel I will have a lot more control over what and when it is watched.

I am always shocked by these figures too. My boys (2 and 4) don't have a TV in their room, and I can't imagine them having one. Maybe one day.

A friend's daughter had TV and video well before she was 3! She has older siblings, but doesn't share with them. There downstairs is all very posh and grand - not a toy in sight, and the children are encouraged to play upstairs in their rooms, so maybe that is a reason ...? I don't know them well enough to question it, but I was horrified.

my youngest is 8, eldest 19, none of them has had or will have tv, video, computer, playstation or any other electronic amusement in their room. we have 3 tv's, 2 downstairs and 1 (connected to video and playstation but not to aerial) in study upstairs.

the only reason i can see for encouraging them to watch tv in their rooms is to avoid them, and that is really sad.

and never mind tv, what about 90% of 13-yr-olds having a mobile phone????

yes, my nephew 4 and a half, has had a tv and video in his room for quite some time. He and his younger sister watch videos after bathtime. Whatever happened to a good old bedtime story ...?

We don't have a TV in our room let alone our toddler's room! We have one very small TV, that was inherited from dh's nanna, in our family room. I guess it's on before ds (2 years) goes to bed but we don't really sit down to watch anything until after he's asleep. Before then it's all too hectic!

Definitely not, in fact we are scaling down TV bigtime in our house. We have most of the satellite channels which are all just about to disappear especially Cartoon Network and probably Disney too. I am sick of the drivel that is supposed to be entertainment (Cow and Chicken to name but one show).

I am also proud of myself for weaning myself off all soaps too, my evenings are free now to spend on Mumsnet!

I used to hate being the only teenager without a tv in my room. My parents wouldn't hear of it. But now I totally see where they were coming from. There is no way I'd let any child of mine have one in their room, as someone pointed out before, the watershed is really pushing it now especially with programs like 'South park' on at 9.30. It may be funny for adults but kids see cartoons and think they're made for them - I'd hate to think of a child watching something like that, even if they don't understand everything that's going on. Images from tv have stuck in my mind over the years and they can be disturbing to say the least...
Funnily enough though, I think if a parent is going to put a tv in a child's room then they should also have a video. Because if they don't have an external ariel the parent can be more in control of what a (young) child watches (Iknow this wouldn't work with anyone who could get their hands on a video store card!). I know a woman who does this and it works ok for her. I personally think it's best avoided though. I do wonder, like people have already said, if it's just used to shoo them away out of sight and bring an end to stories before bed...

My husband had a tv in his room, not as young as four I dont think, I never did. Therefore, I think it is going to be one of those compromise situations when our son gets older. The idea of just being able to watch videos is better and this will probably be my compromise, but you have to be sensible and I cannot see our son being sent up to his room for our peace and quiet and going without his bedtime story, this time of the day is dad and son special time and very precious.

We have friends whose daughter had a TV & video in her room by the age of two. They had difficulty getting her to go to sleep before 9pm and so they would put her up in her room at 7pm and she would watch videos for 2 hours. I think this is really sad, although sort of understandable. Also, everytime I visit their house the TV is on in the family room. It is a huge TV and often their daughter is just sitting in front of it in that completely still, vacant way that people get when they have been watching telly for too long.
We only have one small TV in our house and watch very little. I always think I don't want to lie on my deathbed regretting the amount of time I spent watching other people's lives instead of living my own. Our son watches Channel Five's kids stuff for about 40 mins in the morning and a video in the evening for about the same time. I would really hate it to be more than that and always feel vaguely bad that he watches that much.

Loathe the concept! We ration t.v. dd does get to see soaps for instance if she chooses to - even though it would not be my first choice - but she is only allowed a certain amount of time in front of the tv. The amount of time is negotiable depending on weather, levels of homework, afterschool clubs etc., but it is rarely more than an hour and a half a day... (I know I have fascist tendencies!) Much prefer to take her to the cinema and make an occassion of it! As for mobile phones dd is about to start secondary school and will probably be the only child in her class without a personal one. When out alone with her friends she is allowed the family mobile for emergencies and other than that no way. Phil Hogan did a good article in the Guardian about children and mobile phones recently and equated it to giving them a gun. Have you noticed that children seem to phone other children on them for hours at a time, children who are just around the corner... who pays these phone bills? MOre importantly don't people consider the potential damage that mobile phones can do?

winnie, my elder son is just 13 (just finished Y8) and has been the only child in his class without a mobile phone for at least a year...it becomes very hard to hold out!)

My 4 yr old doesn't have a TV in his room - In fact we put our only TV in the cupboard about three months ago because I realised that in one day he had watched over 6!!! hours of programmes. He would say to me "can I watch CBBC on Choice mummy" about 100 times a day!! I think it might be on a loop actually! (CBBC on Choice - not his voice!) It became so that he would spend all day flopping around and talking in this awful whining voice. Then I read one of Steve Biddulph's books and there was a bit about TV in there which described my son too accurately for my liking and I decided I had had enough of it. I guess my husband had too because he tried to throw it out into the rain but I stopped him and persuaded him to put it in the cupboard instead! My son is a changed boy - he has started to play again and talk to me etc etc and no flopping around. I let it get really out of hand - there is no excuse really but I have a 2yr old also and had another baby about 6 months ago. I was so tired and desperate for some time to myself that I turned a bit of a blind eye to the fact that he was watching so much. Strangely enough it hasn't made my life any harder by getting rid of it. He is really good at playing by himself more now.
I am very glad to have found mumsnet by the way - it seems a friendly place to be and there is so much information and help here. There are times when it is incredibly comforting to read about other people experiencing the same issues etc - like when I am totally desperate!!
Thanks!

I am really against TV in the children's rooms - we have two TVs downstairs so people can always watch different channels. However, given that we have a TV in our bedroom, and watch it before we fall asleep and the news from 7-7.30am, I can't help thinking I am on shaky ground !!

I think it's a bit of a double standard to say that it's ok for parent to have a tv in their room, but not a child. My 6 year old has a tv in her room. It is not connected to an aerial and is specifically for watching a video at bedtime to help her to relax and get to sleep. I wonder if anyone has a problem with this?

sorry to put a cat amoung the pigeons, but my 6 yr old son has a tv and video in his room.His telly has no ariel therefore he cannot watch unsuitable programmes. He only watches 30 mins of a chosen video(all of which are disney type cartoons) before bed,before he had a telly he refused to go to bed without kicking up a fuss,we had endless nights of screaming and tantrums,a friend suggested this and it works.I dont see a problem with this,and yes i did say before i had kids i would never go down this road, i never had a telly as a child but that was a long time ago.

Janer - its not a double standard at all - parents do all kinds of things that are not appropriate for children.

Adults have learnt about when to eat meals, what is healthy food, when it is time to go to bed, when it is OK to drink wine, when it's safe to cross the road - and when it is time to turn the TV off and either get up or go to sleep. If they decide not to be responsible with these things, then that is a choice they have made.

Obviously children need to be taught about complex choices as they grow up, but they just don't have the capacity to do so at age 6. (Slightly different if its only a video as opposed to TV from the aerial, but as they get older they will watch fewer videos and want more TV - are you going to take the TV away then?)

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