Please Answer Completely Honestly, How Much TV?

The TV comes on when they come home and it goes off when they go to bed. Do they sit that whole time watching it? Not normally. They eat, get on the computer, play outside, ride their bikes, go to piano, tumbling, dance, and more.

But the TV is on all the time on Nick or Disney or something else like Castle on TNT.

I found that my friends that limit their kids TV time are raising zombies. When these zombies come in a place where there is TV they stand and stare with their mouths open and drool drips out. They are so mesmerized by TV since they don't get much that they stop functioning completely and sit and sit and sit until they leave.

These kids don't do that. They can go to a friends house and if the TV is on they hardly notice, they go play and have fun and the TV is background noise. The do sit and watch the occasional cartoon segment but as soon as a commercial comes on they are gone and don't remember to come back and finish the episode.

I like watching TV, I'm watching TV right now while I'm on the internet. I'm watching Bones. I was watching Property brothers before that. I have the TV on all the time too.

I don't see any reason to limit TV and make it more desirable. Having as much of it as they want makes it less wanted.

My standard routine after school is to put the TV on for my kids while I cook dinner. And then they watch more after dinner/tub before bed. So, probably 2-3/hrs/day.
And no, I throw on a cartoon channel and don't monitor much else.

I do even let them watch some of my adult shows. I prefer to explain what's happening when they see a guy getting shot or beaten up, so they are not floored by seeing it any other time. I guess I use it to educate and prepare my kids for the real world, as well as a babysitter.

I didn't time my kid's tv. She watched tv some, she played with toys some, she played outside some, she colored some. She watched Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. She also watched Animaniacs and CSI.
I didn't schedule her play time - she just played.

I'm with you. A bit of TV isn't going to break them. Lord, I watched cartoons every Saturday morning, the really VIOLENT, drop an anvil on someone's head kind, with ALL the commercials, and I survived.

When my boys were little, I'd help them get ready and then plop them in front of Dora while I got ready. :-) I was not obsessive about watching the clock. They are healthy, have chores, read books, play outside, get good grades, are respectful and honest, and just happen to also watch TV sometimes and play video games.

I think you're doing just fine.

We watch ALOT of tv...mind numbing, dumb, pointless, non educational, toilet humor and just plain silly shows.

We use it as a babysitter ALL THE TIME! We go on dates and leave our kids 14,11 and 8 with a couple movies, a box of greasy pizza and a huge tub of ice cream. They have a great night...we have an even greater night :)

We also laugh a lot together as a family together because of it! We have so many fun moments quoting shows, inside jokes and singing songs from the ridiculous episodes. That to me is worth more than all the minutes of "educational" tv.

I don't care that others watch less tv or just limit their watching to educational shows. I am truthful about how much tv my kids watch...and that we even watch Spongebob..gasp!! We have both graduated from Universities, our kids are doing great in school, super social and creative and plan to go to college. I just don't care about the non-educational tv viewing doomsday statistics.

Don't let this tv monitoring annoy you. Don't worry if you feel they are judging you. Wear your "We watch lots of tv" shirt proudly. When you learn to let go of other's opinions about childrearing then you will find true joy in raising your kids the way YOU want to.

Honestly, we don't really watch TV. Sometimes I'll put on old shows like Leave It To Beaver or Bill Nye the Science Guy. But we don't have cable and if the TV's on, it's usually just news.

You have your knickers in a twist because people told you that letting your 2 year old watch several hours of Netflix instead of sleeping when you wake her up too early is wrong. You clearly disagree, so why do you keep trying to change everyone's mind? You want to make everyone believe it works for you, but your last post made it obvious it doesn't (since you were asking advice).

BTW - it's "their" child, not there… maybe a little educational TV would be a good thing...

We had the TV on a lot, Heck my husband worked for a local TV station for 20 years!

Our daughter is like the 2 of us, she likes to do her work with the TV on, Ear buds in and her ipad or laptop going.

She was such a great student, we left her alone, because this is what worked for her. Yes, she was a National Merit Scholar, so we figure if that is what she needed and it worked for her, fine.

When she was really young, it was mostly videos. VHS. As she got older she watched certain channels.

In the mornings I always had the Today show going, so she heard that.

I grew up in a household that watched a lot of news, I am still a news junky.

I do not play those games with parents about who is a better parent. I believe a family does what works best for their own family.

I do remind parents to never underestimate their children and what they can understand or handle. You parent the children you have, not other peoples children.

We love TV in our house. It stays in the background, but usually, after a couple of episodes of whatever, they are usually ready to do something else anyway- like go outside, play on their Kindles, or draw/color. We do record certain shows that they are really into, like Pokemon, Ninja Turtles for my son, or Wallykazaam and Team Umizoomi for my daughter. Sometimes she just watches PBS Kids on her Kindle.
I just grew up in a home where the TV was on all the time. So, I don't see much problem with the TV being on. I've found that when TV viewing times are restricted, it becomes more of an issue between kids and parents. If it's something that's just there in the background, interest in it from the kids is much more limited. That's been my experience at least.

there actually is a growing movement among parents to do no tv at all, or educational videos only.
i'm with you. some tv is an enjoyable downtime for me, and it often saved my life when i had busy little boys. many a dinner only happened because it was power ranger time!
my kids probably watched between 1 and 2 hours per day. that upped when they were older and video games swam onto the scene, but that's another topic!
i do suggest that your girls should be 'actively playing' a LOT more than 30 minutes a day. playing is a kid's job. it ought to take up the majority of their waking hours. or do you just mean 'very physically active'?
even so, that's not a lot. my boys were running, wrestling, riding bikes, playing on the swingset and running with the pack for several hours per day.
khairete
S.

When my kids were little, I let them watch TV everyday during meal preparation or quiet time if they couldn't nap. So, essentially, All The Time.

They watched everything that was kid oriented from Veggie Tales to Disney to Dora or Bob the Builder.

They are smart, mature, well-adjusted kids with a mom who's doing the best she can.

Now that they are teenagers, we seldom have time for TV. We try to watch a movie together over the weekend. And sometimes we squeeze in Jeopardy or nightly news.

I don't really care what other families do about tv except when the parent is saying it in a holier than thou kind of way and that does happen. I have a SIL who always says it in a pat herself on the back, superior way and my MIL will follow suit. My reply to all this is aside from my husband, none of these family members in either generation have turned out well. My sister and I had few limitations as do her kids and so far they're fine and she and I also have been successful. So tv doesn't seem to be a recipe for success or failure and I let our kids watch almost an hour every night after dinner and they also watch some while getting ready for school in the morning. On weekend mornings they probably watch 2 hours. Same time, I didn't let them watch under the age of 2 bc of what it's supposed to do to brain wiring. And they have lots of imaginative play, homework comes first, and I make sure they're getting exercise. Balance is my priority. Oh - my sister was saying a mom she knows was preachy about her kids not watching TV. At summer camp this year, first time for sleep away and apparently her son practically never left the TV room. She sees her kids' friends come over who are so restricted and all they want is TV.

Well... this depends on how old your kids are. Before mine were two, no TV at all. (yes, honestly) From 2 - 5, maybe 1 - 2 hours per week of recorded shows like Daniel Tiger or Super Why. I tried super hard not to use the TV as a babysitter because for me, that was a slippery slope. The more TV I let my kids watch, the more they whined for it, and the easier it was for me to just switch it on and take a break. Now that my kids are 7, they watch one movie on Monday (Movie Mondays!) because we're all tired. And they watch maybe a half hour at some other point during the week, but not always. I'm not a big TV watcher myself, so that's what works for us.

Does it make me better than someone else who keeps the TV on constantly? Holy heck no. It just means that different people get into different grooves. And for me, TV and iPads are not what I want my kids to spend time doing. I'm pretty sure that my kids don't get 60 minutes of active play daily (outside of school), so you're doing better than me on that. But when I'm getting ready or cooking dinner, my kids are usually playing Legos, or family with their dolls, or they're outside chasing crickets or inventing silly soccer games in the back yard. I expect them to be able to entertain themselves, and they do. Again, it's just what works for my family. If your kids watch TV every day and you think they're developing well and being active, then that works for your family... and it's OK.

We watch a lot of tv and movies. My kids grew up with both PBS and Miyazaki, Disney, Barbie, Tonka Truck guy, how to videos, and Sponge Bob (just to name a few). All of my kids are gamers, and spend up to 6-8 hours a week doing that. They also do chores, play/hang out with their friends, do well in school and have all kinds of extracurricular activities.
Daily, during the school week, they usually watch an hour or so, depending on homework. We do not watch tv in the morning before school, never have. On the weekends we have been known to do movie marathons or watch a whole season of a tv show. Friday and Saturday nights are gaming nights, or movies dependingon who is home and what they agree on.
When my kids were little they watched up to 2-3 hours a day, but it was often just background noise. My kids had weird taste in movies when they were young and would often want to watch only one movie for three weeks or more (my oldest loved "Eat Drink Man Woman" when he was 3yo for example). TV is a toy and has it's place as a form of entertainment, but it's not their only entertainment. Kids can be perfectly well rounded people AND watch more than 2 hours of tv a day.

We don't really limit how much TV is watched, but I guess I do limit how much time is available to watch. We stay busy outside of the house and when we are home we don't just automatically turn on the TV. We like TV. When the kids were little I used TV (or movies) as afternoon quiet time so I could make supper in peace. My kids are older now and probably watch about 30 minutes to an hour of TV before bed on a school night. On weekends they probably watch an hour or two of a movie or tv Friday and Saturday evening and we all watch The Walking Dead on Sunday evenings (when in season).

I never really limited screen (TV, computer, video game) time. As long as school work/reading was done, and my kids got enough physical and creative activity every day I just didn't worry about it.
I will say that when they were little I kept it mostly on PBS. Mainly because I HATE commercials, especially commercials played during children's programming. So it was more about that than whether or not the shows were educational.

To each his own but 'they spend 30 to 60mins actively playing a day' sounds like it should be switched with the tv time.
They more they plunk down in front of a screen (any screen), the more they are on their way to becoming couch potatoes - and that's a really hard life long bad habit to break.
School and work will eventually require LOT'S of time sitting and dealing with a screen (computer).
I look at childhood as a time for them to run and play outside - with sand, sticks, mud, climb trees, ride bikes, run in playgrounds, jump rope, use pogo sticks etc.
That takes more than 30 to 60 min per day.

T. - you are a brand new parent to 2 (adopted) and you are ALREADY using the tv to baby sit?
What did you think having 2 kids was going to be like?
Think this through, Buddy!
Most parents will use the tv during a sick day (kid(s) have to rest and be quiet to re-cooperate) but you need to maybe think about your own tv addiction a bit and how it's going to affect your kids.

Ill be honest my tv is on from the time we get home in the evenings until bed time. A lot of the time its news for me to listen to while cooking but other than that it gets changed around a lot. The kids will bunker down and watch some, run outside and play when they want (which I am thankful that it is a lot) and then after everything is done we will all sit down together on the couch and watch our "shows" which can be anywhere from dog with a blog to master chef or naked and afraid. I think it would be different if they weren't involved in sports or played outside at all. But I don't see anything that needs restrictions thus far.

I have very few limits on TV. I would say none at all, but I do occasionally tell them to turn it off and for some reason they seem to respect that should ask me before they turn it on. Also, I wouldn't let them watch anything totally out there that will scare them or scandalize them. Otherwise, they have free reign.

And I'm ok with that.

We love TV at our house too. My kids are older (12 and 16) so TV is less of an issue than cell phones and iPads (same difference, if you ask me). During the week they don't have a lot of "screen time" because they have a lot of homework, but on the weekends their phone/iPad is attached to their hip! They could be on it all day. If we don't have plans sometimes I will watch TV for hours and now that football is on I'll watch that all stinkin day!

We don't limit tv time here either. My kids were High Needs and so I watched tv while I bounced them for the first 6 months of their lives. Yes, I literally sat on the couch and bounced them for 20 hrs a day for 6 months or more each!

Now, we let them watch anything that is not violent. No Tom and Jerry, Ninja Turtles, etc. because our 3 year old is autistic and if he see hitting he will mimic it and I will be the object of his attention! I DVR almost everything so that I can skip the commercials because I can't abide what they do to kids. Theodore mimics a lot, and it is from Super Why and Sesame Street, Word World, etc that he learned his alphabet and is working on reading. He is hyper-lexical so he could do this before 2. Now he copies phrases and sayings from the shows he watches.

It is so cool to see him use phrases from a show to communicate. Like last week when he left school he told his teacher "Goodbye, Anna". It was the first time he had ever told her goodbye, and he was able to do it because he understood the context from Frozen. We have seen several things like this.

So, to answer your question, we don't limit tv, but we do use it as a tool to help the kiddos learn. We are very specific about content for obvious reasons. We also watch a lot of Natgeo and History so my 4 year old is going to be a Paleontologist or maybe study Ancient Egypt. She has a great understanding of the past and its cultures.

I do not clock watch the TV time.

Week day: about 45 mins to 1 hr before school. while getting dressed and eating breakfast.
Then, when we get home about 5:30 600 it is dinner time, I need to cook. I let my 6 year old watch it while I cook. If I do not have to cook, any homwork is completed.
If rainy or cold, TV will happen till about 7.. Then bath, brush teeth and book time. 8 Pm hopefully a sleep.

Weekends if we are home they will watch it, but we try to be active, Hiking, biking, swimming, zoo, etc..

My kid is the one that given the opoturnity to be outside, that is where he will be. Unless he is 100% wiped out.. but that does not happen often.

15 min of baseball highlight while eating breakfast befor middle school.
(He's 11.)
After school, it's homework right away then usually he's outside or plays Xbox for an hour or so til dinner (does that count?).
After dinner might be practice, a game, back outside or tv or Xbox or a combination of those things until 8:30 shower time.
TV til 9:30, then 30 min on tv timer to fall asleep.
So....minimum 45 min to maximum 4 hours?
Varies daily.

DS did not watch any tv at all before he was 4. At that age he might watch 30 minutes of Sesame Street once a week. Since he has turned 8, he watches 60 minutes of Batman once a week. If it is rainy and he is sick, he can watch a movie. When he had no tv - there was never any whining about it - it wasn't an option so he didn't bother whining.

It sounds like you are awfully defensive. If you ask other people and they tell you that they limit the amount of tv their kids watch and this bothers you - then don't talk about it with them. You do know the current AAP guidelines are for zero screen time for kids under two years of age.

I'm one of the weird ones with no TV. Well, at least we haven't had cable or actual channels in over 13 years. But, my kids still watch shows and movies (they're 6&8). We have Netflix and they love being able to pick out movies for "family movie night", or I can instantly put on a show if I needed to take a shower or get something done. They don't watch educational stuff and have even seen (gasp!) PG-13 movies. :)

They don't have any screen time on school mornings, and pretty much maybe 30 mins for games or a show after school (sports and homework and play time take up the rest of the evening). But weekend mornings, they may get a few hours. Or if it's raining, same thing.

But, we only have one TV in the family room. And it's only on if we or the kids are actively watching a movie. I don't do the "on" all the time for background noise.

Bottom line is your kid should not be spending the majority of their day in front of the TV. But you also shouldn't need to time and monitor them. You know when it's been too much, turn it off, and send them to play. And absolutely, it's great to use as a babysitter! Sounds like you are aware of what they are doing, keep them busy with other things and know when to give them some down time. No need to be annoyed!

I do however have to comment on Gamma G's message. My kids are the "zombies" that perpetually get locked in on a TV, but I actually find that a good thing. I personally find it ridiculous that every restaurant, store, car in America has to have a TV in it. Kids are too accustomed to being constantly entertained. My kiddos can play outside, dress-up or with legos for hours on end and use their imagination. It's pretty awesome to see what they come up with, and it's not just mimicking what they see on TV...

Sorry this got so long!

My GD is not all that in to tv so I really don't have to set limits. She will watch for maybe an hour or so in the evenings, but that's about it. I have a 7 year old GS staying with me temporarily and he's the same way - not that in to it unless he's tired and just wants to veg out for bit. But once he's recharged, he's off and running again.

Also, my kids DO watch tv right up until bedtime and I don't have any problems there either. The lights are dimmed and it seems to get them on the path to sleep.

Hi, T.,

You are a stay at home Dad, right?

The lest amount of time a young child sits in front of the TV the better
it is for the child.

Why, because he/she/they will learn to be entertained instead of finding ways to entertain themselves or self soothe.

Good luck
D.

Good question.
We do not do TV in morning because we would never get out of the house. ( we live 40 min from school)
In the evening it really depends on how much time we have when we get home. We get home around 630 and the kids go to bed between 830 and 9. If dad has the tv on in his office the kids will go in there but when it is light out they go play with the dog or ride bikes.
I will say when Once Upon a Time is on we watch it as a family on Sunday evenings.
The weekends are also up in the air. Some weekends are more than other weekends.
I think we balance it well and yes I have plugged my kiddos in a time or two :)
Many blessings

T.,

I have older kids - 14 and 12. How much TV do they watch?

While eating breakfast in the morning - about 15 minutes.

After school in the afternoon? Hmm...maybe about an hour...school work comes first.

Once chores and homework are done? They may watch what they want to watch. When they were younger? They got maybe an hour to 2 hours a day. Yes. Like you, when I would shower, they would watch Disney, Sesame Street, etc. I knew I didn't have long as their attention span wasn't that long.

Hope this helps.

My kids are nearly 4 and nearly 7, in preschool and 1st grade. They watch about 20-30 minutes in the morning while we are getting ready, usually whatever their current obsession is- Ninja Turtles, Slugterra, Paw Patrol, Fish Hooks, Umi Zoomi, it changes every couple of weeks. Sometimes they watch part of a movie, with Wreck-It Ralph being the most recent choice. They are in school or activities from 8-4 or 5, then homework for the older one, the younger one usually cooks dinner with me when I get home around 6:30, then we eat dinner and watch something like Chopped or Fast and Loud (yes, we eat and watch TV at the same time! So I am a way worse parent than you :) until about 7:30. From 7:30-8 they usually either watch something together on Netflix while my husband and I watch a grown-up show, or they watch with us if they are interested. Then they get ready for bed and I read to them for about 30 minutes. So during the week, maybe 90 minutes-2 hours or so per day. On the weekend, it varies widely from no TV if we have a super busy day to watching a couple of movies in a row.
I have found that we are all more sane if I make sure they burn off their energy every day, so I don't really sweat the actual time per day they watch TV. I enjoy snuggling with them and talking about the show. If you are creative and try a little, you can find a way for every program to be educational, even if it is just appreciating how the artist draws each of the Ninja Turtles a little differently or asking what just happened in the story during a commercial break.

I don't keep track. My kids are older than yours. Their TV watching time is pretty low, without watching any most days. Sometimes they will get on Netflix and have a binge day.

They have responsibilities and so long as those are done first and properly, they can do what they want with their free time. I think the last time they watched anything on TV was Sunday, when we all watched the latest Doctor Who episode (via Amazon).

Frequency and time-wise, they watched more when they were younger. We don't pay for a cable package, but they would watch PBS and Saturday morning cartoons. We had a lot of kids DVDs like Blues Clues.

We don't actively limit it, but don't encourage it either. As it is, DS might ask for a yo gabba gabba, a wonderpets, or a daniel tiger, once or twice a week. We allow it if it fits within our schedule at the time. He doesn't have the attention span, so he usually walks away and starts playing long before it is over. Total average screen time 1-1.5 hrs a week.

Best,
F. B.

I am in the everything in moderation category. TV/Electronic devices aren't bad. They are part of society and we have to accept them. My daughter knew how to use the IPad by the time she was 1 to look for her apps. My kids play outside and are involved in sports. I'm not embarrassed to admit it. This kind of falls in the juice category for me. Yes, I give my kids juice and I like it and I'll keep on doing it and I'm not embarrased to admit it. Both my kids watched TV under the age of 2. Not 5 hours a day but they had 1/2 hr shows just for them like Sesame Street and a lot of shows on WETA Kids. I just think that people who let their kids watch TV are scared and embarrassed to admit for fear of getting judged and the anti-electronic people are very vocal and not shy about how their kids never watch TV so it seems like most people just don't allow their kids to watch TV. If no TV works for them, great. If TV works for you, go with it. It works for me. To each their own. Who cares if someone else doesn't let their kids watch TV? My kid will be the one telling them about it so they can go bug their parent to watch TV. LOL. THey got about 2 hrs of time just for them like their shows when they were little. Otherwise it was on pretty much all the time for background noise. TV is on pretty much all day since my husband works from home. We usually sit around all night and watch TV til bedtime if my son doesn't have a game or practice which now is pretty much every night anyway. If we're home the TV is probably on.

I don't limit it honestly. My son has learned alit, like counting and abcs.. I tried and tried to teach him, but songs on tv were better. granted, he watches mostly nick jr... he does watch things like bo on the go and curious george on netflix.

Under two: no TV. At two, 30 minutes a day. 3 plus, 1-2 hours.