How much TV does your family watch?

Question

There is always a huge debate revolving around how much TV children watch. The way I see it it's "monkey see, monkey do." In other words if parents spend all of their free time in front of the tube, the children will do the same.

Personally, my son does not watch TV at home. He's 22mo old. I'm sure that will change as he gets older. I will not forbid him from watching, however I will limit the time and content appropriate to his age. My husband and I don't watch a lot of TV either. We don't have satelite or cable so we only get about 4 channels. I REFUSE to pay for TV - if I pay for it I have to watch it to get my money's worth, right? There's just so many other things to do besides sitting in front of the TV. We spend most of our time outside. Then we usually watch the news for a bit before we go to bed.

I'm not trying to condemn anyone here. I just wanted to know how it is in your family.

Answer 1

our TV is on too much...most waking hours. As soon as my 33 month old wakes up in the morning I put on either PBS or Noggin. Both are geared towards preschoolers and have educational shows on them. We do not actually sit down and watch TV the whole day long. My son is sitting on the living room floor watching Bob The Builder and building things with a set of blocks on the floor. he also colors, plays with his cars and thing like that with the TV going in the background.

In my son's case, he has apraxia, and has actually made tons of progress from watching TV. He learned his ABC's from watching sesame street and Superwhy. he could say them before he could say his own name. He loves watching Dora and Diego and is even trying to say some spanish words.

Answer 2

We have cable, and watch too much TV.  It seems like it's on all the time when we're home.

I'll judge you by saying you're setting the best possible example.

Answer 3

When your son is older introduce him to books,music and a sense of where he came from. TV is okay if you are stuck indoors with a cold but the amount of pap that is pushed out these days is quite unacceptable. So you are quite right, keep the box quiet.

Answer 4

We don't watch a lot of tv.  I let my kids watch their shows and we surpervise the content.  But I'm not going to be uptight about it.  All of my kids are active and work very hard at school, so I let them have free time with TV.  They are not really interested in it anyway.

Answer 5

We pay 5 dollars a month for basic cable. We don't usually watch tv. My fiance does when he is home alone, but thats it. We do however watch family movies every once in a while when we get a chance. I will let my daughter watch TV when she actually wants to watch it herself, just not a lot. I don't think people are wrong for watching tv or letting their kids watch it either. There is a difference between letting your kids watch saturday morning cartoons, and putting them in front of the tv all day. I think as long as a parent spends time with their child and takes them outside and nourishes their brains in other ways it is perfectly fine to watch tv. Now what they are letting them watch on tv is a whole nother issue I won't get into.

Answer 6

I agree with you 100%, and our family is very much like yours.  Our TV is never on during the day or early evening, with the exception of the Olympics.  Like you, we are often outside or playing, reading stories, etc.  My daughter is 17 months old, and she watched the olympics too.  My husband cycles and we both run, so when she saw the cycling she said "Daddy!"!!

Other than that, she rarely even has the opportunity to watch TV.  She has watched the occasional Barney or Winnie the Pooh video though, but won't sit through it for long anyway.  

I spend my "spare time" reading, or doing other things.  In the winter there are a few shows I like and probably watch about three to four hours per week after my daughter is in bed.