Tv

[ChildByGrace]

Am I being a bad mom not letting my ds and dd watch tv for more than an hour or so a week?
Ds doesn't even know that we can get a childrens channel on our tv.

I know that they shouldn't be watching too much tv but am I being mean by letting them watch so little?
Everyone around me seems to have the tv on all the time and their children sit down and actually watch a couple of hours day. One of my friends is able to do some tutoring because her 2yo will just sit and watch the tv while she is doing it for an hour-my ds who is 3 1/2 won't sit for a half hour to watch it. Am I actually hindering his concentration?

 

[Mayzoo]

Not in my opinion . More people seem to be raised to be focused, intelligent, well mannered, productive, etc... long before TV came along. People seemed to concentrate just fine before TV was invented too. It can have its benefits, but those benefits can be obtained by many other sources.

I am not anti-tv, but I am in the process of cutting back how much kiddo watches. Right now she only watches PBS and some kid movies.

 

[FaithPrevails]

My older two only get about 30 minutes a day - and that is after they've done reading time. The baby usually just watches a bit in the morning as I'm getting ready for work and DH is stumbling out of bed. She loves Little Einsteins and The Wonder Pets. She is usually busier playing with her toys than actually watching, though.

I am not a huge fan of TV and really try to be selective about what my kids watch. Too many things that can influence them negatively are socially acceptable on TV these days. They complained for a while, but stopped when they realized their complaints were falling on deaf ears.

 

[ChildByGrace]

Thanks Mayzoo and Faith.

I was having a real crisis the other day and was totally having doubts about my ability to parent

 

[lucypevensie]

I wouldn't worry about it, especially since the child isn't even interested in sitting and watching.

The hesitation I have with an anti-TV attitude is mostly based on the fact that I grew up without a TV myself. We got one when I was in my early teens, and even then only 2 channels came in. But all the years without one was rather unpleasant at times. of course it is good to do other things like read, play, and do work than it is to laze in front of the TV all day. But the way it was presented at my house - "WE don't watch TV. TV is for LAZY people. TV makes you stupid. TV teaches you bad habits. TV is unecessary. blah blah blah..." was so unpleasant! There was such an air of arrogance that went with it (we're better than you because we don't waste time watching TV like other people).

I'm all for limits on TV, but sometimes it can go too far in the other direction, and I sometimes sense that same air of superiority when people talk about it. We have some friends who refuse to have a TV. We went out for dinner with them a couple weeks ago, and the restaurant had a TV up on the wall. Their 5 year old was soooo enthralled with seeing a TV that he just sat and watched the TV (which was behind him) the whole time, didn't eat his food or anything.

It doesn't sound like you'd go that far though

 

[ChildByGrace]

I wouldn't worry about it, especially since the child isn't even interested in sitting and watching.

The hesitation I have with an anti-TV attitude is mostly based on the fact that I grew up without a TV myself. We got one when I was in my early teens, and even then only 2 channels came in. But all the years without one was rather unpleasant at times. of course it is good to do other things like read, play, and do work than it is to laze in front of the TV all day. But the way it was presented at my house - "WE don't watch TV. TV is for LAZY people. TV makes you stupid. TV teaches you bad habits. TV is unecessary. blah blah blah..." was so unpleasant! There was such an air of arrogance that went with it (we're better than you because we don't waste time watching TV like other people).

I'm all for limits on TV, but sometimes it can go too far in the other direction, and I sometimes sense that same air of superiority when people talk about it. We have some friends who refuse to have a TV. We went out for dinner with them a couple weeks ago, and the restaurant had a TV up on the wall. Their 5 year old was soooo enthralled with seeing a TV that he just sat and watched the TV (which was behind him) the whole time, didn't eat his food or anything.

It doesn't sound like you'd go that far though

Thanks

It would be way too hypocritical for me to tell ds he couldn't watch any tv because I do enjoy watching stuff on it lol

I remember growing up the only childrens tv was for about an hour between 5pm and 6pm. I was allowed to watch it for about half an hour-after I'd done my homework!!
I guess it's the whole 'everything in moderation'

 

[Singermom]

You hit the nail right on the head..."moderation" IS the key!

I was a "video vegetable" growing up. When the tv stations "woke up" at 7:00 I had it on, watching "the Flintstones". "Sesame Street" first started right when I was about 5 or 6; it came on at 4 and I would watch it every day (although I had to watch it in my parents' room - in b&w - while my brother hogged the living room set to watch "Dark Shadows"), followed by "Mr. Rogers", "Electric Company" and "ZOOM". At night my famiy would watch whatever network shows were on. I remember watching "Laugh-In", for instance. Weekends my dad ruled the TV to watch whatever sports were on - even bowling - so after Saturday Morning cartoons (Sunday mornings was church, but I DID get to see "Davey & Goliath"), there wasn't a lot of TV for me.

My husband grew up with his family moving from pillar to post, so TV was a little hard for his to watch...especially when his family lived overseas and all of the shows were in Arabic. His mother also treated him poorly, so there were a lot of times when his sisters would be watching TV and he wouldn't be allowed to.

Since we're kind of the extremes, we definitely found a middle ground with our daughters. I'll admit that when they were younger the TV was on a lot for them; we'd usually have it set to either "Sprout" (mostly PBS shows) or "Noggin" (now called "Nick Jr." with shows like "Wonder Pets" and "Oobi"). Now our girls are 8 and almost 6, and they hardly watch any TV by their choice. Yesterday, for instance, the ONLY TV they watched ALL day was for one hour right before bed, when all 4 of us snuggle together...and we watched the beginning of the NASCAR race (we're all fans). Also, that hour before bed is a regular TV time for us...but once again, lately, other than checking the Weather Channel in the morning, it's almost the only time the TV is on most days.

Oh, and both girls are advanced readers, in the top tier in their respective classes.

I guess if you don't make a big deal about it, it won't BE a big deal. Don't worry about what "other people" think. It's YOUR tv, and it's YOUR kids. YOU make your rules.

 

[Spirit_Star]

I went to school with a girl and her parents didn’t have a tv in their home while they were growing up. They finale got one when she was in high school but even then they didn’t watch it much and only had local channels and they had a vhs so they could see movies sometimes. I think one just has to find what works for their family/kids. I think if I ever had kids I would want to limit their tv time but I think I’d give them more then 1 hour a week though but only time would tell that. I don’t watch a lot myself typical its in snatches. I never really had long attention span so I don’t ever recall watching TV for hours and hours, I think the longest was 3 or 4 hours. I preferred to read. My Aunt she didn’t really let her son watch much TV until he was 5 (he just turned 7 or 8). The TV was kept in a closet when it was not used.

 

[tiredwalker]

I didn't have the concentration to sit and watch tv as a little one; I was too busy doing other things. Moderation is the key like everyone else said. Dd get's to watch Sesame Street or Sid the Science Kid. She loves it and has actually learned a lot from it, but she doesn't get to just plug in for hours at a time.

 

[Spirko]

Am I being a bad mom not letting my ds and dd watch tv for more than an hour or so a week?
Ds doesn't even know that we can get a childrens channel on our tv.

Would you be a bad mom for not hiring a babysitter to come into your home and teach your children how to talk back to their parents, that dad's are worthless buffoons, how to dress immodestly, how to covet, how to use foul language, etc?

I know that they shouldn't be watching too much tv but am I being mean by letting them watch so little?

If you are, then my wife and I must be downright evil because we don't even have a TV.

Am I actually hindering his concentration?

To the contrary, children who watch TV actually have less concentration abilities than children who don't. And the inability to concentrate goes up exponentially with respect to the amount of TV watched.

This is especially true of children's TV. Think about it. Ever watched Sesame Street? How long are the skits on Sesame Street? About a minute long. How does that teach children to concentrate?