Anybody else strict with television and video games?

[Miriyah]

I would say we are on the high end of the limitting here, but not the highest.
We don't have cable. All my 3 daughters can watch is DVDs, of which my husband and I are very picky about choosing. We do not have a video game system, but I let them play with their cousins when we visit. That is nothing serious, racing and monkeys playing golf, things like that.
We homeschool, so they do not get exposed to a lot of the junk kids get from other kids. The other homeschoolers in our area are great families and they get a lot of good play time when we go to the park together.
We do allow Harry Potter, but made it a rule that unless they can (and do) read the book, they cannot watch the movie. We read everything first. We decreed the 6th book off limits until our oldest is older, due to mature content. As far as the withcraft thing...this isn't the right thread, but I watched Bewitched after school and I Dream of Jeanie, neither of those got such a broohaha. Lord of the Rings is too violent at this age. Narnia is borderline, but our 8 year old is just about there.
We don't take the girls to the theater, mainly because it is a hassle and too expensive, and they are still small.

There are some (not many) shows I would like to watch on TV but can't...however, most are coming out on DVD now, so I can still enjoy.

 

[onlooker]

WOW!
I applaude everyone one here! It seems as though our TV is never off! At least in the winter time.
We do have the V-chip activated, so anything over a PG-13 rating needs a code. But other than that, the kids have free will over what they watch. Granted, they can only watch it after homework is done, and dinner is over.
For the most part, though, the only thing going on is a Barney or Elmo DVD for the little ones.
Yes, thre are no limits to the amount of TV our kids can watch, but in reality, they don't seem to watch it that often. I think the urge to watch it would be greater if there were limits for them.
We have cable with just about all the options. But my daughter (12) really likes Animal Planet. My son (9) usually ends up watching the Barney movies with the babies.
I guess I never felt the need to put limitations on it because they don't care to watch shows or cartoons that I find inappropriate anyways, or to spend hours at a time in front of it.
Weekends and summer time is a different story. There are days that it is never turned on at all.

 

[Give'imGlory]

WOW!
I applaude everyone one here! It seems as though our TV is never off! At least in the winter time.
We do have the V-chip activated, so anything over a PG-13 rating needs a code. But other than that, the kids have free will over what they watch. Granted, they can only watch it after homework is done, and dinner is over.
For the most part, though, the only thing going on is a Barney or Elmo DVD for the little ones.
Yes, thre are no limits to the amount of TV our kids can watch, but in reality, they don't seem to watch it that often. I think the urge to watch it would be greater if there were limits for them.
We have cable with just about all the options. But my daughter (12) really likes Animal Planet. My son (9) usually ends up watching the Barney movies with the babies.
I guess I never felt the need to put limitations on it because they don't care to watch shows or cartoons that I find inappropriate anyways, or to spend hours at a time in front of it.
Weekends and summer time is a different story. There are days that it is never turned on at all.

That's awesome. Your kids will grow up to be normal. Cant say the same for the rest of these folks here though.

 

[sunshiinedays]

We do allow Harry Potter, but made it a rule that unless they can (and do) read the book, they cannot watch the movie. We read everything first.

We try to read the book first too. We also homeschool like you do, so we read a LOT in our home.


==================================


To the previous poster: I think some of us would prefer to avoid what is considered "normal".

 

[Leanna]

That's awesome. Your kids will grow up to be normal. Cant say the same for the rest of these folks here though.

You're right! What was I thinking? We were certainly as Christians not called to be the salt of the world. We should surely try harder to join everyone else in the degradation of society.

I'm off to start right now!....

 

[Leanna]

WOW!
I applaude everyone one here! It seems as though our TV is never off! At least in the winter time.
We do have the V-chip activated, so anything over a PG-13 rating needs a code. But other than that, the kids have free will over what they watch. Granted, they can only watch it after homework is done, and dinner is over.
For the most part, though, the only thing going on is a Barney or Elmo DVD for the little ones.
Yes, thre are no limits to the amount of TV our kids can watch, but in reality, they don't seem to watch it that often. I think the urge to watch it would be greater if there were limits for them.
We have cable with just about all the options. But my daughter (12) really likes Animal Planet. My son (9) usually ends up watching the Barney movies with the babies.
I guess I never felt the need to put limitations on it because they don't care to watch shows or cartoons that I find inappropriate anyways, or to spend hours at a time in front of it.
Weekends and summer time is a different story. There are days that it is never turned on at all.

That chip sounds kind of cool, I have never heard of it. How do you know what shows are rated? When I watch TV they don't seem to be rated and I would be curious to watch what things are rated just to see....

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

You're right! What was I thinking? We were certainly as Christians not called to be the salt of the world. We should surely try harder to join everyone else in the degradation of society.

I'm off to start right now!....

Leanne, LOL

Lots of stuff is considered normal these days, teen pregnancy, experimenting with drugs, oooh....sexual experimentation, experimenting with different religions in order to find the one that feels right. My goodness, I feel fortunate that somebody has told me my kiddos won't be normal. Thank you! So far that seems to be a blessing. My son excels in his schoolwork, helps with volunteering, had many Bible verses memorized and, better yet, understands them, loves the Lord, has wonderful friends who don't watch much tv (if any), rarely gets into trouble, is polite, has fun and is an absolute joy to me. Somehow, I don't think lack of television is hurting him and I'd have to ask, if you believe it'll help him...how??? How do you believe it will improve the kiddo that I have just described? If it 'acclimates' him to the real world, I'd say volunteering is already doing that. If it makes him 'at one' with his peers, well, his peers don't watch much television at all. So I'm curious, what would improve him with tv watching?

 

[Manna]

Your kids will grow up to be normal. Cant say the same for the rest of these folks here though.

I was planning my response when I read....

My goodness, I feel fortunate that somebody has told me my kiddos won't be normal.

Thank you! I also see that as a huge plus! The more "non-normal" my daughter grows up to be, the more confident I will be in my parenting style!

 

[chrislife]

I believe it's very important to have limits and keep to them. It doesn't necessarily matter what those limits are, just so you prevent tv from taking more importance in a child's life than it should.

We have a TV Allowance, a machine that limits each child to a certain number of hours per week. (We give them fewer hours per week than the "average" kid watches in a day, from what I hear.)

---Christina

 

[Linnis]

That chip sounds kind of cool, I have never heard of it. How do you know what shows are rated? When I watch TV they don't seem to be rated and I would be curious to watch what things are rated just to see....

Most newer TVs have them built in. You can push the menu or options button on the remote to find it.

You can set it by rating (PG, Pg-7,Pg-13) etc or block certain channels altogether. We use this on the TV in my nephew's room.

 

[onlooker]

Most newer TVs have them built in. You can push the menu or options button on the remote to find it.

You can set it by rating (PG, Pg-7,Pg-13) etc or block certain channels altogether. We use this on the TV in my nephew's room.

And most shows do not post the rating at the beginning of the show, but are required by the FCC to make sure the rating is activated, so that the V-Chip can block it if the homeowner chooses to do so.
I wasn't saying anything negative about people limiting the amount of TV, or which shows are watched. I just don't feel it to be necessary in our particular situation. Our kids don't care to watch shows such as the Simpsons and such. They feel that it is not appropriate, for them, or any others to watch. Nor do they desire to sit in front of the TV all day either.
I guess things would be different if this wasn't the case though. Every family is different, and has to go with whats best for them. I don't feel that by allowing our children to watch what they want, when they want makes me a bad parent, nor is it desensitizing to my kids. Monitoring/restricting simply does not apply at the moment to our household.

 

[Princessperky]

I was planning my response when I read....



Thank you! I also see that as a huge plus! The more "non-normal" my daughter grows up to be, the more confident I will be in my parenting style!

ditto

 

[Linnis]

And most shows do not post the rating at the beginning of the show, but are required by the FCC to make sure the rating is activated, so that the V-Chip can block it if the homeowner chooses to do so.
I wasn't saying anything negative about people limiting the amount of TV, or which shows are watched. I just don't feel it to be necessary in our particular situation. Our kids don't care to watch shows such as the Simpsons and such. They feel that it is not appropriate, for them, or any others to watch. Nor do they desire to sit in front of the TV all day either.
I guess things would be different if this wasn't the case though. Every family is different, and has to go with whats best for them. I don't feel that by allowing our children to watch what they want, when they want makes me a bad parent, nor is it desensitizing to my kids. Monitoring/restricting simply does not apply at the moment to our household.

The point is for the most part it does work and since when I'm not there he spends hours alone watching TV, I know for the most part it's things I won't have to later get him out of believing.

 

[Joykins]

We have the child lock service on our TV so we locked all the kid's channels and all the shows rated TV-14 and over. So if my 5-year-old wanted to watch the food channel or football on his own I guess he could but he has to ask us to watch anything he likes so we can put the code in. They have a few commercial free kids shows (Thomas the Tank Engine, Little Einsteins, the Backyardigans, Dora the Explorer, that sort of thing) they are allowed to watch if we put them on for them. My son usually watches a show when he gets his breathing treatments.

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

We have the child lock service on our TV so we locked all the kid's channels and all the shows rated TV-14 and over. So if my 5-year-old wanted to watch the food channel or football on his own I guess he could but he has to ask us to watch anything he likes so we can put the code in. They have a few commercial free kids shows (Thomas the Tank Engine, Little Einsteins, the Backyardigans, Dora the Explorer, that sort of thing) they are allowed to watch if we put them on for them. My son usually watches a show when he gets his breathing treatments.

This is really a great idea. I hadn't even considered blocking the cartoon channels. I cannot stand cartoon network and one or two other ones have terrible cartoons.

Thank you for the idea.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

We are strict to a point. Our kids will NOT have gaming systems. We really keep an eye on what they watch on tv too. Even some of the "good" pre-school shows don't pass in our house. It really makes a difference in their behavior. It is amazing.

With satelite we are able to set a guide for the kids so only the ok'd channels show when the tv is set to their guide. I can actually schedule the channel to change automatically to an ok show if one we don't like is coming on. It makes it much easier for the kids and me. They don't have to touch the Tv and I just ask them in the morning what they want to watch that day and I set it.

 

[jgonz]

We are strict to a point also. With a large age range in my house (21, 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, & 3.5) it's harder than it used to be to restrict certain shows. The tv ends up being on all day long, but it's more like background noise.... hardly anyone actually Sits and watches anything for more than a few minutes at a time.

One thing we did was get a 2nd tv, which is out in a room in the garage so that if something is on that the older kids want to see, but is not appropriate for the youngest kids, then they can go out there & see it. We have a satellite dish and can set the limits and block channels on both tvs. The music channels are the ones *I'm* the most concerned about at this point in time, so those are all blocked all the time.

We also have rules for tv~ no one can watch Anything until all their schoolwork is finished (we homeschool), and the same for the computer. We don't have x box or playstation or anything, but we do have a computer set up for the younger kids (non-internet) that they are allowed to play games for 1/2 hour each. We're pretty strict about which computer games they can play~ although DH is more lax than I am in this area (he ok's hunting games, while I'd prefer not to).

 

[ShannonMcCatholic]

Yeah we're very 'strict' -though I my kids don't know that! We don't have any TV reception- so when we watch something it's on video or DVD. We watch stuff mostly on the weekends or if I'm ill--so maybe about three hours of TV per week.

The kids just got computer games for Christmas (and all of them are educational)-- they will never have their own computers. All TV's, radios, computers, and telephones are in public areas-and always will be.

We will never have video games. If my kids are bored- I put them to work!

I don't take any flak for it-- I guess becuase me kids are so happy and joyful. They don't see themselves as deprived in anyway....