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Pad Patter: 10/31: Kids and TV

amandajane

amandajane

amandajane
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May 21, 2007
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Do you have rules at your house about when and how much?

My kids (aged 7 and 10) are allowed to watch a kids channel before 7:30 in the morning and between finishing homework and 5:30, if they are home. We watch evening tv after dinner as a family.
Gaming is a different story though, they have to earn minutes by doing chores and being nice to each other.
 
Not rules really, no. They have their shows that the TiVo and then watch. But honestly, with 4 of them vying for their turn, they only end up watching so much or gaming so much before someone else takes over. So, I don't worry about it much. lol
 
our tv rules are mostly about what they are and are not allowed to watch. there's so much garbage on tv for kids... boo.
they don't watch much tv anyway. they like pokemon, and my daughter likes my little pony. other than that, they rarely watch tv.

as for gaming there is no gaming during the school week for the most part. if one or the other has to be dragged along to their brother's/sister's practice (which is a 2 hour + ordeal), then I let them do DS (mostly for my own sanity). otherwise, no gaming during the week. and usually there's not really a lot of time for it on the weekends. so it all kind of takes care of itself.
 
With all the sickness we've been having in our house for the last couple of months, our tv rules has pretty much vanished. My son's two though and doesn't care that much (if he's not sick), but likes to have the background noise of Thomas and Friends and Postman Pat - and we let him. It would have been different if he was older though.
 
Mine don't really watch all that much tv either, so most of their rules are on what they can and can't watch. I think their only actual rules are that homework and chores have to be done first, they have to agree on what they watch, and they forfeit the tv when John gets home.

Gaming - they each get 30-45 minutes, broken up in 15 minute intervals of switching who gets to play. (they don't do well playing 2 player)
 
My boys don't really ask to watch TV much anymore. Usually if they do, it's a movie off Netflix. Now gaming on the other hand? They'd play all day (after homework and chores) if I let them. Some days I have a hard time not letting them have a veg out day, especially if I'm trying to get something on the computer done.
 
The only rule about how much they can watch is no T.V. on school mornings. It just complicates and slows down our routine.

Other than that, the rules apply to what they can watch. If it doesn't have some educational value, I don't let them watch it. So no Phineas and Ferb, no Spongebob, etc. I do let them watch Disney movies, but they usually won't sit that long in front of the T.V. They're rambunctious boys, and it's just not in them to sit still for long! lol.

I'd say that total throughout the day they may watch and hour to an hour and a half. A bit more on lazy weekends when we have nothing to do...which isn't often.

And Amanda, I love the idea of earning time for gaming. We do something similar...if Brady stays on green at school he gets 20 minutes on the Wii with Daddy before bedtime. If he moves to yellow or red, no games that day. But I like that your kids earn it by completing chores and being nice to each other. I'll have to remember that! :)
 
mommy2boyz said:
And Amanda, I love the idea of earning time for gaming. We do something similar...if Brady stays on green at school he gets 20 minutes on the Wii with Daddy before bedtime. If he moves to yellow or red, no games that day. But I like that your kids earn it by completing chores and being nice to each other. I'll have to remember that! :)
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Ours is similar. If the boys move their clips they don't get any video game time that day.
 
I too love the idea of earned gaming time. I may have to try that out. Right now they each get about 30 min. in the evenings every few days. With tv, our rules are more about what they watch.
 
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No morning tv before school. J will sometimes catch an episode of Olivia while I help E with homework. After baths, everyone gets 1 show which has to come from the approved list.
 
My kids are 3 years old and 18 months old. My 18 month old is far too busy to actually sit and watch anything (except the occasional Elmo). My 3 year old watches TV mostly in the mornings (before about 8:30/9) and before bed and while I get meals ready....sometimes she's sitting and watching, sometimes she's playing with it as background noise.

Right now I don't have to restrict it much. Other than the times I listed, the TV is usually off because we're outside, running errands or playing. Typically when they're awake and the TV is on it's set to Disney Junior or Nick Jr.
 
Well, my youngest son has Developmental Delays so he watches more t.v. than my oldest. He loves learning cartoons as well as a lot of 80s cartoons. I can't complain there...

My oldest watches some t.v., but he is starting to like more regular shows as opposed to cartoons.

I have to say my kids play more than anything whether it is in the house or outside. They like to stay busy.
 
Mine are grown, but my only rule on TV was not in a.m before school, it slowed them down. My kids were allowed to watch TV when they wanted, but mine rather play. I did have a rule that one hr before bed after bath you had to sit and either watch TV or read, this wound them down so they were not hyper when it came bedtime.

Vidoe games, the same thing not in a.m before school otherwise as long as homework and chores were done, thier freetime was thiers and could do what they wanted. No video games in that hr before bed either.
 
Kenzie is 10 and watches shows on Nickelodeon/kid's channels but she likes the live action ones mostly like ICarly, Shake it up, etc. She has a few fave shows she DVRs and watches maybe 1 or 2 after homework. We watch some shows together in the evenings some days. She has a Wii and DS but does not really play them that much. We do ask her to play her Wii Dance sometimes to get some exercise in though.
 
My rule has always been one hour a day of TV. Well...except for when I'm pregnant then they get a lot more TV time :whistle This worked out beautifully for my 6 year old and has worked ok with my 3 year old. I have noticed though that they have started forfeiting playtime to come watch FoodNetwork shows I have on while doing chores. I think I'm going to have to start turning that off. We honestly don't have much available time for TV anyway. DD doesn't get home from school until 4, then it is homework time, dinnertime, choretime, get ready for bed, and bedtime. It annoys me that my kids don't have more free time to play due to such long school days.

Weekends are a bust though because hubby is home. He likes to camp out in front of the TV watching old cartoons. So the girls sit with him.

Gaming isn't much of an issue. Again IF the girls have free time I assess on an individual basis whether they deserve to spend time on the computer or Wii. I have always wanted to do a system where they earn their time but I just haven't got it together.
 
My kids aren't really a big fan of tv, so we don't have tv rules in the house.
They do however watch a movie before bed (in bed) once in a blue moon if they have been really good.
 
We don't have strict tv rules at our house--definitely more along the lines of what they can and can't watch (which seems to become fewer and fewer each day), but in general, if they have had a good day at school and depending on how they are doing at school, I might let them watch a dvr'd show right when they get home which seems to satisfy them.

Saturday mornings are much more lax. We don't have a game system, but are most likely going to get one for Christmas this year and I love the idea of earning the time based on behavior.
 
we used to have a penny system for rewards. once they earned 10 pennies, they could trade it in for either a set amount of $$ for their piggy bank, or they could have 30 minutes of game time. it worked GREAT for a long time. as time passed, we evolved out of it, but it was definitely a tried and true technique for several years when the boys were younger.

they earned a penny for good behavior, good manners, picking up toys, etc. and they lost pennies for not obeying, being sassy, beng mean to each other, etc.
 
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