how much TV do you think children should watch?

aliasojo

mrcow wrote: »

A child spending 16 hours per week (just over 2 hours per day) watching television is spending 1/5 of their waking hours in front of a television screen.

Those who then also play Wii, Playstation or XBox games, even more so.

It's not hard to see that that is not a productive use of time for any kid under the age of 12.

Or is it?

Daughter and I had a conversation about this only yesterday. I grew up very near to the centre of Edinburgh and we lived in a tenement flat. Despite the fact we were surrounded by concrete and traffic, myself and my friends were never in. I had a tv in my bedroom but it was only ever on if I had to stay in for whatever reason, it wasn't one of my 'choices' iywsim.

At age 10, we used to do 17 mile sponsored walks for charity every year for Dr Barnardos through the church, we'd go off on day long picnics that meant walking for hours and we'd be as fit as anything.

I now live in the Highlands of Scotland and am surrounded by hills and greenery. My daughter, also 10, is a child of the times and has every imagineable electronic gadget going (mostly because my OH is a gamer and a gadget freak). She could tell you all you want to know about Hannah Montana or any other tv show of that ilk. She does go out on her bike and she goes to various after school clubs and swimming lessons etc but her personal enjoyment mainly comes from the tv and her gadgets.

I don't believe it damages her mental health or her educational progress, (she was listed as being way ahead of the class in her reading for example and knows more about the workings of the human body than I do simply because of a game she's been playing) however I do think it isolates her and narrows her interests which imo is not healthy. I had a wide range of interests as a kid, she has a few things which interest her and everything else is 'boring'. *where's that rolling eye smilie when you need it?*

Her Dad and I have recently started limiting her internet access, tv watching and gaming which as you might imagine, is causing ww3 right now. Of course the knock on effect from this is that we are having to entertain her more ourselves now as her friends are still indoors with their electronic things. We've been going off on gentle hillwalks and the like and although she's doing the usual kid thing of 'do we have to, I'm tired' etc etc, she does seem to enjoy it when she's out.

I think this is a common thing that affects most children, it's not the tv or the gaming themselves that do the harm, it's what else they're excluding that's the problem.

Kids need to experience lots of different things in order to become well rounded interested individuals. If tv and gaming play a large part of their upbringing, I don't think that's too healthy.

That said, I honestly don't think the majority of parents do treat the tv as a constant babysitter, I think most families are pretty balanced. I think only very, very poor (as in bad) parents would do this and if they are that bad at parenting then the kid has bigger problems than just having a tv as their sole source of entertainment.

Lara44

There's a summary of some research here, and it seems to be saying that TV can be detrimental where it's used as a babysitter and also beneficial where it is age appropriate and activated by talking about it together afterwards.

pigpen

I, as most of you will know, have a fairly large family .. and I have never had a TV in all the time any of them were growing up.

My children have all been chattering away by a year old bar DS2 who has his own capsule of problems and required speech therapy and other therapies.

At 3, when they went off to nursery they were included in the few children who could eloquently explain what they wanted and why. They had excellent vocabulary.. and even understood sarcasm.. which may be a reflection of me lol.. Most could read before they went to school, they did dance and played in the garden and devoured encyclopaedias.. info is in short snippets so they are easy to dip in and out of. OH is currently working his way through Roald Dahl with them all and they are enthralled!

Mine watch maybe 2 or 3 disney films.. a MONTH.

So, the reason we don't have a TV is that I am too tight to pay the disgusting price of the licence BUT it has certainly improved the language and academic progress of the children.

They are allowed online time, the older ones have homework to be done online and they do a lot of research online.. so while they do have the FB window open they are also doing useful things.. if they ask me a question I explain to a degree then tell them to go off and research it further.. and 9 times out of 10 they do.. and come back with interesting bits to add.

I hate the TV it is full of lies and mind numbing bubblegum and general drivel..

In response to the OP.. NONE!! It is just not good for the development of free thinking, individuality or imagination!

Shelley84

I couldn't care less what people think about the amount of TV my son does or does not watch. It's not for anyone else to decide but me. My DS goes to nursery 3 hours a day, and before and after that the TV is on all day. Always is and always will be. We have Playhouse Disney on in the morning - loads of educational stuff on there, he has learnt things I would never have thought to teach him! And usually Spongebob/Chowder/Tom and Jerry etc in the afternoon.

The TV is on from 8am to 11pm, but it is not watched consistantly. We do jigsaws, colouring, play in the garden, reading etc...all the usual things. But I hate turning it off as I hate a quiet room. I grew up watching lots of TV and am certainly not 'stupid'. My DS (who is 4) probably watches in total around 3-4 hours a day. I watch a lot more than that.

But like I said, its my choice not yours! My son is perfectly healthy and intelligent. TV is not affecting him, if I think it is then I will start turning it off.

Why must people say 'wow 3 hours a day, thats too much' maybe for you, but it works for us. Do these people who slag off the parents of kids who watch tv even have kids?! Probably not!!

jamespir

my ds watches about half hour then gets bored

Jo_R_2

How much TV my DDs (aged 6 and 3) watch varies from day to day.

DD1 has a couple of favourite programmes she mentions she wants to watch, and I adopt this approach with DD2 - I prefer the approach of switching on the TV to watch a particular programme rather than aimless viewing IYSWIM.

I also make an effort to sit down as much as I can with them and watch with them, talk about what they're watching. I do this with DD1 if she wants to watch something I haven't heard of.

I'd say DD1 watches an hour a day, as a rough rule, of programmes she considers her favourites - however she often gets distracted by other things she wants to do so I'd say definitely half an hour after school.

DD2 does watch some programmes in the afternoon after nursery but before we pick up DD1 from school, but this varies again - often she'll want the TV on but doesn't actually watch what we've put on as she wants to "help" me with the housework or play out in the garden or do colouring or play in her room etc etc. Again I try as much as possible to switch on to watch particular programmes and will switch off to get her to do something else.

I do admit there are times when I use it to distract them as it's the easiest option at the time but I do make an effort to make this the exception rather than the rule.

julie03

pigpen wrote: »

In response to the OP.. NONE!! It is just not good for the development of free thinking, individuality or imagination!

my son watched tv as a child and could read and write before he was three, could also explain eloquently what he wanted and why, was using sarcasm at a very early age, he has moved his English teacher to tears with his writing, because of his use of imagination and indivividuality and is in top sets for English Maths and science, and is predicted A s in most of these subjects this year in his GCSE and is altogether an amazing person ( i might be just a little biased)

so tv cant be that bad and it also depends on the parents and what they do with their child while not watching
tv that is most important, my children watch David Attenborough DVDs nearly everyweek, they love them

as another poster said what works for some families doesnt work for others, and nobody should be judged by how much tv their kids watch, no tv works for some families but the majority do watch it with no harm done at all.

onlyroz

My 5-year-old watches about 30 mins of TV whilst having his breakfast in the morning, and then between 3:30 and 6pm he is allowed to either watch TV, or a film, or play computer games, or play with his toys as he pleases while I get on with some work.

My daughter (nearly 18 months) just isn't interested in TV - she'd rather be pottering around in the garden, or drawing on the walls (erm I mean drawing on paper) with her crayons, so I just let her get on with that instead. No doubt I'm in for some fights when she does develop an interest in TV or films - over who gets to choose what goes on.

peachyprice

My 2 15yo' DS's very very rarely watch TV, one will watch if there is a series he wants to see, he enjoyed Spooks and watched that most weeks and he'll also watch the odd bit if one of his fave comedians is on, ie. Bill Bailey or Eddie Izzard.

The other watches even less, he'll watch 10-20 mins of a programme if it takes his fancy once in a blue moon, although he has been known to watch Wizards of Waverly Place with my DD because he fancies Selena Gomez:D

My 8yo DD watches more, she'll usually flick the TV on for 10 mins while she eats her breakfast, and when she gets home from school while she eats her snack. More often than not she'll switch it on then walk away and find something else to do, she's very imaginative with her play and would rather sit and play with her dolls. After dinner/before bath she'll sit with us and watch a documentary or something like Mythbusters, but usually ends up playing instead. On the whole I would say she actually watches 1hr over the course of a day, even though the TV is on her channels longer than that.

xmaslolly76

I have to admit my TV is on pretty much from the minute we get up to the time we go to bed however during that time we probably only actually sit down and watch probably about 2hrs of accumilative tv between us its just there for background noise. My bubs is only 9 months old now so isnt interested init at all apart from the foxy guy at the beginning and end of Jeremy Vile. I really should invest in and ariel for the stereo so we can have the radio on more :-)