Does it really matter how much TV your kids watch as long as you can turn off the TV without a fight?

Question

Example: My kids watch more than an hour of TV a day. That's just a fact of life in our house. Granted they are also playing with toys and such while doing so. They play outside daily and get to run around, we home school, etc. When I tell them it's time to turn off the TV they never raise a fuss about it.

So really, *does* it matter? Do you think it really matters as far as your kids are concerned?

(This is more of a question on surveying your views, not me trying to defend my own. Thanks!)

Answer 1

I agree with you unless they are sitting and watching hours upon hours of straight TV. I also think what they watch makes a difference as well. My kids love the history and discovery channel. They watch a lot of educational TV. Of course they watch other stuff sometimes but for the most part they watch good stuff and maybe a movie once in awhile. I think as long as your kids are active and doing other things and getting outside then it's not an issue. I've never put a strict limit on TV and my kids are 16, 16, 13 and 10 and my older three are all honor students in school.



EDIT: Oh and *gasp* my kids have TV's in their bedrooms too...and still honor students....go figure.

Answer 2

I personally don't care how much tv my children watch besides when its summer. In the summer since their is no school and its a long break we do limit tv time and video game time on most days. For the most part I trust my kids watching tv (and half of the time its on just for background noise while they are playing with their toys). When we had cable we would walk in and they would be watching the weather channel and now that we don't have cable we catch them watching the nasa channel on the roku player at times. They also love some shows like meerkat manor. Not every show in the world is rotting their brains out. And sometimes even the most stupidest show can teach you something. Oh and if we do say turn it off and they put up a fight they will get grounded from it.

Answer 3

As long as they're not sitting down doing nothing staring at the screen I don't have an issue with it. I get a little crazy from all the baby songs playing in the background but my daughter dances around and does all the hand gestures so it's kind of like an exercise DVD for babies. She also watches the Baby can Read and Signing DVDs and is obviously learning from them so why would I limit that? The only time I really turn on "junk" TV is when she wakes up in the middle of the night or crack of dawn (like this am at 4) so I can relax.

Answer 4

I feel like if the shows are educational then more than an hour is okay. I do limit their TV as much as I can though just because they are both in school and daycare and much of the time they're home is spent getting ready for school or bed, eating dinner, etc. Some mornings if they have time I allow them 15 minutes of TV to allow them to rest and get woke up for school. We spend Friday nights playing toys as that's our only day to really play and Saturday mornings they watch some TV.



I think there should be time limits no matter what the situation (my opinion). They need time to play and be free, but whatever works for your family is your deal. I'm not one to tell anyone what to do.

Answer 5

There are days when my son watches more than an hour and there are days he doesn't watch any. I am not concerned about it unless it becomes something he would choose to do over other things (playing with others, going outside, etc.)

Answer 6

I don't think it matters so long as the children are not couch potatoes...watching tv for an hour, playing video games another hour, and surfing the web the next hour. And, so long as what is on is suitable.