[beth]

What do you think about your child having a TV in their bedroom? Yes or no? At what age do you think it is okay for a child to have their own TV? I have written a series of blogs on this issue, you can find them here.
It woul dbe good to get everyone's ideas on this topic.

[MissyChrissy]

I thought your article was interesting but I have to totally disagree. We have multiple tv's here, and we all watch the same programs together. We still "bicker" about what we'll watch on "the big" tv in the living room, and I have to exasperatedly point out to my teens that they do indeed have their own tv's in their bedrooms.

In the older girls room, I don't think that tv is ever on any more. Sometimes Bobbie uses it to play her guitar tapes-and I much prefer she strum on that in her room. Also, my husband & I don't like the kids hanging out in our room. That's OUR place and not for them to be hanging out there. Besides, even though it's locked, there's a steel gun cabinet in there and ammunition. Mom & Dad's room is simply not a play room. Who knows what presents I may be hiding?

Jessica "watches" Animal Planet while she's sleeping. She's taken to sleeping on the couch for whatever reason. I don't think Animal Planet will fry her brain-and since she wants to be a vet when she grows up I actually think it's helping her.

Conner & Sydney (who share a room for now) "watch" a kids cartoon network while they sleep. Both prefer a night light and I think it soothes them. Neither have difficulty falling asleep either (something someone else tried to "warn" me about).

Initially, I wasn't ever going to let my kids have a tv in their room-and they didn't for many years. But they've had them for over 5 years now & I haven't noted any negative effects from it at all. In fact, it's been a plus 'cause I can watch what I want on the "big" tv & they can go to their rooms to watch what they want...even though they rarely choose to do that.

[DivasMomma]

My daughter has pretty much always had one in her room, well since she was old enough to watch movies.

shes 2 now and has a TV hooked to cable, VCR and DVD player, and a camera hooked to her TV that shows her on the screen. She knows how to work everyone of them, including her remotes!

She can sit through entire movies, so when she wants to watch a movie, or TV, she just goes in and helps herself. The only channels she actually knows how to get to is Nickeldeon and disney channel.

Only negative thing about it I have found is when she wakes up at 3am and decides its time to watch TV!

[deedee1231]

I really don't like to let my kids watch that much t.v. , they used to watch way more before I started homeschooling, but no they don't have one in their bedrooms. We have one in the living room, one in the family room, and one in my/dh's bedroom. As it is, it is rare that more than one of them is on at a time. If we added one in oldest dd's room, one in ds's room and one in the twins room--wow-- that would be 6 t.v.s in our house!!! If we had and actually used all of those, I don't think I would be able to afford the electricity bills!

[lacih8607]

i had a TV in my room around the age of 12 but I only watched it in the mornings while getting ready for school. I guess I had it on more for backround noise. Which is how it is now. Even if I'm not watching TV, it's normally always on.

[VinniesMommy]

My boys ((1&2)) have a TV in their room. It is hardly ever on, but there are some times that I will put a movie on for them so that I can do dishes or fold laundry and they are not running a muck around the house. They don't have cable or anything fancy, just a cheap DVD player. They wouldn't have had the TV but my dad was getting rid of it, so we took it. They are not glued to it 24/7 or anything, so I don't mind it.

[sharinielsen]

I put a tv in my girls' room (7 & 6) but did not connect it to cable. They could only watch movies on it or play some of the educational games. They have a few of the interactive books on DVD and I found that the little one really needs quiet time here and there and the best way to calm her down is to let her go to her room and play one of the DVD books. She is busy answering the questions and forgets that she was upset a little while ago!

I'm not sure if or when I will let them have cable access in their room, however, they do have it in the playroom downstairs and are pretty good about just watching the channels that they are allowed.

[oldwomaninashoe]

I enjoyed reading both blogs. Everyone has a TV in their room in our house. However, the isolated time they have to watch it is balanced with family time spent together. Dinner is still at the table. Even if you aren't eating at our house you are at the table during dinner. I find most of our conversation occurs then. We might be at the table for an hour just because we are talking more than eating. There is also a lot of outside time, inside time, game time, etc. To us it is all about moderation and if they kids do not listen about when they can watch we pull the cable plug . . . nothing but static at that point.

[MommaColleen]

My older 2 both have had a tv in their room for the past few years. It isn't hooked up to the cable but it has a built in dvd player. DS almost never has his on. Only when he gets a new video to watch. DD has her's on all the time with a Full House dvd in it. She isn't actually watching them (she has seen them hundreds of times) I think she just like having the background noise. I bet if I bought her a stereo she would use that instead.

[poliscmjr]

When I was growing up we were never allowed to have tv's in our rooms or have it on while it was dinner time. We had multiple tv's in the house so no one really argued on what to watch. When my sister and brother both came home from college (I stayed home) they brought their tv's with them and used them in their rooms.


DH has always had a tv in his room. He actually used to go to sleep while watching it. When we got married and moved intogether I had to brake him of the habit because I can't sleep with that type of noise! So we have a tv in our room but it's rarely on.

We've had this discussion since we have a baby on the way, and I am adamint the child will not have a tv in their room. I don't see a need for it. I'm not sure what purpose it serves when a child is in their room watching tv.