POLL: How many hours of TV do your kids watch a day?

[Guest sarathan]

Just curious as to how many hours of tv your kids watch a day. I try to limit mine to 1 hour, but sometimes (okay, often), I cave and let them watch more. :tongue_smilie:

[nukeswife]

We're a TV loving family here, so as long as my kids do their chores, get their schoolwork done and aren't being rude or fighting there is no limit.

 

We have Directv and there are 5 boxes in our house. 1 in the living room and 1 in each bedroom. Yes even my soon to be 4 year old has a satelite receiver in his room. I consider myself lucky because my kids are very self regulating and picky about what they watch. They have well over 100 DVDs as well and I've very rarely had to say "no" to something they want to watch.

 

I'm amazed at the history and science knowledge my kids have gained from their tv watching. Actually right now as I type my dd (who is 7.5) is thourougly enthralled with the documentary about Albert Einstein on the History channel.

[Melissa B]

I went with other. Mine watch about 3 or 4 hours per week. Less than an hour a day, but more than no tv ever.

[Jenny in Atl]

We really don't watch much in the way of TV... more movies, or tv shows via Netflix. Time is more based on the movie then a set limit.

[Prudent]

Mine are preschool aged and I let them watch a maximum of 30 minutes per day. And that's not every day.

 

I'm a mean mom.

[kalanamak]

No TV but up to an hour of video. Usually science (he can quote and mimic David Attenborough), but sometimes an action movie from the 50-60's, like Jason and the Argonauts.

 

Since I'm gone all day, and Papa is so hard of hearing, kiddo would be in a world of silence all day without books on tape or the Vox music masters. So, he *listens* to something much of the time.

Right now it is the Railway Children.

Previous favourites were Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little, The Cricket in Times Square, MPO's Odyssey, Naxos's Iliad, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and any number of the Great Hall Productions.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

I voted other - none during the week and movies on the weekends - around 5 hours/week.

[Karen sn]

It varies.

On beautiful sunny days she watches less than TV than she would on a rainy cold day.

Anywhere from no TV at all in a day to 5 hours.

 

When we lived in a neighborhood of kids she was always outside and the TV was rarely on.

Now we live in the dreariest place and there are no kids at all in our neighborhood so she watches more than before.

[Lolly]

Mine are allowed however much they want. But, they don't usually have the time for it. When they do have time, most of them would rather spend it on the computer.

[elegantlion]

I voted other. We limit it to 3 hours a day, most of the time. We find ourselves watching less and less regular TV. We all have certain shows we will watch and Star Trek episodes (all series) have been a biggie around here lately.

 

My ds likes filmmaking and has spent hours watching behind the scenes on DVDs.

[Perry]

I put no limit, because it varies so widely. They can go for weeks without watching it at all, and then have a marathon where they watch all day. I would never let them do that every day, but since overall it doesn't amount to much, I let them watch when they want.

[Crissy]

Depends on the day.

Some days, like yesterday and probably today, the TV won't be turned on at all. Other days it goes on in the evening so the boys can watch an episode of Mythbusters, Cash Cab, or a baseball game.

 

The only time television is on before 5pm is on Sunday. My husband and I like to have a cup of coffee together while we watch CBS Sunday Morning.

Nothing on TV during the morning and afternoon hours interests any of us during the other six days of the week.

[Ravin]

DD has the TV on a lot, especially when I'm sleeping (I work nights, so 3-4 afternoons a week, I'm asleep). I do set limits when we're both awake, and when we need to get schoolwork done. She doesn't watch it all the time it's on, though. She'll get busy with some project or other and have it on in the background. She also falls asleep watching a DVD in her room, a bad habit I know but it was the only way we got her to sleep in her own room (after a year falling asleep watching a DVD on the big TV and sleeping on the couch, after finally moving out of our bedroom).

 

It's not ideal, but it's the way things seem to work around here these days. with all the other stresses in my family, arguing over the TV isn't high on my priority list.

[MamaT]

I voted 1-2 hours, but they rarely watch that much during the week. After school we leave almost immediately for activities, but will watch a little TV before bed sometimes. On the weekend I do not limit their TV watching, but it usually involves watching a movie that we rent along with a couple of hours of Nick or Disney. Sometimes they will watch the movie several times before Monday morning though.

[coffeegal]

I voted other - none during the week and movies on the weekends - around 5 hours/week.

 

:iagree: We're very similar, with Friday nights being family movie night and the kiddos can watch cartoons or DVDs over the weekend.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I voted other. Some days we watch no tv and other days we watch one show or movie. Every other day at the most but usually less. Everything we watched scared ds for a while so we didn't watch anything at all. Now we watch tv a few times a week.

[HeatherLynn]

My kids are allowed 1 hour of non-educational TV a day on weekdays, and 2 hours a day if we are home on a weekend day. This is outside of movies, they can watch a full movie or two on weekends. Educational TV is unlimited (that includes animal planet, national geographic, history channel, etc)

[KarenNC]

I went with other. Mine watch about 3 or 4 hours per week. Less than an hour a day, but more than no tv ever.

 

Similar here, though some weeks it is more than the 3-4 hours. There are days where there is no tv, days when we watch a couple of things.

[LibraryLover]

We've never gotten many channels, so my kids have never formed a TV habit. It's Sunday and I don't think the TV has been on since dh and ds watched American Idol last week. Now, we all probably spend too much time on the computer.

[pooh bear]

It all depends on what has arrived form Netflix.

 

At the moment my ds is watching 'Allo 'Allo, and he will watch the whole DVD in one sitting. I have never heard a kid laugh so much.

 

We can go days with out watching, then some days we like to find a new series to watch on Netflix instant play.

 

We always watch something educational at lunch time.

 

We do not watch much regular TV, it's mostly a bag of rubbish. I do record stuff that is on the History channel and others like that. I like Netflix as can get stuff that I know will be good for ds to watch.

[KidsHappen]

I voted no limit, however, they actually watch practically none. The youngest will occassionally watch something on Disney or the cartoon channel. The 6th grader doesn't watch tv. One teen watches one show sometimes and then oldest teen watches all the same shows I do: LOST, Grey's Anatomy and Dollhouse. My hubby and I watch The Tudors as well.

[LibraryLover]

 

We do not watch much regular TV, it's mostly a bag of rubbish.

 

Oh! You're talking about offensive shows like Two and Half Men. Which I discovered one day when sick with a stomach bug. I laughed my bum off and felt really guilty afterwards. Now, I've put in for the DVDs via InterLibrary Loan. I hate myself, of course.

[sassenach]

My kids get an hour of screen time a day. My 4yo rarely uses any, unless there is a movie on that she wants to watch. My 6yo mostly uses his on the wii. My 12yo uses hers on the computer. The kids watch American idol with us and that's really it for actual tv viewing.

[dtb1999]

We're a TV loving family here, so as long as my kids do their chores, get their schoolwork done and aren't being rude or fighting there is no limit.

 

We have Directv and there are 5 boxes in our house. 1 in the living room and 1 in each bedroom. Yes even my soon to be 4 year old has a satelite receiver in his room. I consider myself lucky because my kids are very self regulating and picky about what they watch. They have well over 100 DVDs as well and I've very rarely had to say "no" to something they want to watch.

 

I'm amazed at the history and science knowledge my kids have gained from their tv watching.

 

 

That pretty much sums us up as well. :) My 6 year old ds loves watching Survivorman. I also got him hooked on the Tribal documentaries so we both love to watch the Mark and Olly series together. He chooses to watch more documentary and educational shows than anything else. His only cartoons he really likes at the moment are Garfield DVDs and Dexter's Lab. My 4.5 year old would rather play a computer game than watch TV. And my kids do have a TV with verizon in their room. I have parental blocks on it, however, so they are pretty limited. They rarely watch tv in their room though.

[Danestress]

My boys are 11 and there isn't much on for their age group. Sometimes they will watch an Animal Planet or Nat'l Geo show or "How Things Work." We also watch major Tennis tournaments. But they just don't think about the TV most days because they are busy.

[Lisa in Jax]

On weekends, they can watch when they're not playing outside or we're not doing a family activity.

 

Lisa

[amsunshine]

Our dds virtually watch no commercial television. We limit to dvds. Even with dvds -- during the week they watch nothing, except for 1 or 2 science experiments from Sonlight's Discover and Do dvd, a french dvd, and/or a history dvd. On the weekends, we have Friday and/or Saturday family movie nights, depending on our schedule. So it ends up being about 2 to occasionally 5 hours per week, tops.

[Mommy22alyns]

I voted 1-2. We've gotten better about it lately, and I find that keeping busy with school work and other activities, we can keep the TV off almost all day. They like to watch some in the mornings with their cereal, but it's pretty much exclusively shows that we've pre-recorded - things like Toot & Puddle, Word Girl, Pinky Dinky Doo, etc.

 

A couple of nights a week they might watch a movie, or they might get it in the afternoon if it's been "one of those days."

[CactusPair]

No TV. We don't have cable and nothing really comes in, which we're happy about. I cannot abide by commercial TV for many reasons. I am lucky dh agrees, or at least goes along with it, because I couldn't live with someone who needed TV in the house.

 

We do get DVD's, but I can't really get my dc to watch movies anymore, especially dd. She's never been much of a video watcher; she gets bored & antsy.

 

They do like to watch DVD's of cooking shows, especially Julia Child. I think that's really cool, but pretty strange, too, I have to admit.:D

 

When we are able to get a channel in, my ds likes to watch a ball game with his dad.

 

Dh and like to watch mystery shows like Poirot from Netflix.

 

Last night we rented the new James Bond from the video store and had to turn it off. The camera work and editing was so fast it was making me ill.:confused: Even Daniel Craig, Bond himself, couldn't overcome my sensory issues.:tongue_smilie:

[A.J. at J.A.]

They watch 20-30 minutes a day.

[Jackie in NE]

I said "other" because we don't watch any T.V. on school nights, but the kids can watch a movie on non-school nights. So it probably averages out to about 3 hours/week. We don't have cable, so we get one network station, which in my opinion, has nothing of value as far as my dc are concerned.

[nmoira]

Typically less than an hour a day, though there are occasional weeks with much more. I think they watched more TV during the two weeks we all had the flu than during the entire year previous. No one wanted to turn the TV on for a couple weeks after that.

[Carrie12345]

No limit here, but I do reserve the right to shut it off whenever I feel they've watched too much. That just doesn't happen very often. They'd rather spend most of their free time outside, anyway.

[Angel]

We are also a tv loving family. I voted no limit, however, on school days they are not allowed to have it on before 3:00. My kids are pretty self-regulatory (I do have to keep a closer eye on the younger one:D) and most of what they watch is Animal Planet, NatGeo, Discovery, and HGTV, and dvd's of course ;)

[dirty ethel rackham]

My kids vary, but they typically do not watch tv during the week, except for an episode of Mythbusters, Nature or Nova. It is not on at all during the day on school days. First, there is nothing on that I want them to watch. Second, it is too big of a distraction for certain members of my household who seem to have a propensity for screen addiction. On weekends, we may watch a movie or 2 together (we only have 1 tv.) So, during the week it is about 3 - 4 hours and another 2-3 on weekends. So that makes under an hour a day on average.

 

Now, this does not include all screen time. Kids do play about 1/2 to 1 hour of computer games a day. Ds15 does about 1/2 hour of internet surfing a day (usually looking up topics on science websites or something.)

[Karen in CO]

I voted other because it varies by the day. On Mondays, we watch for about an hour and have breakfast in my bed and watch cartoons while I drink coffee. They never watch before school. They never watch after dinner, except hubby lets them have a movie night in bed on Friday nights. If the weather is bad, they'll watch something after lunch and keep watching until I shoo them away - or join them.

[Country Mouse]

I voted other because ds watches a couple of hours of tv spread over the week.

I am pretty strict with screen time of any kind, but he is still young.

[Amy loves Bud]

I voted other because we don't actually have tv. But we do have a rocking media room built by my sweet husband. The kids watch a movie in there about every other day.

 

Also, I have been very guilty of letting Romy overindulge in DVDs of Maisy and Blue's Clues while I do school with the big kids. I'm working on a better plan for next school year.

[SLH in ND]

No tv during the week. On weekends, the amount of time they get depends on what we have going on or on the weather! lol During the 50 below wind chill winter we had, we spent a lot of time cozied up on a Friday or Saturday night, watching old movies! They usually get to watch a movie or two or a few episodes from approved tv series we have on DVD.

 

We gave up cable, as a budget cut, several years ago and since we didn't get one of those converter boxes for the switch to high definition, we don't get any channels on our old tv.

 

ETA: I voted "other."

 

Sheri :)

[ereks mom]

When they were younger, they were addicted, especially EK, but they outgrew it, I guess. We watch some things together as a family, but none of us has a problem with watching too much.

[Starr]

I put none because we don't have a TV but they do watch from time to time at a relatives house. We really don't miss it very often.

[KS_]

I voted other. We don't generally have the TV on at all during the weekdays - occasionally they will watch less than an hour in the early evening. On the weekends, it varies - if we're home (especially during the winter), the TV might be on and we could watch several hours in the afternoon.

[vettechmomof2]

we do family movie night on Sunday's and my 4 year old watches Leap Frog videos maybe once a week. Occassionally documentaries once a month or so.

We do however have 2 exercise videos daily.

[whitestavern]

My kids don't watch any TV per set; mostly movies/videos we've rented from Netflix. To me, there just isn't anything worth watch on there (well, for them. DH and I do watch a few shows). We have movie night once a week, so they get about 2 hours there, and then depending on what we're studying and if there's any media to go along with it, maybe another 1-2 hours a week. So less than an hour a day on average.

[muffinmom]

I voted other. We limit it to 3 hours a day, most of the time. We find ourselves watching less and less regular TV. We all have certain shows we will watch and Star Trek episodes (all series) have been a biggie around here lately.

 

My ds likes filmmaking and has spent hours watching behind the scenes on DVDs.

 

 

Hey, Paula...my ds is fascinated by filmmaking too...will be going to a filmmaking camp this summer. So we also let him watch some behind the scenes stuff.

[JustGin]

I had to pick other because right now the younger two, ages 11 & 12 don't watch any during the week, except American Idol (and that ends this week), but oldest has no restriction on tv time. She watches between 1 and 2 hours on some days none on others.

[Willow]

We have no TV. Until January we lived in too remote an area to get it, unless we went with Sky. Now we can get it we still actually have no physical TV. We don't miss it enough to warrant spending the money. We do however watch the occasional DVD on the computer.

[pandemonium]

about an hour or so.

[EKS]

My younger son doesn't watch TV at all, says he doesn't like it. He does have screen time though, usually about an hour, where he either uses the computer or the Wii. My older son occasionally watches TV but prefers to use the computer for his screen time, for an hour or so. They both usually have more screen time on weekends--around 2 hours/day.

[Kimm in WA]

I posted other b/c my kiddos don't really watch TV except for DVDs on family movie nights on Friday, national evening news, or the occasional NOVA program on PBS. DS15 gets 1 hr. computer time. They have so many other things to do, and like to read, that they don't ask for it.