How much TV do your children watch per day?

[Sunshine Mama]

I'm curious to hear how much TV other homeschoolers watch. I'm not opposed to TV altogether but wonder how much is too much. And when during the day do they watch it? After their school work is finished?

[FriedClams]

less than an hour or so a week - they are 5 and 6. They play less than an hour on the computer per week.

 

I read recently that the average American kid spends 44 hours per week in front of a screen. Yikes.

[newbie]

Probably one hr. if that, older dd is swamped with high school. Younger has no interest, she does school and is a book hound like her mom.

 

Jeannette

[Plaid Dad]

None. We don't own a TV.

[Jami]

Hmm, maybe 5-7 hours a week? It's a little more the past couple of weeks with hot weather and mom's pregnancy-induced naps. I'd say they watch about 2 movies a week and then maybe play an hour or so of video games. Occasionally a little PBS.

[Karenciavo]

Now that most of our favorites are done they usually just watch Netflix every few days. Ds15 will probably be watching all the D-Day shows on the military channel tomorrow though. It varies, my youngest watches nearly none, by his choice; ds13 enjoys game shows, he watches a few a week; and ds15 enjoys Colbert and various other odds and ends (everything from dirty jobs to ghost hunters to myth busters) he probably watches 1 hour a day.

[battlemaiden]

Lately? A movie a day :glare:. Sad...but true.

 

When our life is normal, stable, and in any other way resembling routine then we only watch a family movie on the weekend unless there is a special show on Discovery or TLC I want to watch with them.

 

Jo

[Laura Corin]

The boys watch an hour on Saturday and an hour on Sunday. Nothing from Monday to Friday, except the odd documentary (Simon Schama on the British Empire yesterday).

 

Laura

[*anj*]

Mine haven't really been watching anything on regular tv in awhile now. We usually let them watch cartoons on Saturday morning, but we've been busy at that time for the past month or so, so no 'toons. During the week I never let them turn it on before about 6, and then they usually watch a dvd. So I'm going to say that they watch a couple of hours of "tv" maybe twice a week.

 

We've gone through phases with it, and we've btdt with the daily consumption. Strangely their neverending desire for more and more tv ended when they stopped watching PBS Kids shows. So there's no more "Pleeeeeaaase, one more 'Arthur'!!!!!!"

[lighthouseacademy]

None- if they get to watch, they get 1/2 hour of Signing Time or similar. I have found it takes weeks to decompress them from 1/2 hour of fiction TV and saps their imagination instantly. In the last 3 months I think they have watched 4 hours total.

[camibami]

Ug- way too much lately. And too much Webkinz and Rescue Pets and Bella Sara and Barbie.com !

 

We're getting ready to move overseas, and b-u-s-y. And done with school. And I'm really busy. And its easy to say "Sure, watch Spongebob!" or Animal Heroes or Dirty Jobs or Drake and Josh. DH is the biggest problem- that man loves TV.

 

My saving grace is once we move, we'll have no TV at all. Praise the Lord for making it easy to wean them! Of course, we'll still have the 'puter and internet, but thats easier to control as DH is often the one who instigates the Spongebob or Drake and Josh marathon.:D He doesn't often get on Barbie.com though, so I won't have to fight him on that!

[JWSJ]

We don't have a TV.

 

Periodicly, we'll watch a documentary (from Netflix) on my laptop.

 

We go to the movie theater maybe 3 times a year.

[WTMindy]

Almost none. They watched American Idol when it was on and an occasional video, but other than that we just have been out of the habit.

[hmschoolmom22]

more than I would like to admit!:blushing:

[Reya]

I'm curious to hear how much TV other homeschoolers watch. I'm not opposed to TV altogether but wonder how much is too much. And when during the day do they watch it? After their school work is finished?

 

DS and the nextdoor neighbor are joined at the hip. Before this, there was no "screen time" problem with DS, but after--YIKES! I've implemented a 2 hr max of total screen time per day, but now he's averaging about one.

[nmoira]

They don't watch every day, and we only use DVD's. I'd guess they average maybe a half hour a day. While I don't ration it exactly, there's no TV until 6:00 (5:30 if they ask to watch a movie) and it's off by 7:00. More often than not they don't even think of turning it on. Today we actually used the TV for educational purposes, and watched a couple Schlessinger videos from the library. Yay us. :)

[skimerinkydo]

Saturday morning cartoons before 10:00 a.m. ...that's really the only actual broadcast televsion they watch. But then, we only get 2 or 3 channels where we live so there isn't much to pick from.

 

We have netflix and watch movies on the weekends as a family. During the week they sometimes watch education films.

 

They love computer games and so we put limits on that. Schoolwork and chores must be done first, and they must set a timer for the agreed-on amount of time to spend.

[Jenny in Atl]

Not much T.V. more movies (some are for school and some are just fun). I don't have a total ~ 2hrs a day.

[Melinda]

more than I would like to admit!:blushing:

 

Me too. Way more than they probably should, and that's all I will say about that...haha

[Lizzie in Ma]

My dc are almost 8 and 12. Knowing they get to watch an episode of a current netflix favorite tends to keep both school and chores on track. So maybe 45 minutes of that after supper. At least one movie or program a week for history studies, usually family movie night on the weekend. (this week is the Hallmark Channel's miniseries on Marco Polo for MOH 2)

I, personally, watch an episode of my current netflix favorite at 6am(ish) while I work out before anyone else gets up!

 

Maybe 12 hours a week?

I admit freely that there are exceptions where I go insane and watch marathons of Deadliest Catch and Dirty Jobs but that is when dd and I are usually power knitting to finish up gifts. Our hands are busy and we can't read that way! Little one gets bored quick and will go do something else.

 

Not that you asked but our current addictions are Macgyver season 1, Stargate SG-1 (our 2nd run through), Stargate Atlantis (mine, wraith too much for littles) and Land of the Lost season 3. We recently did a few of the Young Indiana Jones too but sadly they were not wildly popular.

[Danestress]

For 10 year old boys. They are too young for so much, and they are too old for the PBS things they used to watch sometimes. So my children voluntarily watch almost no television because they just don't think about it. They will watch tennis tournaments with DH and I, and if Carolina is playing they have to watch that - required indoctrination. Go Heels!

 

Other than that, nothing really.

[MomofSeven]

Occasionally a documentary here and there. They watch probably 1 hour a day in the winter and even less in the summer.

 

I treat TV like candy...somedays they have way too much, some days none at all. But in the end they have a healthy balance.

[Marie in Oh]

and they are folding laundry while they watch.

 

Mean mom! :sneaky2:

[Liza Q]

I just spent some time adding up everything (Smallville, Lost, American Idol, old movies and tv shows from Netflix, some PBS) and dividing it by who watches what....we were averaging about 8-9 hours a week earlier in the spring but now it is about 5-6. Better!

[KAR120C]

DS watches quite a bit. Not 44 hours or anything, but I don't really keep track. He has plenty of outdoor time and exercise, plays imaginative games with friends, gets his schoolwork done, reads voraciously, AND has time leftover for watching TV (and computer games -- often at the same time. I don't understand how he can pay attention to both things, but DH and FIL can too, so I assume DS got it from that side of the family ;))

 

"Too much" IMO has nothing to do with a specified number of hours and everything to do with whether it's affecting them in an adverse way. If behavior improves when the TV is off, then of course turn off the TV! And if it's preventing them from spending time outside, from having their own creative ideas, from getting schoolwork and chores done, etc. then they are certainly watching too much. Other than that, I don't worry about it.

[hsmamainva]

It depends :)

 

My oldest watches "Lost" ... and that's it. She's not a TV watcher

 

My two boys don't watch much TV either. They don't have any favorite shows. They may watch it occasionally .. I'd say less than an hour or two a week.

 

My youngest watches her three favorite shows once day -- are you ready for her favorites? -- "Pink Panther", "Wheel of Fortune", and "Jeopardy". :D

 

So that's an hour and a half a day for her.

[Jenny in Florida]

I'm not counting assigned, educational stuff in that, by the way. He might do another two or three hours per week of documentaries from Netflix or stuff I've recorded off PBS. But just talking pure mind candy, probably one to two hours per day.

 

I'm not happy about that, by the way, but it's the truth.

 

During the school year, he's not allowed any TV at all until he's done with his schoolwork for the day. The only exception is if he's been really efficient with his work prior to lunchtime. Then I might okay 30-45 minutes of whatever the current educational pick is over lunch. Otherwise, he usually reads while he eats.

 

I do try to keep commercial and total junk TV to a minimum. Most of what he watches is recorded on the DVR, allowing him to skip commercials, or is on DVD. We just finished working our way through the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, for example, and have started the first season of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. There are also a few shows that we regularly record and watch with him: Good Eats (all of us, as long as it's not a meat episode), Mythbusters (with Dad), Monk and Psych (the whole family), History Detectives (again, all of us).

 

He's away with his choir this week, but now that it's summer, I expect he may watch a bit more. It's hot here, and rainy most summer afternoons. So, playing outside isn't always as pleasant or feasible as we might wish. One half of my living room is currently given over to K'Nex, and we go out to the library and/or pool a couple of times a week. But one of the few things he and his big sister (who is home for the summer) really like to do together is nest on the living room floor watching a movie and sharing a bowl of popcorn. So, they are likely to do that a couple of times a week.

 

My daughter watches less, almost none during the academic year when she is away at school. She has no TV in her room and isn't interested in most of what the other girls watch in the lounges. So, she took a stash of DVDs with her, and she and her roommate did some weekend movie nights using her laptop, but that feels different to me. The only broadcast TV show she watched regularly this past year was "Chuck."

 

Now that she's home for the summer, she's watching the aforementioned movies with her brother and some of the TV shows I listed earlier. But most of her viewing is working through Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel on DVD with us in the evenings, usually two episodes at a time, a few nights per week.

[Emmy]

During the school year - maybe 2-4 hours a week of non-school tv. They really enjoy Man vs. Wild, Jeff Corwin and a couple other Animal Planet or Discovery Channel shows. Some of that I consider educational (Jeff Corwin) some not but fine entertainment for my little boy crew (Man vs. Wild).

 

During the summer a bit more and it doesn't seem to affect them adversely.

 

When my dh is gone on a week long trip like he is right now.....um I can't admit that! :D

[Anne/Ankara]

We don't watch any TV shows except the news and occasionally 60 minutes. But we do watch educational videos and documentaries quite a bit (almost daily, I'm afraid!).

[Tracey in TX]

No set time for TV. When work is finished and practices are complete they're allowed TV or computer privileges. We went a year without TV, so there is much more self-control for my children than their peers. If I get too annoyed with TV, I'll nix it again.

 

Regarding the statistic: is that 44 hours per child average? Or per home? (We certainly could average 44 hrs divided amongst 8 people for both TV/computer/games weekly.)

[iquilt]

The TV only comes on after all work is done, and usually only if it's pouring outside :) We have so many options available besides TV that the kids can do independently. Now, if mommy is sick and it will buy me sanity for a day, they get to watch PBS all morning while I moan on the couch. Fortunately that is very rare and for the most part TV is an occasional treat. My kids prefer to: listen to audio books, play games at the game table in our l.r., create art in our play/schoolroom, help with food preparation (they love to cook and eat!), play trains, etc. My house is always a mess, but the TV is rarely on.

[LaurainKs]

For the summer, I give each of our kids 10 "entertainment disks" (they go to our chore chart, and are a different color). Each disk is worth 30 minutes of tv, or computer, or xbox. They have to have their chores done by noon, if possible, and they can't spend more than 1 hour of "entertainment" time per day. They usually choose to play on the computer or xbox, as we don't have cable and there isn't much worth watching anyway. When the disks are gone, so is their entertainment time. It makes them think about how to "spend" that time, and has greatly cut down on just flipping on the tv because they are bored. The very occasional "family" movie is considered an extra treat, and they don't have to spend their disks on that.

[momtoboys]

My younger DS watches none. My older DS is allowed one video a day during the week. We don't have "regular" television, just DVDs and videos.

[kpupg]

I'm curious to hear how much TV other homeschoolers watch. I'm not opposed to TV altogether but wonder how much is too much. And when during the day do they watch it? After their school work is finished?

 

Our dd11 doesn't watch TV at all. She does watch DVDs from the library once in awhile -- those are National Geographics and that type of thing, not movies. Ds13 watches MythBusters when he gets a chance, which is not even every week. All their school work and chores must be completed and signed off before they receive any privileges, one of which is TV.

 

Now, when they were younger, I did let them watch up to an hour a day of approved shows, mostly PBS, once school/chores were done. And I still thank God for Barney at 4:30 p.m. when they were both toddlers -- that was the witching hour and Barney saved my bacon many times :)

 

I watch far more TV than the kids do :001_huh:

 

Karen

[nukeswife]

My kids are young, they are 9, 6.5 and almost 3. They are allowed to watch their TVs and DVDs whenever they want as long as they turn them off when I call them for school (when we're in session). We've never had a problem with them and tv. They have about 150 childrens DVDs and they have weemotes which allow us to program in up to 10 channels they are allowed to watch. My oldest son loves the Food Network, especially Alton Brown, and my dd (the 6.5 year old) loves Animal Planet. She knows more facts about animals than anyone I know. My youngest loves watching Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder. They also get plenty of outside time and we have family independent reading time where we all spend time reading in our own spaces the youngers mostly look at books of their favorite stories, my dd is just starting to get reading on her own down so she's extremely excited that she can read certain books by herself.

 

I'm one of those moms that feels if you think TV causes more problems than not for your family then by all means don't watch. I just ask that I not be judged for letting mine have free reign. Not saying that anyone here has done that but I do have family members that do, and they have the most wild kids that have no idea how to sit and listen to a read aloud, or to share toys, or play quietly when indoors, but they say my quiet, cooperative children are the "Bad" ones because they get to watch as much TV as they want.

[Debbie in OR]

We have a TV but not cable (or satellite or whatever it is). The kids watch a "Sunday Funday" dvd on Sundays and on Thursday nights, as a family we watch the Waltons (we own the DVDs). That's pretty much it.

[SusanG]

My kids watch a few hours of tv a day, spread out throughout the day. They also spend time on Webkinz on the computer, and my 8 year old plays Warcraft for an hour or two a day. They get plenty of outside timw swimming, riding scooters, and running around with their friends, so I haven no problem with their amount of "screen time." We've never limited it, monitored it, or made them "earn" it in any way.

[lwilliams1922]

as far as the kids...

 

The little ones 2 and 1 may watch sesame street every other day maybe or a signing time. so 3 hrs a week??

 

the 12 year old does not watchg tv on her own.

She will watch the news in the kitchen with us and I from time to time will watch dr phil.

[Peela]

A movie or two at the most a week.

But maybe 5 or 6 hours of computer games...not during the week though, only on weekends.

When my kids were younger though (4,5, 6, 7) I used the TV as a babysitter more often. They would watch a video or two every day I am sure. We have never watched tv much, just used videos/dvds. I haven't needed to use the TV to get space from the kids for years, they just do their own thing and I do mine.

I often mean to watch this show or that that someone mentions. My friends are always talking about shows they watched, and they sound interesting. But, somehow it just doesn't happen around here. But we are all computer nerds..the kids are limited to games on weekends, but they can use email and chat with their friends online during the week. Its a whole new world form when I was a kid!

[Ellie]

They were allowed to watch in the morning once they'd had breakfast, gotten dressed, and made their beds...but it had to be off by 9, and it wasn't on again until 3...by which time we were usually doing something else. If it was on, it had to be turned off for supper (around 4:30), and there was really nothing on between then and 7ish...which would leave only about half an hour of TV time because dc went to bed at 8 (7 when they were younger).

 

On weekends, there really isn't that much on, although I wouldn't have minded some Saturday morning kid shows. Of course, we were often busy on weekends :-)

[Julie Herbster]

Our kids generally do not watch any TV. Occasionally (maybe once a month) we do a family movie night. Dh likes to unwind at night by watching sports. (Yea for TiVo!) I watch very little TV myself--maybe a total of 2 hours a week. (I watch one HGTV show while I do my daily half-hour treadmill run.)

 

I have mixed feelings about how we use our TV. I have a feeling that as the kids mature, we'll want them to watch more, if for no other reason than to get a (supervised, guided) education in "American culture." In our case, we would be attempting to "inoculate" them against the materialism, bawdiness, violence, godlessness, and sexual attitudes of the culture they will be living in, as well as just simply helping them to understand the general mentality and direction of American society as a whole. IOW, we don't want them to be judgmental, but we do want them to be aware of the dangers.

 

Also, we don't want TV to be such a novel thing to them that they find themselves unable to converse with someone else when there's a TV on in the room.

[ChristusG]

My DD, who is 4, watches two shows in the morning while she drinks her chocolate milk. The two shows are about 25 minutes each.

 

Usually, that's all she watches. Occasionally, she will get one other show in the afternoon or evening......but that's probably only about 50% of the time.

 

Now, if we happen to have something educational to go along with our lessons, that is extra TV time.

 

She watches things like Caillou, Berenstain Bears, Little Bear, or Clifford.

[PariSarah]

I'm not opposed to TV either, necessarily, but our lives are so much better with it OUT of the house.

 

DH and I get a video out from the library every weekend, but we don't necessarily watch it. Ds gets to watch it with us when it's a kid-friendly movie and we feel like letting him stay up, but that's not really very often.

[nutmeg]

Less and less as the years go by. They used to have their daily PBS shows, but have outgrown those. They like a lot of the stuff on the Discovery Channel, and have their favorite DVDs. We don't have anything beyond basic cable - maybe a dozen channels total.

 

They spend more time on Webkinz than at the TV. :001_huh:

[magistramom]

My eleven year old girl...NONE. Absolutely NO interest. TV has been replaced by iPOD - but iPOD in a good way. She loves downloading podcasts and music. She also is a huge push in our family to get us to theatrical events - at least one per week ranging from the Symphony to listening to a Shakespeare marathon at a local mall.

 

My eight year old is still a TV hound. We let him choose a range of stations to watch, from Disney to Discovery to BBC. If the hours are between 8 and 5, and he wants to watch TV, he knows that if we ask, he has to justify why/what he is watching and how it may apply to life. We get some GREAT answers for Jimmy Neutron (great to build a scientific vocab, and great to look up the concepts after). We also do not limit his viewing because he doesn't have couch potato habits. He sits down to watch whenever there isn't a neighbor around to play with (rare).

 

We have friends and family that cut out all TV, radio and computer. Their children seem so vastly different than my own - they are either flat and difficult to converse with, or they are overly chatty about some minutia thing or huge undertaking at that moment in their life. I prefer the well rounded types that can talk about junk yard wars at junk yard war camp and also talk about songs in TV theatre shows.

 

It's hard to bridge the gap of living in the world, not being of it, AND still fitting in.

[MamaReese]

I will be the first to admit my children probably watch to much tv or so I feel. I do not allow them to watch tv/video games until 3pm. They are usually counting down minutes...drives me crazy. They then sit and watch tv/video games for 2 hours, until dinner.

I am seriously thinking of going tv/videogames/computer free for the month of July. I know that I spend way to much time on the computer, I don't watch tv, but the computer is my veg time. I think if we can do it for a month then it will be easier to real limit it after that.

[Elm in NJ]

They watch on Friday evenings for about 2 hrs. Saturday and Sunday about 2 -4 hrs total if we are at home. They love Nascar and they watch that with their dad weekends.

 

Elmeryl(with J12, C9, 7, L7)

[H.S. Burrow]

DS watches quite a bit. Not 44 hours or anything, but I don't really keep track. He has plenty of outdoor time and exercise, plays imaginative games with friends, gets his schoolwork done, reads voraciously, AND has time leftover for watching TV (and computer games -- often at the same time. I don't understand how he can pay attention to both things, but DH and FIL can too, so I assume DS got it from that side of the family ;))

 

"Too much" IMO has nothing to do with a specified number of hours and everything to do with whether it's affecting them in an adverse way. If behavior improves when the TV is off, then of course turn off the TV! And if it's preventing them from spending time outside, from having their own creative ideas, from getting schoolwork and chores done, etc. then they are certainly watching too much. Other than that, I don't worry about it.

 

:iagree: This how we do things at our house. If all school work & house work are complete then they may watch TV, play computer games, play nintendo, whatever -- as long as it's age appropriate -- until dinner. The only exception to chores would be folding clothes. My dd likes to watch something while she folds. We usually watch something as a family after dinner if we are not outside.

 

I have found with my dc, by telling them they can't watch TV, they just want to more. By saying "sure you can watch TV (games, whatever)" they usually go play OUTSIDE!!! Reverse psychology -- gets them everytime!:lol:

[Adrianne]

and they are folding laundry while they watch.

 

Mean mom! :sneaky2:

 

I like this idea Marie!

 

 

Our dss get 30 minutes a day each, usually video games. On the weekends we have family movie night.

[King Alfred Academy]

My boys watch maybe an hour a week. And that is only when I need a break!

They never watch "TV", unless it is a PBS show...they watch videos that were carefully and thoughtfully chosen by us.