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Do your kids have a tv in their bedroom???


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My sons 13th birthday is 6 months away but I am already wondering what to get him. There is absolutely nothing he wants except for a tv in his room.

 

His sister is turning 16 three months after his birthday and she is getting a tv for her room.

 

They are both really good kids and I don't think they will watch much more than they are now. I am thinking just basic cable (no box) so no chance of ordering movies, etc.

 

What say the hive? Anyone put a tv in their kids room and regret it?

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DS (7) doesn't, nor will he until he's an adult and puts one in his own bedroom.

 

We have two televisions - one in the family room, one in our bedroom - and as we let DS know, neither DH nor I had a TV in our bedroom until....drum roll.....he and I were married to each other!!! That's the reason we have two TV's now - mine and his (they're old TV's too).

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My 14 year old has been campaigning for a tv in his room since he was 4. We have 3 tvs in the house already and I think that is enough. Both my sister and I had tvs in our rooms when we were growing up and I think it was a detriment to our relationship. We didn't have to interact with anyone. We just watched what we wanted in our own rooms. Of course, back then there were fewer channels to choose from and not as much on as there is today.

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DS (7) doesn't, nor will he until he's an adult and puts one in his own bedroom.

 

We have two televisions - one in the family room, one in our bedroom - and as we let DS know, neither DH nor I had a TV in our bedroom until....drum roll.....he and I were married to each other!!! That's the reason we have two TV's now - mine and his (they're old TV's too).

 

Our televisions are 10 years old and 25 years old.

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My kids don't. Neither do I.

 

I'm not opposed to television/technology, and my kids don't struggle with self-moderation. For us it's more about keeping the bedroom as a sleeping space. We don't charge phones or keep computers or anything else electronic in there, either (including alarm clocks). Our bedrooms are for sleeping and resting.

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My children (ages 15 and 10) will never have TVs in their rooms. And we collect all portable screens (laptops, ipods, etc) every night before bed. When I forget to collect the screens, the 15yo stays up forever using them.

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My sons 13th birthday is 6 months away but I am already wondering what to get him. There is absolutely nothing he wants except for a tv in his room.

 

His sister is turning 16 three months after his birthday and she is getting a tv for her room.

 

They are both really good kids and I don't think they will watch much more than they are now. I am thinking just basic cable (no box) so no chance of ordering movies, etc.

 

What say the hive? Anyone put a tv in their kids room and regret it?

 

No, my boys don't.

 

My mom has told me several times that one of her biggest regrets as a parent was letting my brother and I have TVs in our rooms. Looking back, I agree.

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No, and never will. I don't want to do anything to discourage being a family, especially as our children get older and have different activities and interests. We think having tvs or computers or iPads, etc, in their rooms can lead to a habit of separation that we don't want.

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No. They do not and never will.

 

Don't do it!

 

:iagree:

 

Yeah, I don't mean this as a judgement, but I don't get why a kid would have a TV in the bedroom. What is the advantage? Is it because the family is arguing over what shows to watch on the family TV? Otherwise why? We have one TV in the TV room. To me it seems to also take away from family time together. Watching a movie or whatever is a good thing everyone in the family can enjoy.

 

Also, there are tons of shows I wouldn't want my 13yo to watch on cable, and it seems like that might happen.

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Yes, all of my kids do and have since the oldest was 3. We are a TV loving family. It's very much a part of our lives. We do all the other things that families do, play games, run around outside, etc, but we love our tvs too. Sometimes we just don't want to watch the same things, there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I don't want to watch HOP or whatever their latest favorite DVD is every single day, and there are things I like to watch that they either wouldn't want to or shouldn't be watching.

 

My oldest is going to 13 in about 2 months and we've never had an issue with him having a TV in his room causing separation issues in the family.

 

All the TVs but one have Satellite hook up and the one that doesn't is because I'm not going to drill a hole in the hardwoods to put a hook up in there because it's a rental house. They also all have blu-ray players that can tap into netflix and hulu plus. My kids know what is ok and what is not for them to watch and I've never caught them trying to watch something they shouldn't.

 

You have to figure out what you feel is ok for your family and a lot of that will depend on the type of kid you have.

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We don't have tvs in the bedrooms. Ds13 does have an iPod touch and he can access the internet and listen to music up in his room. But for the most part he hangs out with dh and I in the evening, although too often we will be sitting in the same room looking at different screens anyway.

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We have never allowed tv's in the kid's bedrooms. If a kid turns 18 and will be living at home a little longer, they could have one in their room if they wanted one.

 

Growing up, everyone had their own tv in their roo. I also had my own phone line. On the rare occasion I actually was home, I was always in my room. It was not a good idea, I rarely spent time with my family.

 

I also fell asleep with the tv on. It played all night. i will be 49 in a couple months and I have a hard time falling asleep without the tv on or background noise. Dh loves total quiet but I absolutely can't sleep without background noise. There is a good chance we will be getting a bed for dh's office so that when my noise wakes him up in the wee morning hours, he can go to his office to sleep in peace. We have never found a solution to this problem in our 23 years of marriage. :sad:

 

I wish my parents never got me one.

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We actually don't have "TV" at all in the sense of cable or over-air channels -- just an internet bluray hooked up to the one TV, and a very well-used Amazon Prime account. We also have about a billion portable internet-linked devices in the house on which they watch stuff.

 

My general rule is "no screens in the bedrooms" for the kids. If they want to stay up all night they can do it reading books, like I did as a kid. lol.gif

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My kids don't have televisions in their rooms. Honestly, they've never asked. They like their siblings and their parents, and seem to enjoy the time we spend together in the family room watching tv.

 

I can't see a single good thing about a tv in a kid's room. :confused: Really, the more a kid in my house insisted that they should have one, the more determined I would be that it wouldn't be good for them.

(Sorry if that was too blunt, but I'm not sure how else to express that thought.)

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Yes-all of them do. I do not want to watch Barney, Beyblade, or whatever they want to watch in the evenings. I want peace and time away from my kids. I won't apologize or feel bad about it. It is not damaging them. If we want to watch something as a family we go down into the media room to watch it on the projection TV. I really do not get the hype and anxiety that this topic causes. If they laid around all day and did nothing but watch it then I would yank it. They only watch a bit at night and the timer turns it off. I think my kids deserve downtime and privacy as much as I do.

Edited by delaney
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No. They do not and never will.

 

Don't do it!

 

:iagree: I am hardcore opposed to tvs in kids' rooms. Never going to happen in my house. Note- we limit tv quite drastically anyway. However, even if I didn't limit it that way, I would still never allow tvs in their rooms.

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DD doesn't had a TV in her room and has never really asked for one. DS does have a small TV (which is not connected to the cable) for watching videos. DS has always had difficulty sleeping; we found that certain movies helped him turn his mind off and go to sleep. So, everyone in the house is sleeping better now that he has this TV. Also, he is taking a "history of film" class and he can watch his assigned films on his TV.

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I used to be a "No, Never!!" person and then things changed.

 

We've had it both ways; currently, none of the boys has a TV in his room. But we have had it that way in the past, so that kids could watch a movie while DH & I watched a movie in the living room. If we had a second "TV Room" we'd have it in there instead (this is sort of what we have now, but the 2nd tv room is attached to my bedroom).

 

Anyway, if you think it won't make him watch TV more *and* you think it won't allow the family to all go off and do separate things (ie, if right now someone watches TV and everyone gathers around and watches together, but once you get all separate TVs they'll each be off in their own rooms instead), then I'd say go for it.

 

You know your son & daughter best and whether or not it will affect things at your house; if you & your husband are both okay with the idea, go for it.

 

(my other thought would be if it cheapens or lessens the gift for your DD who is not getting one until 16, while your son gets one at 13, and his bday before hers; to me, that's the bigger concern, or would be at my house)

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Yes

 

I used to be a "No, Never!!" person and then things changed.

 

We've had it both ways; currently, none of the boys has a TV in his room. But we have had it that way in the past, so that kids could watch a movie while DH & I watched a movie in the living room. If we had a second "TV Room" we'd have it in there instead (this is sort of what we have now, but the 2nd tv room is attached to my bedroom).

 

Anyway, if you think it won't make him watch TV more *and* you think it won't allow the family to all go off and do separate things (ie, if right now someone watches TV and everyone gathers around and watches together, but once you get all separate TVs they'll each be off in their own rooms instead), then I'd say go for it.

 

You know your son & daughter best and whether or not it will affect things at your house; if you & your husband are both okay with the idea, go for it.

 

(my other thought would be if it cheapens or lessens the gift for your DD who is not getting one until 16, while your son gets one at 13, and his bday before hers; to me, that's the bigger concern, or would be at my house)

 

I am thinking I would either give them both early birthday presents or make them both wait till after thanksgiving when everything goes on sale.

 

We are together as a family all the time. I always say we could live in a one room apartment because we are always together.

 

The majority of anyone's TV watching is after 8pm. I watch Nancy Grace and everyone else watches something else.

 

Lots to think about.

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I too am opposed to kids having TVs in their bedrooms. There have been periods of brief quarantine or hospital stays where they have been allowed portable dvd players or a laptop with dvd or Netflix but those were for extreme conditions and family devices not personal items. IMHO very few teens are able to manage their time in such a manner that they could have such unlimited screen access and still fulfill other responsibilities or sleep.

 

If you had previously told the 16yo that she had to wait until 16 for such a privilege and are now going to grant that privilege to another child 3 years earlier I would expect some heated sibling rivalry and anger.

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No, my kids do not.

 

No, we don't have tvs in any bedrooms at our house.

 

No, and never will. I don't want to do anything to discourage being a family, especially as our children get older and have different activities and interests. We think having tvs or computers or iPads, etc, in their rooms can lead to a habit of separation that we don't want.

 

All our screens, with the portable exception of my iPad are in very central rooms.

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I never allowed a tv in my kids' rooms. BUT, I ended up with step-kids who were allowed to have a tv in their rooms. In fact, their mom insisted that they have a tv in their rooms. They also 'only' had basic cable.

 

Problem #1: They stayed up too late on a regular basis because they were watching a movie or a tv show. Sometimes all night.

 

Problem #2 They attended public school and often were late getting ready for school or getting ready after school to go somewhere specifically because they were too busy watching tv while they were supposed to be getting dressed, combing hair, or finding shoes.

 

Problem #3 One snuck her boyfriend into her bedroom on a regular basis and this was undetected for some time because we thought the male voice we thought we heard was the tv.

 

Problem #4 There are plenty of shows on cable that I do not want my kids to watch, mainly because of the attitude or back talk that the teen characters engage in and the way they treat the adults in the shows. These kids picked up those habits and were very disrespectful and spoke to us using phrases and smart remarks I recognized from those shows.

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