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


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Six months ago I would have said, "No, nay, never, nobody in our family will ever watch TV in their bedroom." Then I got a tablet. Then I started knitting (ish). Netflix and podcasts and a tablet and knitting are the perfect recipe for one to eat crow.

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Yes, they do. The teenagers shared a room until about 2 1/2 years ago and sometime right before that I surprised them with a tv for their room. They each have their own now. They only have basic cable (which is still something like 100 channels, including things like Discovery, History, SciFy, Disney, etc). We do most of our watching family style in the living room but they enjoy being able to watch a bit of Discovery or Disney on their own for some "vegging" time. They never abused it and don't really have the opportunity to. It's only "safe" channels"

 

You know something? Ironically even though we actually have quite a few televisions in our house we all watch very, very little of it. Maybe the availability makes it not so tempting or something? We've always had time limits but other than when they first received the televisions we've never had a need to enforce the limits.

Edited by PinkInTheBlue
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Six months ago I would have said, "No, nay, never, nobody in our family will ever watch TV in their bedroom." Then I got a tablet. Then I started knitting (ish). Netflix and podcasts and a tablet and knitting are the perfect recipe for one to eat crow.

 

Ha knitting and watching movies in bed is one of my few guilty pleasures. Often on the ipad!

 

Kids will never have one. I never had one until I went to college and lived in a dorm.

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I see nothing wrong with tvs in kids bedrooms. My two oldest have tvs. My youngest does not because she has no interest. Of course we have a small house with only one public area. Inevitably, the tv in the living room is being used, usually by DH, so the rest of us need one of our own. Ds15 uses his mostly for video games though. Oh I guess I should also admit that all of my children have computers in their rooms too. We're just bad parents like that I guess.

 

I don't personally get the connection between a tv in the bedroom and a marriage though. I'm kind of lost on that one. :confused:

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No, no TV in bedrooms. To be truthful, we don't have a TV at all, although we will watch the very occasional thing on BBC iPlayer or whatever.

 

We accept that we have a lot less in the way of TV, videos, games and IT in our home than many people do. We have our reasons for this, but also understand that others have their own reasons for being different. We've just found that this way works for us.

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I see nothing wrong with tvs in kids bedrooms. My two oldest have tvs. My youngest does not because she has no interest. Of course we have a small house with only one public area. Inevitably, the tv in the living room is being used, usually by DH, so the rest of us need one of our own. Ds15 uses his mostly for video games though. Oh I guess I should also admit that all of my children have computers in their rooms too. We're just bad parents like that I guess.

 

I don't personally get the connection between a tv in the bedroom and a marriage though. I'm kind of lost on that one. :confused:

I am guessing that it has something to do with replacing TeA with TV? If you would rather watch Grey's Anatomy than have a strong cup of TeA then I guess you are brewing it wrong altogether or have other things you need to discuss.:tongue_smilie:

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No, no TV in bedrooms. To be truthful, we don't have a TV at all, although we will watch the very occasional thing on BBC iPlayer or whatever.

 

We do have a TV, it's not hocked up to any channells or anything. But both my kids would rather sit infront of the computer and watch something on a window that only takes up a quarter of the screen.

 

It's to 'intense' to do it any other way. :confused:

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I am guessing that it has something to do with replacing TeA with TV? If you would rather watch Grey's Anatomy than have a strong cup of TeA then I guess you are brewing it wrong altogether or have other things you need to discuss.:tongue_smilie:

 

Ah, but this implies that one is making TeA every night. Even without a tv in the bedroom, that ain't ever gonna happen. Egads! :tongue_smilie:

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My girls have different tastes.

The oldest loves nature shows.

The middle loves science shows.

The youngest loves to watch the same movie over and over and over...

 

We are a 'screen' family. DH has the ultimate home theater room. We watch an average of 1 show per night (usually 45 minutes since we skip commercials). We record shows on cable, stream Netflix or Amazon or watch movies. Our screen is 8ft wide... sound is AWESOME!

 

That said we do not veg out to TV. We LOVE family game night when we can manage everyone's schedule.

 

Youngest dd is a huge book worm-- loves to read after school and before bed.

 

With our kids having a HUGE age gap it is nice to have separate TVs. Youngest dd is just now getting old enough to watch shows with the 'rest of us'.

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I am guessing that it has something to do with replacing TeA with TV? If you would rather watch Grey's Anatomy than have a strong cup of TeA then I guess you are brewing it wrong altogether or have other things you need to discuss.:tongue_smilie:

 

LOL!! Way too funny and possibly too true. If the television is more fun, then we would have a lot more to talk about. :o lol

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We do not do tvs in bedrooms. For us it is not what the bedroom is for :D, and for the kids we prefer they use their imagination when in their rooms. I got a tv in my room as a kid, and I started styaing in my room a lot more, so I do not want that repeated in my kids.

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I am guessing that it has something to do with replacing TeA with TV? If you would rather watch Grey's Anatomy than have a strong cup of TeA then I guess you are brewing it wrong altogether or have other things you need to discuss.:tongue_smilie:

Trust me this is not an issue, there are DVRs for a reason.:tongue_smilie:

 

I got a tv in my room as a kid, and I started styaing in my room a lot more, so I do not want that repeated in my kids.

 

I got one when I was 10 and still loved hanging out with my mom to watch things together at night. My dad wasn't there, but that was because he worked 2nd shift. My brother also never had issues joining us, we didn't become teenage shut ins just because we got a tv. This will really vary greatly from kid to kid.

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No, neither of mine has ever had a TV in the bedroom, and would wouldn't have allowed it if they had asked. My gut just always told me it was a bad idea, and there has been research over the years to support that.

 

Here's the first thing that came up when I did a quick search: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/health/04well.html

 

Here's another, more recent article: http://www.cfah.org/hbns/archives/getDocument.cfm?documentID=22387

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My 11 y/o and 20 y/o girls have tvs in their rooms. They can't order movies (we have a password on that kind of thing) and we have parental controls in place so nothing too inappropriate could even be put on. They are old enough to listen when we tell them about what time tv has to go off etc. It's never caused problems. In my 11 y/o's case it's never even caused her to spend more time than usual in her room- she watches in there only when we send her up anyway because it's time to go settle down or we want to watch an adult show for the most part.

 

My 6 y/o son does not have a tv in his room. He's not old enough or ready. I know with him it would just lead to tantrums when he's told it's time for it to go off if he's allowed to watch in bed and I'm not dealing with that so he has to wait until he's older.

 

In your son's case I'd let him!

Edited by NanceXToo
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My kids have a tv in their rooms. It is programmed to only get certain channels. DS loves to watch a certain DVD at night for bed. It is not on all day . It also allows for him to listen to his global jazz channel that I can only take in small doses. DD watches hers every once in a while but her room is also the "guest" room. We have strict rules and the tv's are all on hidden surge protectors that can be turned off if they abuse them.

 

 

FYI- They surge protectors are hidden meaning you have to move the dresser to get to it.

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Our ds has a TV in his room, and has had one since he was 5. He has a nice little flat screen that he can play video games on and watch children's Netflix. We do not have cable.

 

He did not ask for one, we chose to give him one. Same for his computer. We have one other TV in the family room.

 

1. We eat family meals together.

 

2. We still enjoy family movies together.

 

3. We still have a respectful, considerate child that enjoys spending time with us doing all manner of activities.

 

4. It does not interfere in any shape or form with ds' sleep. It is always turned off before bedtime.

 

To me, a TV is just a tool. It is not, in and of itself, soley to blame for poor family dynamics or disrespectful children, although it can certainly worsen these issues.

 

I have very rarely had to threaten ds with a suspension of TV and/or video game privileges. He is a very easy going child, and responsive to direction or discipline. Therefore, in our situation, having a TV in his room is not a problem. With a different child, and a different personality or situation, it may exacerbate problems.

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We have 5 TVs. :001_smile: We have one in our room, the girls each have one in their room, and the boys have one in the basement, which is like a big "boy cave" with their bedroom, a pullout couch (because we always have extra teen boys on the weekend, weight bench, X-Box, etc. That room has made our house the "hang out" house, and I like that.

 

Having a TV in their rooms has not caused my kids to isolate in their rooms, become anti-social, or disrespectful. Most evenings we are all gathered in the living room watching something together, playing board games, or just hanging out. They turn it off when it is time to go to bed, and my girls usually only watch theirs on the weekends when they want to stay up late to watch a DVD. Ours hasn't been turned on for months, except over Thanksgiving weekend when we all piled on my bed and watched old home videos. We have pretty strict rules about what is appropriate and they agree with us and comply. I would rethink if we had issues with either going to bed or watching something inappropriate. We just haven't had a problem.

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