How much screen time do your kids get?

[turnin' 360s]

Let's be honest. No bashing here. How much screen time do your kids get, what type is it (T.V., Video games, ed. games, etc), and how do you break the addiction if you lean towards the less strict parenting style?

 

Not that we have a problem with it or anything.;)

 

Um, I think I'll go turn the t.v. off.

[hsmamainva]

My 17yo spends alot of time on the computer!! She's taking classes at the community college so half of it is time spent for classwork (including study groups, etc.) and the other half is talking to her friends at the college. I would guess she spends maybe .. 4 or 5 hours a day online. She doesn't watch TV much at all...and she doesn't play video games.

 

My 14yo and 9yo play video games...but only in the evenings, after dinner. I would say they play around 3-4 hours of video games per night. They don't watch TV...and they don't go online at all. My 14yo sometimes plays computer games, but not very often...maybe a few hours a week.

 

My 6yo has several computer games that she plays (nothing online), and she plays them for around 2-3 hours per day...but scattered. Maybe an hour in the morning...and hour after lunch...and an hour before bed. She watches some TV...maybe an hour or two (she likes shows like "Dora the Explorer" and "Blues Clues")

[Allearia]

We used to have a lot more before the beginning of this school year. Several hours a day. I won't admit to any more than that. It wasn't commercial TV, some PBS, mostly videos, a lot of educational but I still called it all TV and was unhappy and guilty about it.

 

Since the beginning of September we have tried to limit TV to after 7 monday through Thursday and after 6 on the weekends. (They usually go to bed at 8 so that is 1 hour during the week and time for a family movie on the weekend.) We have allowed it at other times occasionally but the kids have dealt with it pretty well and I have noticed a big improvement in their behavior and ability to occupy themselves after the first week or so. Sometimes now even when the TV is on they ignore it and do their own thing.

 

I think for us having a specific time when it will be allowed instead of a nebulous time has helped a lot and I would like to cut it even more, maybe even eliminate it during the week. But if not I am pretty happy with our TV watching right now.

[bumbledeb]

Boys - goodness knows, but far too much. Ds16 is filling his days more now with work and what to my mind are more worthwhile pursuits but still plays PC or Playstation games, maybe 2 or 3 hours a week. Ds14 would play PC or Playstation 24/7 if it wasn't for pesky things like needing to sleep/eat/go to the bathroom/do chores/do school.

 

Girls - less than an hour a day, TV mostly. They have a TV with DVD and Gamecube in their room but it hardly ever gets switched on. There is a Wii in the living room - isn't even plugged in most of the time.

 

I don't have rules about it but so far the girls have been more creative in their use of time. They are much more likely than the boys to play outside or play at drawing/writing/dolls games when indoors.

 

Having said that, girls are running around the living room right now pretending to be the Teletubbies.:001_smile:

[melissel]

It really depends on my work/project schedule. For a long time I was relying on it for babysitting for several hours a day (I work from home), but now that we have better childcare coverage, I've been able to cut back (for us) a lot. Now, they average maybe an hour per day? I know that seems like a lot to many people here, but there are still times each day when I need to respond to e-mails and fix errors on our Web site and time-sensitive things like that during regular biz hours when no one else is here. Also, late-day is hard here for my three-year-old, who no longer really naps but would fall asleep after 5 p.m. if left to her own devices too long. That makes for a huge nightmare at night, so we avoid that with whatever tools we have!

 

And then there's the occasional day when I leave it on the whole day because I have some kind of massive cleaning or organizing project(s) to do, but those are rare these days.

 

I would LOVE to be TV-free, but I don't see that happening until I can quit my job, which will be...well, I'm starting to think never! :001_rolleyes: We're aiming for cable-free next month though.

 

IMO, a little of anything isn't horrible. We definitely watched much more than I'm happy about for a long time there, but thankfully we seem to have gotten past that, and it doesn't seem to have done too much damage :D

 

Oh, and ETA that we almost watch very little TV with actual commercials. We use our cable on-demand service, watch videos, watch Noggin or one of the four PBS channels we have, watch things on United Streaming (we recently discovered Peep and the Big Wide World--sooooo funny! mainly because I'm just like Quack :lol:), etc. I hate the shows on Nick Jr., Disney, etc., so we avoid those. DD6 is outgrowing some of the shows we regularly watch, so I don't know what we'll do when she gets older, but I'm going to cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

They do also play computer games (in lieu of TV time), but they're not video-game type games, they're more educational. Currently, they're obssessed with the I Spy range of games, and I take out games from the library from time to time. We've also got a Mia game, but DD6 hasn't opened it yet. I'm also hoping to get them some logic-type games for Christmas.

 

HTH!

Edited October 15, 2008 by melissel

[mrsdash]

Not much right now. I think they watch most of their tv about an hour before bed. They watch movies and I know my dd (16) likes to get the movie that matches her current book or a movie themed around her current book out to watch several evenings per week. Our xbox died so no video gaming. When the Red Sox are playing (like now, although painfully so) we are all glued to the TV. Otherwise, just when Lost or The Mole comes on. None during the day.

[momtolgd]

I really don't want to say how many hours my kids are watching tv and on the computer playing games right now. This month our lives are not normal, and I have allowed a lot more screen time for them. We are packing to move as we have bought a house...closing is in 9 more days, and then within a few weeks this madness will be over and we can get back to a schedule!

 

My husband and I like a lot of screen time (dh is a computer tech and very involved in a couple of online video games, and that has trickled down to the rest of us...we are a computer loving family...) so we probably allow more than a lot of others. TV is the most limited for us. We don't have cable and the tv is almost always off during the day. I allow the kids to watch movies (Thomas the Tank engine has been on a lot during this moving process as the toddler loves trains!) They watch a bit of PBS kids in the evening before bed. DH and I have certain shows we enjoy that we get with the antenna (House is our must see each week!) The kids are allowed online on certain websites...pbskids, nickjr, webkinz, others like these. They also have computer games on cd that they like...zoo tycoon and spongebob typing are two favorites. DH has also taught ds8 to play in his world war 2 game. Computers are largely our entertainment and while we do normally set certain times to play, right now it is more than normal. I feel bad, but I know it is only temporary!

 

As for the addiction developing...my dh is addicted to gaming, I'm addicted to surfing the web, it's only a matter of time that the youngers develop an addiction also! I think we may need help! LOL!

 

Did I mention that it will be nice to get back to screen time only at certain times of the day?!

 

For right now while we are in the process of getting ready to move, I hate to say it but the extra screen time buys me more packing time. :001_huh:

Edited October 15, 2008 by momtolgd

[Jill- OK]

...but we try to allow a half hour each (T.V. and computer, for all except the 3yo), for each child. (This isn't scientific; sometimes the older kids will watch a movie, or hour long episode of something, instead, or exchange their T.V. watching for playing a video game).

 

Doesn't always work out that way, though; sometimes there's more time, sometimes there's less (or none at all).

 

It's more of a logistics thing (with seven people in the house and only one T.V. and desktop computer, a bit of scheduling becomes necessary), but I don't mind that it serves a dual purpose of limiting screen time.

 

We also don't turn it on in the a.m., because that's our time to accomplish academic stuff. (Another 'natural' limitation).

 

I'm not above setting strict limits on screen time, especially for Littles...but I'd really rather that they choose to do something else, and for me, that means having a T.V. around, and sometimes letting them choose to watch it. I'd also like for them to learn what a 'healthy' amount of time looking at a screen feels/looks like by experience, for the future (when they move out and have a computer/T.V. all to themselves, lol).

 

It's a balancing act, but it's one that I think is worthwhile.

[joannqn]

My 8 and 6 year olds get 90 minutes a day to spend on the computer and/or game cube. They play games online, games on CD, read and write email, or spend time interacting with other homeschoolers at The Little Lounge. They can play any online games except those where there is unprotected chat with adults. They use a timer to keep track of their time. Occasionally, I give them extra time, especially if Dh and I want to watch a movie that we feel will be too intense or scary for the kids to watch. They don't watch a lot of TV...4-6 hours a week probably.

 

My daughter spends extra time on the computer for educational pursuits. She does 15 minutes a day playing a multiplication game as required school work. She also spends probably half an hour most days writing creative stories and short novels on the computer. I want to encourage her gift in writing it so I don't limit her writing time. Next month she'll spend a LOT of time on the computer because she's participating in NaNoWriMo.

 

We joke that our TV is on a 24/7 Ice Age loop. My youngest loves the Ice Age movies; my older two mostly ignore it. I haven't figured out a way to clean, do school with the older two, and keep him from destroying the house yet. Even with his favorite movie on constantly, he is difficult to work around.

[Alenee]

Well, I had very tv addicted children and I have to keep an eye on 9yo dd. She would play on the computer for hours if I let her. Because of this, we had a media black-out here last year. For one week, no tv, computer, Wii. The first day they were bored silly but they slowly but surely found plenty of other things to keep them busy. On a normal day, there's no tv allowed until after 4pm. They get 30 minutes of each (computer, tv, Wii) per day however, they don't spend it every day. It was a great move to have the black-out and although I was nervous, it turned out to be the best thing I could've done. Now the girls play together more easily and it seems that they only use their media time if they've exhausted all possible play options.

[Jenny in Florida]

Let's see. I assume we're not counting purely instructional things, right? For example, my son does two courses through Florida Virtual School and a math curriculum that is online. Between those three courses, he probably stares at the computer screen for a couple of hours each day.

 

On an average weekday, he may get an hour or so of something educational (Netflix DVD related to his current history topic, for example) at lunch time. He has activities and classes most afternoons, so that's usually it until after dinner, when we usually turn on something to watch as a family. That might be another hour and a half, so, maybe two or three hours total, an hour of which is "school." Some days, though (like today) he doesn't watch any before evening. So, it might be only 90 minutes on average.

 

Weekends are another story, unfortunately. If he doesn't have someplace to be (like last week, when he was either at the ballet or a choir rehearsal pretty much all weekend), it's not unusual for him to watch either a couple of TV shows or a movie on Saturday morning, spend an hour or two playing computer games in the afternoon and then watch another couple of hours of TV or another movie with us in the evening. (Sindays are similar, except that he's not allowed to watch anything in the morning because we're getting ready for church.) This probably happens only two Saturdays a month, because the other weeks he has model rocket club or choir rehearsals. And it's getting better now that the weather has cooled off a bit and he can spend more time playing outside.

 

We don't do video games, as a general rule. There is a PS2 somewhere in the house that my husband bought a few years ago, but it's not even hooked up most of the time. So, all of my son's screen time is computer and TV. The majority of his TV viewing is video/DVD or things we record on the DVR so that we can skip commercials. I'd say it's a total of about 20 hours per week. Eeeek!

 

When I get worried about it and decide to trim down the time, I just tell him to do something else. I've also found that having rules about when is and is not an appropriate time for screen time helps a lot. For example, TV is not turned on in the morning during the week here. It's just not part of our routine. No discretionary screen time is allowed until the day's school work is done. Since my son has a rigorous curriculum and places to go most afternoons, that doesn't allow much of a window. He's allowed either a couple of espisodes of a pre-approved TV show or a kid-type movie on DVD on Saturday mornings, after which the TV must go off while he showers and dresses and gets ready for the day. At that point, there are usually other things he'd rather do.

Edited October 15, 2008 by Jenny in Florida

[K&Rs Mom]

Mine get "movie time" together after lunch most days, anywhere from 30 min to 2 hours depending what they choose. K gets to choose on odd numbered days, R on evens.

 

They also get computer time Monday, Wednesday and Friday for about 30 minutes each. Occasionally I'll give some extra Wii time on top of this, but usually they have to choose that *instead* of computer time.

 

Sundays are "no electronics" days, so no screen time at all.

[KIN]

Well, my boys aren't allowed to have "screen time M-Th". On the weekends, um, probably 1.5 hours a day split between computer and TV.

[suzf242]

We don't have any video games and don't watch much TV -- dd6 may possibly watch 1 or 2 shows a month. She will use the computer maybe 1/2 hour a week on average, probably more in the winter when the evenings are too dark and cold to be outside.

 

Suzanne

[ChristusG]

My oldest is 4 years old and I really limit screen time and will continue to do so as my kids get older. I really dont want my children being addicted to their electronics, like so many kids are these days. Sure, it may still happen....but it will not be from lack of trying.

 

My 4 year old gets two TV shows in the morning hours, immediately after waking up. She likes this time to wake up, drink her chocolate milk, and watch TV. Except on Sunday mornings....no TV time before church on Sundays. And her chocolate milk is like her coffee LOL!

 

After those two TV shows (they are 20-30 minute shows like Franklin, Little Bear, Word World, Caillou, etc) she knows that the TV goes off and will turn it off herself. Aside from the two morning shows, screen time really varies from day to day. Sometimes she will get one more TV show in the evening, sometimes not. Sometimes I will allow movie time in the afternoon (such as right now the kids are watching The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown since Halloween is approaching), sometimes not. More often than not, they do not watch any more than the two shows in the morning. So probably about twice a week, they will either watch a movie in the afternoon or a show in the early evening hours.

 

As for computer time.....DD4 likes to play some of her games sometimes. But she's never on for more than 30 minutes at a time, and only once a day. And if she's playing a computer game, then that takes the place of the afternoon movie/evening TV show. These are all educational type games that she likes....such as Jump Start, etc.

[Cindy in FL.]

They get to play PS3 about three times a week for 45 minutes each. I watch tv every night for 2-3 hours. Gotta have my Food Network and HGTV! They will watch those shows with me most of the time. College football on Saturday.

 

Cindy

[Stacy in NJ]

My old hard and fast rule was a max of 2 hours of total screen time daily. As we've moved into our current school year it's become less and less of an issue. Our schedule is pretty full and our days are busy. There just isn't that much available time to veg in front of the TV or play video games. I've never allowed screen time during school time, we have activites most afternoons, and my guys do homework and read in the evenings. They do usually still find time to play or watch a bit but only squeeze it in when not doing something else.

[Philothea]

2-3 hours at most, this includes watching a movie, if they have earned one and maybe an educational video on youtube. That is weekly, not daily.

[Zelda]

I'm not sure I even want to see it in black and white. Each older child gets 30 minutes of computer 4 or 5 days a week. Each child gets to watch one 30 minute show of their choice but, of course, they all watch together. And they sometimes watch each other play computer. So that's up to 2.5 hours of screen time about 5 days/week on average.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I still have to limit it for my son. TV/video games don't come on til after Daddy gets home, if then. He's currently on a complete restriction from the computer (has been for about a month), but we'll come up with a new guideline when he's ready to have computer time back. I would guess that it'd be something like 6-10 hours per week. The hope is that one day he'll be able to self-regulate but he hasn't shown capable quite yet :)

 

With my daughter, it is up to her, but I was a little worried about the excessiveness of it (computer) and had a talk with her about it. She agreed with my points (Matt 6:33, 1 Cor 15:33) and has vowed to be more careful. The last two weeks, she's done WAY WAY better so I think she just needed a different way of thinking about it.

 

A couple ideas to change things....

 

A simple discussion might work.

A complete break for a time can help.

A family discussion on what is reasonable.

An if/then agreement (Xamt of screen time for Y amt of certain other activities)

So much per week (when and what is up to them)

Have them chart their time used

keep them busy otherwise

work together to come up with a long list of things they can do (sometimes creative juices get dulled by too much screen time and they just can't think of what on earth else to do with their free time. A list may give them tons of ideas they had forgotten about)

 

ETA: how old are the kids we're talking about? I can't imagine encouraging ANY screen time for kids under 6-8 years old. They'd get a very occasional show or computer game, but nothing regularly. If I had it to do over again, I'd be more careful in the 8-12yo years though. I figured it was a phase and didn't set limits I probably should have.

Edited October 15, 2008 by 2J5M9K

[myfunnybunch]

Depends on the kids and the day.

 

They can all start watching or playing at 5:00 as long as schoolwork/homework and chores are done. Screens go off at dinnertime, and that's it for the younger guys. Dinner is usually between 6-6:30, though sometimes as early as 5:30 or as late as 7:00. So usually an hour, sometimes two for the boys.

 

The girls (teens) get to go back on the computer once their brothers are in bed. We set that rule to encourage after-dinner play so that they don't get so sucked into the computer that they forget they have a family, lol.

 

Cat

[Titus.Two.Five]

We don't allow children under 12 on the computer, so that said:

 

DD13: 15 mins email, 1 hour video/movie time, 15-20 mins tv news, typing twice weekly

 

DS12: 1 hour video/movie time, 1 hour-twice weekly computer science, typing twice weekly

 

DD10: 1 hour video/movie time

DS7: 1 hour video/movie time

DS4: 1 hour video/movie time

 

We really do not watch tv, except for evening news for about 15-20 mins.

We don't do video games, though we are probably going to buy a Wii for Christmas, for sports, fitness games, probably only twice per week though.

[Laura Corin]

They each get two hours a week of interactive screen time (Nintendo, computer games, etc.) and two hours a week of TV time. These have to be taken at the weekend. During the week, they are allowed to ask to use the computer for specific tasks (checking email quickly, researching a topic, etc.).

 

We also sometimes watch documentaries during the week. I currently allow them to use a chess study programme if they ask (no more than once or twice a week) because they are working hard to improve their games for chess club.

 

Laura

[Carrie12345]

I would have to sit down and track them for a couple of days to give a real answer. The tv does seem to be on a lot, but my kids do their school work, play outside, run around town for various activities, spend a respectable amount of time reading and playing with toys... As long as those things are covered, I don't worry much about screen time.

 

On rare occasions, I even allow Guitar Hero marathons before school time.;)

[kalanamak]

1-2 hours, usually not much over an hour, if that, and very, very little dreck. Any dreck is *old* dreck, like Bugs Bunny. He loves David Attenborough and goes through phases of wanting to be or read about a certain creature (I think he's a flying squirrel today). He has seen Nick Park (The Wrong Trousers). He likes Sister Wendy. Periodically he trots out a British accent for me. It is a bit of a shock!

 

No computer games yet, except for the rare math game (we did shoot a fruit yesterday, and even I enjoyed it).

[Hoggirl]

How he "spends" it (computer games, tv, Wii) is his decision. On weekends, he gets 1.5 hours (Fri - Sun). This refers to alone time screen time. Watching movies or sporting events or American Idol (can hardly wait until January!) is not figured into this, but we do not watch a lot of tv. Usually one family movie per week and college football on Saturdays. We watch quite a bit more during AI season. :D

 

ETA: I sometimes award "extra" screen time if ds works extremely hard, is extra flexible/cooperative about school when I need him to be, etc.

[Mountain View Academy]

My dc (7 & 4) are only allowed to watch tv on Friday night (approx 1 1/2 hrs) and on Saturday morning 30 min to 1 hour of a DVD. They only watch DVDs.

 

My 7 plays geography and math games on the computer with our supervision up to 20 min - M, W & F.

[Daisy]

Little to none.

 

We have a 13 in television that plays DVD's. Occasionally (like when someone is sick) we'll watch a movie. The kids watch slightly more during our summers because we have 110+ temps and horrible air quality but even then it would never been more than 1 or 2 movies per week.

 

No computer time, but they are not interested since none of us plays computer games. They see the computer as a tool and not as entertainment. We don't own game systems.

[Plaid Dad]

We try to keep screen time to a bare minimum here. Our dd has no access to TV, video games, or the computer. We watch maybe 1-2 videos a month as a family - usually nature/science videos or G-rated movies. If my dw were not such a huge Disney fan, I wouldn't even have dd watching the movies.

[RoughCollie]

6 hours a week, which must be taken at the rate of 2 hrs. per day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Holidays also rate 2 hours of screen time. School days = zero.

 

Exceptions: Heroes on Monday nights and all Red Sox games.

[Mom2legomaniacs]

My boys are 10 and 7. The general rule is, none during the school week. They get to have some on Sat. and some on Sun. Not a specific number of hours or minutes. They have to help with whatever chores we come up with on the weekend. During the week, they will sometimes watch a little tv in the evening if something appropriate is on and they are all ready for bed and such.

[lmrich]

My kids watch a movie on the weekend and we will watch a show together maybe once a week. Otherwise the tv is tuned to the classical musical station. They play on the computer, maybe an hour or so a night. My son loves mystery type games and my daughters love webkins. They go in spurts for video games - the Wii was a big hit this summer when it was too hot to go outside. I would limit video games to 30 minutes a day and they can not bank minutes (my son's idea). I don't really watch tv much either so it is a natural fit for our family.

[Emmy]

TV - none to 1/2 hour a day (common for them to watch a show while I make dinner, but not everyday) When we take breaks from school it is sometimes more - we aren't in a tv place right now and I'm glad.

 

Video games - none during the week, 30 minutes each on Saturday and Sunday. My kids obsess about the wii if I let them play during the week so we just limit it to weekends.

 

Computer - any computer stuff my kids do is really for school (ETC online, math drill, starfall for the younger ones, timez attack for my older two kids) Very rarely my oldest will ask to browse at lego.com or something.

 

My kids are 2, 4, 6, and 8.

[smilesonly]

M-F No tv.Period.

M-F dc over 10 get one hour of computer a day.

Weekends-2 hrs.of tv,more if we do a family movie. No computer,unless researching.

[Peela]

No commercial TV at all.

During school term, maybe two movies a week. Sometimes we watch a series on weeknights if we are hooked into one (eg Smallville) but on DVD, not on TV.

Computer time- officially 5 hours a week- a hr Fri, 2 hrs each Sat and Sun. But its usually more than that, because both kids socialise on the computer a fair bit and it tends to sneak in during the week after they have finished their schoolwork. Particularly dd14- she probably spends an hour a day socialising on the computer, and another few hours on the weekend playing games. Ds has friends in the street, dd doesnt.

During holidays- about 2 hours a day of computer time plus a movie. They tend to do lots of cmaps and things though where there are no electronics.

 

Dh has cable tv in his bedroom. The rest of us simply don't watch it.

[annabanana1992]

None during the school week - 30 min total over the weekend for wii or computer. Usually one 2 hr movie over the weekend as well.

[nukeswife]

I'm one of those "bad moms" many on other boards I'm on speak of because even at ages 9.5, almost 7 and 3.5 my kids all have unlimited screen time as long as they do the chores I ask, follow the house rules, and don't complain about school. We haven't had a problem yet. They seem to be very self regulating. They are mostly allowed to watch any of the many children's cartoon channels we get, as well as food network, the history channel, the discovery channel and animal planet to name a few. My almost 7 year old dd loves animal planet and watches about 5 hours or so a day. They go to bed at 8pm and can watch TV until 11. My oldest will split his time between TV shows he likes and video or computer games. Sometimes when he gets a new game he'll want to play it almost constantly and I'll say something like "Hey bud, I think you need to take a break from the game for the rest of the day (or more depending on my mood)" which is usually met with "Ok mom" and then he'll go off and do something else. I'm trying to get him into more silent reading but he's more of a auditory learner so he likes to listen to things, we've been thinking of going with more audio books for him. My dd loves to be read to and isn't reading more than bob books independently so we'll read to her and our younger son a lot as well.