My 9 year old son just came home from school and said "Mom, I found out today that Aaron's mom and dad don't let him watch any television at all, not even kids cartoons. They don't even have a TV, isn't that child abuse?"

What has this world come to, heck, what has my household come to, that my son thinks that not having a television is child abuse. I'm really close to selling our TV's right now and never looking back.

How much TV does the average child watch in a week? How much TV does your child watch in a week. Be honest, I won't judge you because I'm guilty too.

My daughter (5) watches probably around 24hours of TV/week.
My son (9)watches around 26 hours/week (mostly on the weekends when it's cold outside)

I'm going to start limiting the time, obviously it's to much.

N0help4u

yeah you figure xxx amount of hrs TV
xxx amount PSP, Playstation, computer

stardust713

I took a child psychology class last semester and we had a lot of assignments based on he effects of TV on children. The average child watches 4-5 hours of TV a day. Here's a site that can give you some information. You can Google it find lots of information because this is such a controversial topic in America today. It is really sad that kids would rather sit on the couch and watch TV all day instead of going out and playing. Especially when you consider the garbage that they show now a days. The shows now are nothing like they used to be. Too much TV can cause some pretty serious problems in children, even affecting their literacy and intelligence. I'd definitely suggest limiting their TV time.

Altenweg

Maybe I should force them to watch re-runs of "Little House on the Prairie". No violence, no swearing, no blood and guts, a nice healthy family show. Bet you if I did that they'd be running to get their coats before the end of the week.

shygrneyzs

For many years we had no television. We (I was married then) took a challenge from our church to see how long we could be without a tv. Then to record the activities we did instead of watching the tube. It was really hard at first. The first week was tough. I loved Full House and just HAD to watch it. My oldest son, who was most likely not even five yet, mourned over the loss of Saturday Morning cartoons. My husband would laugh at us anf say he was going to see his Mom. Ha ha! He would go there and watch tv!

All in all, we went without a tv for almost 10 years. We did keep the tv and vcr and our treat was to rent a movie on Friday evening. I do have a tv now but seldom watch it. Have tried to get interested in some of the programs but there is clearly alot of garbage on tv.

terellowens

I have played Video Games all my life excessively also

and always been a B grade student yeah I could have done better and fluffed some real important exams but if I wanted to stop playing at any moment I could have I have gone 3-9 months without touching video games and non stop playing for 3 weeks... with buddies just how I am feeling.

However if they are on it all day everyday and not doing school work or going outside at age 9-15 then Ban it...


I used to play sports all day when i was 7-15 video games was a weekend thing I did at my friends house or if they came over we would just play for 10-12 hours yeah crazy but we were still socialising just that video games was our hub of entertainment.

I also asked this question to my teacher who would not let her kids watch tv and I thought it was harsh kids need some downtime... obviously not too much..


Same goes for watching television or the internet sometimes I don't need it for weeks then I need it for hours depending on mood,free time... etc and if a good video game came out, program, social life at the time... kids do watch too much tv but thats cos they aint doing enough running.... about to make up for it ;P

jessb

my niece is 4 yrs old, and her mother, my sister will lett her watch the cartoon network b4 bed or in the morning while she getts ready for work, and even in those kids shows, there are grown up suggestions that a 4+ yr old shouldn’t need to worry about.. She already thinks that the thin girls with blonde hair and skimpy clothes r the pretty one's. she doesnt relize that its bad taste., and there is more to beuty then that. Why do cartoons feel the need to give the characters boyfriends and girlfriends?? Why is everything on the kid’s network getting so sexually orientated? And these Barbie’s, and brats dolls! All the makeup and skimpy outfits they put them in.. What r they really try to suggest with these toys and shows today..??? That’s why i dont believe in young kids watching tv or having excessive toys that aren’t beneficial to there growth mentally. That’s why this generation is so clueless to wats going on in the rest of the world. Their to busy wanting to be gangster and hoe's... i live 5 min from Philadelphia; over the weekend two teenagers were shot and killed. 1 over a snowball fight, and the 2nd because he refused to buy drugs off a dealer.. Every yr in Philadelphia there is more murders then there are days in a year...!!! There mostly all teenagers to young adults.... maybe if we excluded so much violence, and sexuality from movies and tv, that might help the next generation. Don’t get me wrong i enjoy watching my shows, and i love movies... but im also 27yrs old and i know the difference between right and wrong. but I was lucky enough to be taught that from a very wonderful and supportive family. not all parents have the time for that. But at such young age, these kids are taking pure entertainment and getting it confused with reality. All these kids wanna do is be singers and actors, ect.. Because it pays soooo much. Im in security and E.M.S I save lives everyday, I get paid squat, just like all the other labor workers do. If you are an actor, and help corrupt the minds of kids you’re a millionaire. Modanna made 72 million dollars last year… for what, Because she can entertain you for an hour or so at a concert? The world is going backwards, its putting the wrong things in the spotlight, who care’s that the writers were on strike, and the grammys or whatever werent televised. What about the important stuff, like poverty, and war, and global warming?? werid.. wats your number one priority?

rpg219

Well, honestly.........we (my husband, our 2.5yo and myself) never turn our tv's (yes plural) off. Bad, huh?

Our son is very advanced for his age (so we are told). He already can count to ten, knows most of his colors, can sing his abc's and can hold a very literate conversation with you. (However, some of his speech is not very clear yet) This being said only to prove the point that maybe TV doesn't ruin your mind if you don't let it. Just because a TV is playing in the background, doesn't mean that you can't sit down and read or learn at the same time. Right?

However, I agree that it may WHAT you watch. I do not allow violence shows...most of the time we are all watching Noggin...a channel for toddlers...mostly educational shows.

So my answer would have to be, honestly, 24 hours a day (even when we are gone at least one of the tv's gets left on, lol)

Altenweg

My kids watch Treehouse. Its a commercial free kids channel that plays shows like, Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, Max and Ruby etc. My daughter can count to 10 in spanish and knows many other spanish words, it never ceases to amaze me, the stuff she learns from those shows. In the summer our television watching drops amazingly, it's actually warm enough to play outside and that's what the kids do. I just remember when I was a kid, we had one tv with only 3 channels (I walked to school everyday, 10 miles there, 12 miles back, uphill both ways) and I was perfectly happy. I read, I colored, I played. Kids today watch so much television that they don't know how to play independently, that's a big concern to me.

George_1950

I agree with your son, that a "No TV" policy is abusive, somewhat. The proper focus should be the proper management of the child's time by his parents because it is too easy to place kids in front of a TV, which is abusive as well.