Do your kids have TV's in their rooms? Do you watch TV in Bed?

[KoKo]

How do you feel about "peer pressure" for getting the highest Tier Cable so that your kids can keep up with their friends?

Do your kids and you keep at least one TV on all day and night?

Did you grow up with TV "ON" all day and did you have your own TV in your room with unlimited or limited access as to what you watched? How did you feel about this?

Did you sneak shows in your room if you had a TV there, when your parents thought you were reading? And, what happened when they "caught you?"

TODAY..do you find TV an "Intrusion in your life" or something "You can't do without" because since you grew up with it...it's not so bad...because you are here on DU. Do you now think "limiting TV" is good for your kids or great because you were okay with it?

:shrug:

[MercutioATC]

1. One TV in the living room.

Every cable channel offered because I can't stand not having options (though I rarely watch TV).

[PDJane]

2. One TV.

My mother is aging and living with me at the moment. The TV is hers. I don't like it, don't watch it, didn't grow up with it and would never miss it.

Take away my computer though, and there will be a discussion.

[Extend a Hand]

3. well. at our house

our son spends way more time on the computer than in front of the TV.

He used to have a TV in his room but our family room tv broke 2 years ago
so his tv had to move to the family room.

we just have basic cable.

[One_of_8]

4. Two TVs in the house

Neither one in a bedroom, nor do I plan on having one in my bedroom ever, unless I'm suddenly bedridden. We have one 20-inch flatscreen in the living room, and another 20-inch TV in what we call our "second TV room." I'm a single mom, and sometimes my son and I watch TV together, and other times we split up so we can each watch what we want.

I'm definintely not planning for him to have TV in his bedroom. He can get do that when he moves out if he wants.

[Caoimhe]

5. Don't have kids

But we have a TV in the living room, the computer room, the bedroom and the kitchen... I'm listing these and feeling pretty pathetic.

I don't want my kids to have their own TVs (when I have kids) but my husband always had a TV of his own when he was a kid, so we might disagree on that. I think it's a brain drain. When home alone, I don't turn any of them on, just listen to the radio or the beautiful sound of silence. I get mad at him because as soon as he walks in the door, the squawk box fires up, and it's usually loud, testosterone-voiced dunderhead sportscasters. Ugh. I find DU way more entertaining!

[tavalon]

6. One TV in the living room

Not connected to cable nor do I have rabbit ears. It is just a DVD player.

TV no longer intrudes on my life.

My kid, while almost 11, is autistic so he has no idea what he's missing. I'm glad. I don't think his life is the poorer for it.

[MissB]

7. No TV in kids' room.

We have one in our room, but that hasn't always been the case. We put it in there when dh was recovering from hernia surgery. Strangely, it hasn't left.

The main tv is in a small room away from our living room. We have basic cable plus whatever I need to get to Sci Fi - so no HBO or anything like that.

My dad always had the tv on. All damned day long. It drove me batty. I find tv to be an intrusion - but only if I let it.

[MuseRider]

8. My kids had

friends who had TV's, computers, refrigerators, coffee makers, well almost everything you could use to live in their rooms. Their parents said it was great because they could do their own thing without the kids bothering them. I was so annoyed by that, I enjoyed my kids.

My poor kids did not have any of that. I knew I would never see them if I let them have that so they had to use the TV in the living room and the computer in the living room. They had to eat with us. They were so underprivileged!

I have to admit that I leave the TV on a lot. I rarely know what is even on or if I do I rarely know what is going on. It seems very stupid but I have a loud annoying tinnitus, that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!

[mitchum]

9. I grew up in a household with a TV in nearly every room and they were...

on constantly. I now watch NO television. When I go visit my family I find the RELENTLESSNESS of television to be both annoying and offensive.

[Caoimhe]

12. I hear you.. my mom has FAUX on all day

I've seriously thought about buying one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/TVBGone-universal-remote-Adbusters-TV-B-Gone-begone_W0QQitemZ6034257056QQcategoryZ38287QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Child_Of_Isis]

10. While I was growing up,

people didn't watch television much. A movie now and then. Maybe cartoons Saturday morning. There was a lot of family visiting back in those days.

[Initech]

11. I have the TV on, but I dont even pay attention to it half the time...

Because half the time there's commercials on and usually when that happens I'm on here ranting about how much I hate the marketing and advertising industry. Ironic, isnt it?

Hell, the TV in my bedroom hasnt been used in almost two years... I only turn it on when I want to play Grand Theft Auto.

[AlCzervik]

13. no tv in my daughters room and she hasn't asked for one yet

in fact i have 2 in my house, one in the family room and one in the playroom thats basically for video games. When i grew up you went outside to play and tv was only fot nighttime and maybe an hour and half max.

[Missy Vixen]

14. We have two televisions

We took the TV out of our room several years ago. DH spends a lot more time watching TV than I do.

Julie

p.s. Upon reflection, the only time I really want to watch TV in bed is when I don't feel well.

[magellan]

15. Two TVs

No kids.

One in the living room that's usually tuned to Turner Movie Classics or the Sci-Fi Channel, one in the kitchen that's only on when I'm cooking. Our TV tastes don't follow the crowd at all and we like it that way.

[Bjornsdotter]

16. Yes

Yes, my kids have TV's in their rooms, I don't limit what they watch (16 and 18. The only time I have limited something was for violence. As far as censorship that, to me, is up to each individual family.

I had a TV in my room growing up and my parents never censored my viewing. I was a big reader so my parents never had to limit my TV time, more often they would catch me reading under the covers with a flashlight.

I have done without TV for long periods of time...I mostly watch C-Span, KO, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, nature shows, documentaries, the BBC and my one prime time show....Boston Legal.

I didn't grow up with the TV on all day and neither did my kids.

Cheers

[Mythsaje]

17. See no reason for a TV in the bedroom...

We have a DVR so we can record two different shows at once, which is the only reason I can think of to have more than one TV in the first place. We have a portable DVD player though--I just finished watching the whole Firefly series and Serenity (part of the same contest win as the player).

My kids live with their mother and, as far as I know, they have a TV in their room, though they're both readers and as likely to be reading as watching TV, or maybe playing video games.

I, personally, don't really see anything wrong with TV, as long as it isn't on 24/7. I usually only turn it on in the evenings--sometimes the distraction is good for writing, and sometimes silence or music is a better option.

When we met my wife didn't watch TV at all. I had to fix that problem because I wasn't about to start missing Buffy.

[annabanana]

18. well..

The kids have had a tv in their room since they were about 8-10..Our house is quite small, and I could tell if they were trying to sneak a banned peek. They get the tier that I say they get... (if your friends jumped off a bridge....)

The kitchen TV stays on all day - usually muted. I'm listening to AAR with one eye on cspan. The living room stays on during the weekends when Mr. banana is home. Everything eventually goes off at night.

I have had one in the bedroom since I got married.. (It was not my family's custom. Like many families in the late 50's and early 60's there was only one set in the house, in the prominent place that the fireplace once held. We would turn it on for specific programs, then TURN IT OFF AND TALK) I used to put the sleep button on the radio and fall asleep to that)

Mr. banana grew up with all sets on all day and all night... He laughs at my insistence on a sleep timer so the set doesn't wake me up at night.

Sometimes we get battling TV's, volume-wise. At that point I usually go ballistic, tell everyone that they're doing dreadful things to my blood pressure and SOMEthing goes off and everything else gets turned down.

Of course, when I'm here.. I put on earphones and listen to something else entirely and I'm happy as Larry..

[rug]

19. I have 6 TVs and 5 kids.

None are ever quiet.

[GemMom]

25. I'm surprised

that you aren't all on overload from constant noise load.

[rug]

38. The XBox calms us all down.

[CoffeeCat]

20. I grew up in a house with seven televisions in it...

...and they were all, always turned on.

A friend who visited said, "Damn! It's like a Best Buy in here."

We used tv to drown out the reality of our dysfunctional home. I used tv for years, like a drug.

Fast forward to today--we have two televisions. One in the LR, one in our BR. No tv or computer in the kids' rooms. There never will be.

We rarely watch television. Our children are in preschool and K, and we're just too busy with other things to bother with tv, most of the time.

Our one tv-related guilty pleasure is watching SpongeBob with our kids. At night, they pile into our beds and we all watch one Sponge Bob.

We do rent movies for them. They love to watch movies, and we watch them as a family. Right now, the girls are totally into all of the Star Wars movies. They've seen all of the, except Episode II.

During the summer, when the weather is nice---tv is pretty much nonexistent for us. I couldn't name one show and it's time slot.

[KoKo]

52. Sounds like a "balance." Where I grew up in Summer

parents piled their kids in the car and went to the "Drive in Movie" which was usually a fluff piece musical that would appeal to all. Many kids remember being in their p.j.'s sleeping while their parent got a "night out" and they felt it was an adventure.

So...what you are saying with "Sponge Bob" and your kids sounds much similar although you don't have to drive, fight bugs or have to get out of the car and buy popcorn and drinks, etc. for a hungry crowd. :D

We used to do other stuff in the Summer..and movies were kind of special then...but I hear what you say...and it sounds good. Off to parks or beach or mountains and activities instead of watching TV. But, that's if you have that inclination. Others might have to screen TV and expose their kids in other ways...

[localroger]

21. One TV, one antenna in the attic

And one copy of Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television.

[GemMom]

22. Mom of 3 here

Absolutely NO TV's OR computers in bedrooms. Too easy for the kids to be watching inappropriate stuff on TV or getting into inappropriate areas on the internet. Not to mention that it's very easy to avoid doing homework, etc.

[catmother]

23. my son is grown. but during his teen years he had a TV in his

room and a phone with his own number. the reason for the phone was so he didn't tie mine up and when he went out he unplugged it so we were'nt bothered by the ringing.

well back to the original question. we have 5 for the 2 of us. one in the living room, 1 in my bedroom, 1 in my husband's bedroom, 1 in my exercise room and 1 in the guest room. as soon as i wake up in the morning i hit the remote and watch MSNBC or C-span. it stays on as long as i'm in the house -- actually my bedroom and the living room so if i'm moving around i don't miss anything. my bedroom tv stays on until i'm ready to go to sleep.

sometimes when i'm on the DU like now, i keep 2 on loud so if some asshole says something stupid or something smart i can post it.

[lastliberalintexas]

24. We have one TV in our family room

We don't really watch many shows, unless it's one of my classic movies on TCM. We primarily use the TV to watch sports (football and golf for hubby, tennis for me), and we still probably watch too much though I suspect we're far below the average American's viewing time.

My son is too young for a TV in his room, and I'll resist that for several more years. Right now he only watches parts of 1 or 2 shows on PBS (It's a Big Big World and Sesame Street). And I can't believe I just typed that because now I'm going to have that stupid theme song going through my head for hours! :)

[mod mom]

26. My kids(8+9) are not allowed to watch tv except for Countdown. My son

loves oddball. I told them it turns them into Repub consumers. It's not an issue in our household. Of course the badside is the basement has towering lego creations but much favorable over "I want this, I want that".

[proud patriot]

28. No T.V. in Son's room . 2 TV's in the house

one in the living room one in Parent's room used for Video Games .

opps I meant to reply to the OP :shrug: sorry

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

27. 5 TV's, One In The Bedroom, 2 on most of the time.

No problem with TV. It is what it is.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

29. one TV, which is off most of the time

I grew up with one TV in the living room. My mother was very discerning, and no way was the idiot box on all the time. I fondly recall nights when the family read poetry or listened to music instead of watching TV. I didn't have cable until I married at age 38, and I don't have cable now. If you are having trouble with kids wanting something you don't think is vital, tell them to save up their money until they can afford to pay for it themselves. That's what my mother did when I asked for a guitar, and that's exactly what I did-one quarter at a time. I never spent any of my allowance for three months in order to buy my first guitar. I still play guitar today.

[KoKo]

30. I didn't grow up with TV....my parents were against it...so I kind of have

a weird view of it...yet..I am who I am without it growing up...and having watched SOME after I could be independent..

[timtom]

31. Had the cable pulled 6 months ago.

Just as happy as a clam, not having to watch so much swill. And my teenage son and daughter and my wife all agree with me.

[KoKo]

46. When my daughter was Six years old...I set "ground rules." and

her whole attitude changed about life shortly after. I was noticing she was very jumpy and her attention span wasn't what it was before she was watching so much TV. Now that she's older I realize she was a "sensitive" person and what she was absorbing from watching so much that I was noticing her being "jumpy and on edge." I cut the TV which caused much anger towards me because of this. I held firm and asked her to read more.

She got involved in school activities and spent more time away from me because of my decision...but she grew up pretty good...and although I took alot of heat...and it hurt our relationship for a couple of years...she and I now look back and laugh that it wasn't such a bad decision because it gave her "breathing room...a little bit of a way to rebel and find her OWN SPACE...and even though it was "rough" on both of us...she's now telling the kids she teaches that what her Mom did was a "good thing" and even though she hated me...she now sees what I did was a way to free her from Me and the TV.

I'm not recommending this to anyone...and everyone's situation with their kids is different..but when you see your kid start acting differently then it might not be DRUGS (*dread*) but just something simple from TOO MUCH STIMULATION from TV? :shrug:

It's just my personal story....but thought I'd share with you...

[seabeyond]

32. told kids they will NEVER have a tv in their room

ever. just the rule. from youngest of age i have let them know. they have a computer and can put on a dvd. but NO tv. they arent big tv watchers either. they will go days and days without turning it on. but NO tv in bedrooms. ever

and no i feel no peer pressure what so ever. lol lol lol

oh we are listing tv's. one in my room, tv room and downstairs in my hubby's cave

[KoKo]

48. I think what you did was a good thing...but I'm biased.

I DO know parents who gave their kids TV's in their rooms and their kids grew up okay, too. BUT...my own experience with my kid was that it was TOO MUCH STUFF at her.

It depends on the kid...but if you have more than one kid..they learn to accept the RULES and can pretty much be okay with it all. Seems to me..from what I've seen. :shrug:

[phylny]

33. My children do not, nor have they ever had, a television in their rooms.

We have one in our bedroom, and we use it to watch either the news, or The Daily Show, or Letterman before bed.

We have another TV in the family room, and a third one in the bonus room that the kids use.

I limited tv for my kids when they were little, and I think it made a difference for them in a positive way.

I am amazed at the number of children's homes I go to that have televisions and VCRs or DVD players in the kids' rooms. It is horrible for development. (I'm a speech-language pathologist for Early Intervention).

Did you know that children learn from hearing people talk, but they do not gain the same amount or quality of knowledge from hearing the television?

[likesmountains 52]

34. One TV when my kids were growing up..My theory is that

when you grow up in a house where you have to share (the TV, the bathroom, the phone, the blow dryer) you are learning to get along in the world by having to learn patience and negotiating skills. My daughter is an AD of Student Housing at a college and she says that a lot of kids in the dorms do not know how to live with anyone else in "their" space. She thanked me last year for not letting her have "everything" we could afford when she was growing up.

[SmokingJacket]

35. Geez, no, to all the above.

I watched TV when I was a kid, because it was on a lot, not all the time, though. The older I got the more I found it made me miserable and headachey and I grew to hate the sound of it and the stupid people selling me breakfast cereal.

We don't have broadcast or cable TV, just a box and DVD player for movies, which I enjoy a lot -- two or three evenings a week. Kids watch movies once in a while, if it's a weekend and the weather is bad so they can't get outside. We keep the box in the closet, so we really have to want to watch it.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

36. Two teevees

a 32 incher in the LR and a 12" in the master bedroom. Both on Dish (Mr 'pede's idea :eyes: ) We don't have kids - I never did and his is 40-something and living in NYC. But...when I was a kid I was cool stuff. Had one of those two-tone portable Admirals in my bedroom. Could watch cartoons without Dad coming in from work and saying "turn that shit off."

[Cleita]

37. I grew up without TV until I was ten.

Even then, with only being able to get two channels at first, I didn't get to watch that much. I didn't watch any all through college because our dorms didn't have TV except in one lounge and no one could agree on what to watch so it remained pretty much off and we played cards instead.

I have never had a TV in my bedroom. The only reason DH and I got cable years ago was so we could get CNN and keep up with the world news. Times sure change don't they?

:shrug:

[KoKo]

47. I hear Ya! ...I felt "underprivileged" for a long time because of it....

but I grew up Okay...and think from what I've seen of your posts ...you did, too! :D

We both somehow learned to use the Internet...so our "deprivation" didn't seem to affect our "learning abilities," did it?

[cmd]

39. One TV when the kids were at home

Now we have a his and hers.

[ContraBass Black]

40. My roommate had a tv.

I continue to amaze myself with my self control by not bringing all manner of violent death upon it.

[aclog]

41. I have a TV in my room

but its only for my GameCube

When I'm on the road I do watch alot of TV in bed...shitty HBO movies at 2AM, that kinda stuff

[Ariana Celeste]

42. 2 tvs in my apt, but rarely watched.

We have a tv in the livingroom only for when we have a friend over drinking with us on Saturday nights- have to watch our SNL, and while I may drink in the bedroom sometimes (because my SO and I spend the most time there) we only drink with buddies in the livingroom. Just in case of spills, or what have you.

Then there is one in our bedroom which is used for, and only for: Conan O'Brien (sometimes the end of Leno as we wait), nightly news, football games, SNL, the classic SNL shortly after, and watching movies.

We quit paying for cable, and haven't been happier since we've limited the amount of time watching tv. Of course now we play a lot more video games, but we are still spending time together talking, laughing, having a good time.... rather then spending time together drooling in front of the screen.


On edit: forgot to mention- the man and I were both raised in homes where the majority of family time was spent in front of the television. We are 20 (me) and 22 (him).

[LeftyMom]

43. One Mom, one kid, one TV, four computers. :D nt

[KoKo]

49. What's interesting is to see kids choosing Computers over TV today...

I choose it and I'm not a kid! :D The only place to get real news today is the Computer...but that could go either way or inbetween or that your kids might choose games and fluff over hard news and enlightenment.

Might be that Parents need to monitor their kids computers as much as TV viewing right now...but it's only something to think about...as we move forward with SO MUCH INFO thrown at us and our families and how hard it is to be a Parent with so many choices. :shrug:

We do what we think is best and hope our kids "GET IT" down the road of life. It's all we can hope for, ...I think.

[Shine]

44. We have very firm rules with the kids about tv in our household.

during the school week, they each only get 1/2 hr show...and that's only AFTER they've done their homework AND after 5pm. Usually, they watch it while I'm making dinner. And I'm a real stickler for MUTING ALL COMMERCIALS because they drive me insane. :crazy: On the weekends, I'm a bit more lax with tv time. They do NOT have TV's in their rooms. I'm adamantly against the very idea.

I hardly watch any tv, myself. My only vices are "24" and re-runs of "Sex in the City".

I'm much more of a reader and I try to model that to my kids by reading as much as I can.

:hi:

[MiniMandaRuth]

45. I have one TV in my room that I use for video games...

No cable or anything...

[hfojvt]

50. I have no kids

but I do have an extra TV upstairs. I wonder if a 2nd hand store would take it. It does not work very well, but I used it for 5 years until my sibs bought me a new one last Christmas. If not fot that I probably still would be using it.

[KoKo]

54. Yep...there's much to do these days without TV and Kids...good to hear

how ALL of us are dealing with the "BOX" these days.

Thanks!

[Redstone]

51. 1) No way.

2) Not in this house.

3) We didn't even HAVE a television until I was 6 years old. And there was only ever one in the house, so no, there were none in our bedrooms.

4) See #3 above. And my parents were MUCH more likely to catch me reading with a flashlight, anyway.

5) We have probably the only house you'll ever go into, where you will not notice a television during a cursory tour. It's in a corner of a corner room.

Not that I'm slamming television...there's a ton of good stuff on there, what with cable. We just don't watch it much.

Redstone

[LynzM]

53. Mostly "no"s....

Do your kids have TV's in their rooms?

No.

Do you watch TV in Bed?

No. No TV in our bedroom.

How do you feel about "peer pressure" for getting the highest Tier Cable so that your kids can keep up with their friends?

None. But our daughter is only three :)

Do your kids and you keep at least one TV on all day and night?

Nope, in fact, the actual "TV" is almost never on. She watches some kids' videos, we will occasionally watch the Daily Show or Simpsons, and I watched a couple episodes of MindFreak last semester.

Did you grow up with TV "ON" all day and did you have your own TV in your room with unlimited or limited access as to what you watched? How did you feel about this?

No. We had one TV, growing up, and we were limited to one hour per day of parent-approved TV. I think this was a good thing. The rules were more lax for my younger brother as he got older, after my parents got divorced. Overall, though, I think my parents made good decisions about it.

Did you sneak shows in your room if you had a TV there, when your parents thought you were reading? And, what happened when they "caught you?"

See above; no TV in our rooms. I did get caught reading in bed with a flashlight when I was supposed to be sleeping, though!

TODAY..do you find TV an "Intrusion in your life" or something "You can't do without" because since you grew up with it...it's not so bad...because you are here on DU. Do you now think "limiting TV" is good for your kids or great because you were okay with it?

As I said, we don't watch TV much. I don't much foresee that changing, for us as adults. As our daughter grows up, some family TV time may develop, if there are things she really wants to watch. But overall, I never want TV to be a force around which we plan our time or focus our family. I do wonder, though, at what point we will allow our daughter to have her own computer and be online unsupervised. That's a whole 'nother can of worms, I know.

Ask me again in 10 years, I'll probably have more to add!

[hickman1937]

55. When I was growing up we had 1 tv.

It was rarely on during the day because nobody was home summer and winter. It usually didn't get turned on till after dinner and then we had to watch whatever my dad liked so we usually did something else. When my kids were growing up I had the tv on all the time when I was home from work and they mostly ignored it. They never had tvs in their rooms because bedrooms IMHO are for peace and sleep. Puttering, thinking your own thoughts, reading and sleeping.