For about eighteen months, we didn't have cable or satellite TV. While Hubby was in grad school, we canceled the satellite as we needed to tighten the budget. The main thing we missed was watching Lost and football. But we were still able to watch those on the internet. I actually enjoyed the lack of television in the house. No daily distractions, no extraneous noise.
Now that Hubs is done with grad school and working in his chosen field, we decided to add TV back into our household. It's been interesting, to say the least.
One of the challenges has been monitoring Ladybug's television use (she's almost 3 years old). She doesn't know how to operate the remote yet, thankfully. But if I'm not careful, she could watch TV for four hours straight. Sure, I'd get lots of
Because I want to encourage Ladybug to be active and not be a couch potato, I need some advice! What TV rules do you have for your preschooler? When do you make exceptions? What kinds of shows do you allow them to watch? And how do you teach your kids that they don't always get to watch what they want to watch? Mama and Daddy get a little tired of kids' shows all the time.
Looking forward to your input!
I have found that if I let my son watch live tv he will watch way more ( or try to ) because there are teasers " Next on Nick... Dora!" and he will see them and want to watch.
ReplyDeleteIf I choose an on demand show not only are we saved from the toy commercials that result in ' I want that!", we avoid those teasers and when a show is done, TV is done. He even turns it off himself and says " Show's done let's play, or let's go out."
I do let him watch some live TV from time to time but generally it's one on demand show in the mornings, and one either after lunch or before dinner. I am happy with 45 minutes of tv a day .
We don't have a set number of minutes a day for our kids. At our house, we watch tv only after resting time is over. It's a small bit of time so I can get some of supper going or prepared. We have a TiVo. Even though we no longer have cable, we still have shows saved on the TiVo that the kids can watch. Also, we rent videos from the library. Generally, the only things our children watch are G rated cartoons and PBS shows.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I don't watch tv during the day, so there are no issues with explaining that sometimes I get to choose and sometimes they get to choose. We make exceptions when my parents are here, because they like to watch much more tv than we do. Other than that, the only time our tv is on is for a bit around 3:30ish. That might change this summer though when we are able to play outside more often and regularly.
TV is a special treat for our kids. It's never on just to be on. Big Girl has to earn TV time, and it's usually 1 30-min show every other day at most. There are a handful of channels she is allowed to watch- no shows with sassy attitudes or rude behavior/language. No shows that have high school age kids in it. Exceptions are made (only to how much she can watch, not content) when we have friends over or if she's sick.
ReplyDeleteI flat out tell her that TV is not good for her and after one show that's all her brain needs in one day. I tell her TV is like Junk Food...a little bit every once in a while is ok but too much will make you sick.
Also, teaching by example. Hubs and I only watch 1 or 2 shows a couple nights a week.
hope this helps! :)
Oh yes I should add that the only time tv is on in our house is when we are purposefully watching something. It's never background and I don't watch TV during the day unless I watch something during naptime ( which is rare, that is blogging time for me). It really really helps to not just have it on.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have the main cable menu- we just buy what Time-Warner calls Basic Lifeline. We have channels 2-23 or something like that. PBS is almost the only cable cartoons our kids watch. And even then they prefer to play over tv alot of the time. We're fortunate for that. My husband brings home movies from the library (we're frugal like that).
ReplyDeleteSometimes I just turn off the tv and they play w/o complaint. Some days they watch more than recommended.
What you might do is keep some of her toys, games, puzzles, playdoh, etc put away where she cannot get to them and pull them out only for the special "ok, no more tv" times. That they way she's not bored and hopefully, excited about the activities you pull out for her to do.