How much screen time do your kids get?

[MDPhDWife]

DH & I watch a good deal of TV but only stuff we've DVR'd. I have no patience for commercials. Naturally our kids enjoy TV too. The general rule is "electronic time" is only allowed once homework & chores are completed. They earn stars for completing their responsibilities & other various things like helping someone else out or doing well in school. They can then spend their stars to purchase electronic time. So far this system has worked pretty well. The way I see it, my kids are active, do well in school, so why not let them choose how they want to relax & spend their free time. Heck, a lot of times the electronic time is spent playing the wii as a family.

I will say the girls no longer have tv's in their rooms though. It became a problem when they would watch in the mornings while getting ready & cause us to be late. So no tv at all in the morning anymore. DD1 is the only early bird in the house so I would catch her watching in the morning while everyone else is still asleep. We took out the tv's from their rooms & that solved that problem. She's still an early bird, but she can find something else to do in the mornings, even if it's getting chores or homework done early so she can have more free time when she gets home after school.

[GrayMatterWife]

DD#1 and DD#2 are 2.5 and 8 months, respectively. Since they are too little to watch TV, they don't watch any.

DS is 6.5.

Weekdays: none. My parents were the same way--no TV on schoolnights. I think it makes the morning and evening routines more manageable. Works for us.

Weekends: he usually watches about an hour of some History or Discovery Channel special. He seems to always know when the next MOM-I-JUST-HAVE-TO-SEE-THIS!!!! program is on. I thought he was going to remind me once an hour, on the hour the day before "The Crystal Caves" premiered.

[houseelf]

I think this ebbs and flows depending on the time of the year and the child in question. We do more screen time in the winter and very little at all in the summer. My oldest, for whatever reason, needs a little more gentle guidance (read: nagging and strict enforcement of rules) to ensure that screen time is in balance. Hey, if I'm honest with myself, I need boundaries with my computer usage and I wish that my computer would "time out" after 60 minutes of usage a day. In the past, without some rules he would simply game all day long. Since middle school, however, DS1 is incredibly busy with friends coming over, playing outside, homework, activities that this isn't an issue anymore. Our rule for him is no video or computer games Monday through Thursday. By now, he knows us well enough to not complain that his friends have unrestricted access and that they have TV, computer, or gaming systems in their rooms. Fortunately he knows that this is middle of the road because at his old montessori schools several of his friends had no tv whatsoever and no gaming systems.

In comparison, DD really self regulates so I don't worry about it. I've never set down hard rules for her because she will watch a TV program and then go do something else. She'll play her big brother's old Nintendo DS for 20 minutes and then go find some Legos or a book. As I've mentioned before, the only screen rules that I have for her stems from content. I will say that some of her screen time has done AMAZING things for her, Starfall.com taught her how to read. She seems satisfied with these type of edu-tainment games for now. Recently she enjoys playing on the new American Girl Innerstar University site.

I definitely don't think that there is a one size fits all and this is something that changes even within families through the years. It is always interesting to hear how it plays out in other peoples' homes.

Not too much TV here but about three hours of Wii and DSI, collectivelly. A lot, I know!

[alison]

Dd is 16 months old and she watches the Wiggles at meal times, otherwise she will not eat. So, I'd say altogether she gets about 40 minutes/day.

My parents and dh's parents think we are wrong to do this, but it's for our sanity and what we were told to do in OT.

My little ones, 2 and 4 are limited to one hour per day. Or at least I try lol.

[Chrisada]

A lot. Too much. Entirely too much. I am embarrassed to say. Luckily, however, they seem to still be very bright and undamaged. I doubt any of their tv watching these days is educational.

This for us too except some is still educational. The four year old loves TV, but is still incredibly rounded and deemed gifted. I think the problem comes when kids want to do nothing else. He still loves spending hours outside, playing with play dough, painting, reading etc. It's hard for me to worry about it when they are still so well-rounded. I grew up the same way.

[bobk]

Our kids (ages 2 & 6) watch about three hours per week. I've tried not to make it part our daily routine, so there's no expectation that they get to watch something.