How Much TV do you allow?

Hi.

I have a 5 year old. He is allowed 30 mins of TV a day. He's allowed to swap this for either 30 mins on the Tablet (cbeebies or on the phonetics pages recommend by school) or he can swap it for 30 mins playing Lego Batman on the PlayStation. It's not a hard and fast rule but it's generally what we go by. For the rest of the time he plays, builds, reads etc. This week due to bad behaviour he lost his 30 minutes on one day. We were chatting about this at work today and someone said to me " so what is he meant to do for the rest of the day? " she generally thought I was far too harsh. I always thought that I was just being fair. He's a much nicer better behaved boy when his TV time is controlled. He's got a great imagination. His reading is coming on leaps and bounds. She was genuinely shocked we expect him to play without the TV on playing mindlessly in the background. Don't get me wrong we love to snuggle and watch a film on a rainy afternoon but we just don't let the TV be the babysitter. I just felt a bit of a tyrant after talking to her. What's the rules in your house?

I don't have any children yet but have plenty of niece's and nephew's and they love watching TV - they also do plenty of other things like reading and playing with toys etc. They is no set limit on the amount of tv time they have and they all have tv's in their rooms (ages range from 7-14). They don't just watch cartoons, they seem to watch documentaries and movies together as a family and I wouldn't say the tv is a babysitter as an adult is normally watching it with them - just some enjoyment for them. They don't sit and watch it for hours on end ( I think a little in the morning and a some at teatime) I think limiting it to 30 mins a day is a bit harsh and I can't see what a child would gain from that if they also had other interests? If there were two episode of a child's favorite tv show on (lasting an hour) would you not let them watch both? I also think it depends on what kind of shows they watch, as some can be very educational and interesting.

My husbands parents had a similar rule themselves when he was growing up and he's never understood why and as a child felt left out with his friends as he couldn't watch the same shows - he feels it benefited his parents more than him as they didn't have to watch the kid's tv shows.

I think that's very harsh to be honest. I work with a lot of people who's children are at a similar age and I've never heard anything like it. Maybe it's also because I wasn't brought up with strict rules, or this kind of behaviour. To me it seems your not allowing your child be a child.

I also it is very harsh I think you are being to strict with your 5 year old. It's part of growing up and being a kid watching tv playing with your games etc not all day but not for a limit of 30 minutes

I think with children you have to teach them whats right and wrong giving them guidance along the way with rules without being to harsh.

I know of children who have grown up with strict parents only letting them watch tv 30 mins a day games x amount of time and sweets only at the weekend etc quite strict rules and when they grew to a certain age they rebelled against there parents and got into trouble with various things. When I spoke to other parents they reckoned it was because they were brought up to strict and when they got the chance of doing what they want they did with complete opposite of how they were brought up. - Not saying all children who get brought up with parents like that turn out like that I just no of a few and thats what happened to them whether it was the parents fault or not I do not no.

All I would suggest is ease the strictness of a little he's 5 kids watch plenty of tv at that age and are fine

Hi,

My kids are allowed very limited access to TV also (30 minutes here, 60 min there). What they do watch is educational and/or sports related. 30 minutes is a reasonable about of time for a 5 year old. When my kids are not watching TV they are helping around the house, reading aloud, playing with their toys, or playing with their friends. A lot of my friends do not allow/limit the duration of TV their kids are exposed to also...... so have faith you are not alone!

Limiting TV has nothing to do with "being strict." For our family, its about being together, conversing, and honestly there is nothing but sh** on TV.

Each to their own but as stated previously your children will not appreciate the behaviour/strictness you put upon them. I personally think it's wrong and I assume you must have been been through something similar yourself as a child which I see as very sad and I'm sorry for that.

I think the amount of time is up to you as a parent, I allowed my kids an hour at that age.

I limit the tablet time to an hour each, 2 of my boys have ADHD and I find if they get on it too long they get over stimulated. I let them watch cartoons for an hour in the morning and maybe an hour later, but other than that they tend to play with their toys etc