Many parents encouraging tots to watch TV

[Roon]

WASHINGTON - One mother stopped watching “ER” reruns when her preschooler tried to give her little brother CPR. Another mom laughed that her 15-month-old sang the McDonald’s jingle — “ba, ba, boppa, ba” — every time they drove past the golden arches.

One-third of the nation’s youngest children — babies through age 6 — live in homes where the television is on almost all the time, says a study that highlights the immense disconnect between what pediatricians advise and what parents allow.

TV in the bedroom is not even that rare for the littlest tots anymore. Almost one child in five under 2 has a set, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics advises against any TV watching at that age.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12948895/

I remember a family friend who had two boys but no television. When those kids came over to our house they would just glue themselves to our TV and not be a bother for anyone.

[Binka]

1. My Just Turned Five Year Old Hates TV.....Why You Ask?

Because anything that puts "The idiot Bush on so many times must really stink." She has a good point!

[CornField]

2. Parents need to use a timer.

The timer is my best friend. You see, little people don't know how to tell time and they really don't have much of a concept of time. So, if you promise them 30 minutes of television, they don't really know when the time has passed, how it is measured or whatever. By using the timer, however, they can see you set it and know when it dings that the set amount of time is up. It's great!

For those parents looking for an idea about how to better schedule television and other activities, I'll share how we do it. Every child has a favorite show or program & we (husband and I) believe that some television can be very good. With these two things in mind, we allow each child a maximum of 6 hours of television each week (not to exceed more than 2 hours a day) --- although we have made exceptions for made-for-tv movies which run the whole week, marathons, etc.

The older two children (readers) are allowed to look over the TV guide and pick shows they want to see. The younger is allowed to name the shows he wants to see. After that, we can set up reminders on the television for those selected shows. We set the timer for the appropriate amount of time so that we are aware when the program ends.

Finally, when someone watches television in our house, they *only* watch television. That is, we don't allow eating, playing or any other activities to happen during tv time (with the exception of dancing and singing along with the children's shows).

Oh... if any child (or adult) is discovered watching television when it is not his/her designated TV time, they must contribute a 'fine' to the "family tax jar" ;)

[Kazak]

3. Our rule for ourselves and our child...

If you want to watch a program on TV, fine. The rule is: know what you're going to watch, turn on the TV, watch the program, and then turn it off.

The rule works perfectly for any television watching, dvds, or movies. We like to watch Lost, so on Wednesday evenings we turn the TV on, watch the show, then turn the TV off. We have a collection of DVDs, so for instance if I want to watch the episode of Seinfeld the we're on, turn on the TV, insert the DVD, watch the program, then turn it off. During the fall, if I know of a football game that I want to watch, turn on the TV, watch the game, then turn it off. The point is you can only turn on the TV if you know what you want to watch, watch it, then turn it off.

[Odin2005]

4. Kids under 2 shouldn't be whatching TV.