Nuff said…..

Nuff said…..

Nuff said…..

We see the grandparents only occasionally, so the TV thing is not a big deal there, our kids are either in daycare (no TV there) or in our house where we have control.

With the second one, though, we are definitely more lax with having the TV on with her around, partially because it’s pretty much impossible to let the older one watch something while she’s playing. But like most one year olds, she has a 20 second attention span, so she doesn’t just sit there gawking, something else always gets her attention, or she needs to find something to pull up on. I guess if this is a major issue we are doing pretty well.

I am amazed, though, at how pervasive the advertising is. We do talk with our daughter about what commercials are and are introducing her to money, but her little sponge mind just pulls that message right in!

We see the grandparents only occasionally, so the TV thing is not a big deal there, our kids are either in daycare (no TV there) or in our house where we have control.

With the second one, though, we are definitely more lax with having the TV on with her around, partially because it’s pretty much impossible to let the older one watch something while she’s playing. But like most one year olds, she has a 20 second attention span, so she doesn’t just sit there gawking, something else always gets her attention, or she needs to find something to pull up on. I guess if this is a major issue we are doing pretty well.

I am amazed, though, at how pervasive the advertising is. We do talk with our daughter about what commercials are and are introducing her to money, but her little sponge mind just pulls that message right in!

My 6 year old now helps my Mom on her Mac. He’ll say “Click Apple-Q, Grandma.”

My 6 year old now helps my Mom on her Mac. He’ll say “Click Apple-Q, Grandma.”

@Ted Adams: I recommend TiVo (or a DVR) to any parent. Not even thinking about the kids, it’s the only way my wife and I can keep up with our shows. Between work, dinner, stories, and bedtime, we have a general idea of when we can finally kick back on the couch, but it can vary. The usability of DVRs has improved, for sure, so it’s a solid recommendation for the kids to record their own shows, and for us to find the shows that might help entertain them for 30 minutes at a time.

@Jeff: Not difficult to keep the kids away from the TV? Depends on who is watching the kids. For my wife and I – two working parents – we are at the mercy of the caregivers. Even if/when you set down guidelines for TV watching, it’s up to the caregivers to follow through. Definitely unique for every family.

@Ted Adams: I recommend TiVo (or a DVR) to any parent. Not even thinking about the kids, it’s the only way my wife and I can keep up with our shows. Between work, dinner, stories, and bedtime, we have a general idea of when we can finally kick back on the couch, but it can vary. The usability of DVRs has improved, for sure, so it’s a solid recommendation for the kids to record their own shows, and for us to find the shows that might help entertain them for 30 minutes at a time.

@Jeff: Not difficult to keep the kids away from the TV? Depends on who is watching the kids. For my wife and I – two working parents – we are at the mercy of the caregivers. Even if/when you set down guidelines for TV watching, it’s up to the caregivers to follow through. Definitely unique for every family.

@Ted Adams: I recommend TiVo (or a DVR) to any parent. Not even thinking about the kids, it’s the only way my wife and I can keep up with our shows. Between work, dinner, stories, and bedtime, we have a general idea of when we can finally kick back on the couch, but it can vary. The usability of DVRs has improved, for sure, so it’s a solid recommendation for the kids to record their own shows, and for us to find the shows that might help entertain them for 30 minutes at a time.

@Jeff: Not difficult to keep the kids away from the TV? Depends on who is watching the kids. For my wife and I – two working parents – we are at the mercy of the caregivers. Even if/when you set down guidelines for TV watching, it’s up to the caregivers to follow through. Definitely unique for every family.

Moderation and discussion are the key. Once the kids reach a certain age (5-6)they want to take control over the control pad. You can only keep them on the Backyardigans for so long until they want to venture over to Spongebob and Fairly Odd Parents. We let them, but in limited quantities. And we talk about what they watch. The biggest challenge is the commercials, honestly, and not the shows. As soon as they see one, they want whatever they’re selling. We can’t shield them from that, just like we can’t shield them from sex or even bad people. But we can try to make them as informed as possible.

Same with the Web. My daughter’s been playing with Stardoll for 3-4 years, ever since I found it at work. She’s turning into a very good Web user, but she doesn’t have any social media accounts and we talk to her all the time about keeping an eye on giving out too much info. For the most part she’s way ahead of us.

I don’t want to shield my kids too much, just like I don’t want to live in a gated community or send my kids to a homogenous school.

Moderation and discussion are the key. Once the kids reach a certain age (5-6)they want to take control over the control pad. You can only keep them on the Backyardigans for so long until they want to venture over to Spongebob and Fairly Odd Parents. We let them, but in limited quantities. And we talk about what they watch. The biggest challenge is the commercials, honestly, and not the shows. As soon as they see one, they want whatever they’re selling. We can’t shield them from that, just like we can’t shield them from sex or even bad people. But we can try to make them as informed as possible.

Same with the Web. My daughter’s been playing with Stardoll for 3-4 years, ever since I found it at work. She’s turning into a very good Web user, but she doesn’t have any social media accounts and we talk to her all the time about keeping an eye on giving out too much info. For the most part she’s way ahead of us.

I don’t want to shield my kids too much, just like I don’t want to live in a gated community or send my kids to a homogenous school.

By the way, I LOVE the site. It’s about time something like this came along.

Best -
Jeff

By the way, I LOVE the site. It’s about time something like this came along.

Best -
Jeff

We also managed the flow by subscribing to what I call the $10 cable. Which gave us 3 PBS channels and the major networks and nothing else. So the kids weren’t even aware of Cartoon Network, Disney, or “Saturday Morning Cartoons” until much later and their world revolved around PBS Kids and particularly the shows that I found less annoying since I was controlling the recording function.

As draconian as that sounds, the kids never complained. They have between 1/2 hour and 1 hour of TV a day and they like it.

Right now they’re older, 7 & 9, and the RePlayTV has been replaced by a more kid friendly Tivo and they’ve discovered Saturday Morning Cartoons. Still they gravitate toward episodes of Fetch and Design Squad when it’s on and Maya and Miguel. My son will watch nature or science shows as long as his sister isn’t around. All programs I can stomach (and often enjoy.)

So bottom line. Tricky technology + limited cable choices + time limit for TV, means they are not full of commercial messages, spewing demands to us constantly.

We also managed the flow by subscribing to what I call the $10 cable. Which gave us 3 PBS channels and the major networks and nothing else. So the kids weren’t even aware of Cartoon Network, Disney, or “Saturday Morning Cartoons” until much later and their world revolved around PBS Kids and particularly the shows that I found less annoying since I was controlling the recording function.

As draconian as that sounds, the kids never complained. They have between 1/2 hour and 1 hour of TV a day and they like it.

Right now they’re older, 7 & 9, and the RePlayTV has been replaced by a more kid friendly Tivo and they’ve discovered Saturday Morning Cartoons. Still they gravitate toward episodes of Fetch and Design Squad when it’s on and Maya and Miguel. My son will watch nature or science shows as long as his sister isn’t around. All programs I can stomach (and often enjoy.)

So bottom line. Tricky technology + limited cable choices + time limit for TV, means they are not full of commercial messages, spewing demands to us constantly.

Just had to share that

Just had to share that

We followed the guidelines of no TV when under two pretty well in our house, it wasn’t hard since it seems like the kids were pretty easily distracted and really didn’t pay much attention. When we went to the grandparent’s house, we didn’t feel it appropriate to try and tell them what to do in their own home. At two, we allowed one show a day, and we still do that for weekdays. On weekends maybe two or three things get watched.

Our oldest is four now, and we will let her watch something but will then tell her to go do something else — color, dress up, take a nap, go outside, cut up paper and so on. She can generally find something to do, although sometimes there is some whining, she gets over it pretty quickly.

We’ll also use watching TV as an incentive in some cases, as well. We had a problem with dinner taking forever, so we now sometimes will tell her she can watch something if she eats quickly enough.

We watch kid shows on PBS, Disney and Nickelodeon. I generally find the shows on PBS to spawn the most discussions about other things, especially the excellent “Sid the Science Kid”. Also we like to watch “How It’s Made”, which can be really fascinating since she is always asking where stuff comes from.

We followed the guidelines of no TV when under two pretty well in our house, it wasn’t hard since it seems like the kids were pretty easily distracted and really didn’t pay much attention. When we went to the grandparent’s house, we didn’t feel it appropriate to try and tell them what to do in their own home. At two, we allowed one show a day, and we still do that for weekdays. On weekends maybe two or three things get watched.

Our oldest is four now, and we will let her watch something but will then tell her to go do something else — color, dress up, take a nap, go outside, cut up paper and so on. She can generally find something to do, although sometimes there is some whining, she gets over it pretty quickly.

We’ll also use watching TV as an incentive in some cases, as well. We had a problem with dinner taking forever, so we now sometimes will tell her she can watch something if she eats quickly enough.

We watch kid shows on PBS, Disney and Nickelodeon. I generally find the shows on PBS to spawn the most discussions about other things, especially the excellent “Sid the Science Kid”. Also we like to watch “How It’s Made”, which can be really fascinating since she is always asking where stuff comes from.

We followed the guidelines of no TV when under two pretty well in our house, it wasn’t hard since it seems like the kids were pretty easily distracted and really didn’t pay much attention. When we went to the grandparent’s house, we didn’t feel it appropriate to try and tell them what to do in their own home. At two, we allowed one show a day, and we still do that for weekdays. On weekends maybe two or three things get watched.

Our oldest is four now, and we will let her watch something but will then tell her to go do something else — color, dress up, take a nap, go outside, cut up paper and so on. She can generally find something to do, although sometimes there is some whining, she gets over it pretty quickly.

We’ll also use watching TV as an incentive in some cases, as well. We had a problem with dinner taking forever, so we now sometimes will tell her she can watch something if she eats quickly enough.

We watch kid shows on PBS, Disney and Nickelodeon. I generally find the shows on PBS to spawn the most discussions about other things, especially the excellent “Sid the Science Kid”. Also we like to watch “How It’s Made”, which can be really fascinating since she is always asking where stuff comes from.