Do you restrict how much TV your kids watch?

Oh hell yes I restrict my Kids TV Time and Computer time. They don't at their mother's house of course but I think they appreciate that I look after them and care enough to set some rules.

Yes and that is very essential as they need time for their school work, eyes get spoiled by too much tv.

I think that there should be a restriction of time and what they watch on tv. The sit enough these days. They need to get out and be a little active. Have some good fun for a change besides videos, tv, and computers. Like ball, fishing, skating, bike riding and such.

I have a two year old. He is allowed to watch 1-1/2 hours a day of t.v. (shows that I pick) and on Saturdays he can watch about 3 hours. when he gets older, it may go up, we'll see. But he's pretty young to be watching more than that.

Good mornig (or afternoon if that is the case where you reside). This is one of those hot topics that has research supporting all sides of the coin! I feel the key, as with anything else in life, lies in moderation and common sense! When my children were smaller, we did try to monitor the amount of time our children were in front of a TV. This really wasn't a big deal as we spent so much time playing WITH the kids that there wasn't a lot of time left for TV. I have read that some of the ill effects of too much tv are: decreased reading levels, increase in nervous/anxious energy, obesity, reinforcement of sterotypes and gender roles. I have included a few websites below for those who might want to read further about TV and children. http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html http://www.aap.org/pubed/ZZZGF8VOQ7C.htm?&sub_cat=1

I restrict tv with my son. We actually don't have a tv. But we have a laptop that we can watch tv on off the internet. He is rewarded with children's educational tv programs for things like doing all of his chores (making sure the dogs have food and water, keeping his room picked up, helping to set the dinner table, helping daddy take out garbage, etc.) The main reason that I restrict tv is because I want my son to be a reader. And he is. He loves to read. He is homeschooled and reading at 3rd grade level. I also feel that most tv is garbage, and if he's not reading, playing outside would be better than vegging in front of the tv.

My grandson has been staying with us and often asks to watch television. We limit the amount of time he watches television programs. His request is usually to watch cartoons. We allow him to watch them, but only one or two. We will turn on the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet more than any other station. PBS also has great children's programming and we will check to see if there is anything of interest for him to view. We do read a lot of books and I will tell him that if he wants to watch a cartoon that is fine, but we need to read our books first. We practice the same viewing habits on the weekends. Often times we will opt for a movie instead of a television show.

Mine watch about three hours a day but since they are geeks it's usually the NASA channel or A&E. I am hooked on CSI Miami so that's about all I watch on a regular basis; there are days when the cable box never gets turned on but they'll play video games or go online to play chess. I've never limited the amount of time they can watch but there are shows that they KNOW they aren't allowed to watch. Most of them are cartoons that I don't find acceptable (I'm not talking about Beavis & Butthead or Ren & Stimpy either).

Not only how much time we are restricting them specially during weekdays, but also we restricting them on what they are watching, we also see to it that we (me and my wife) are just right there watching tv with them (kids).

I think everyone should watch what type of shows their children are watching and also should limit their time in front of the tv. Too many kids are in front of the tv or computers and computer games instead of being outside or playing with other kids OR - now this is a novel idea - or spending time with their parents!!! My grand-daughter is 7 so can only watch certain dvds but she got very upset when she stayed at her friends house as they were allowed to watch a '15', she was upset cos she knew she shouldn't be watching it. So I had a word with the family and told them not to have her watching stuff that's too old for her. It never occurred to them to be careful about what their kids watch, yet their daughter whose 7 has nightmares after watching this stuff, but they just say oh she'll be fine!! So even though we can be careful at home we never do know what happens in other peoples houses!!

I have never set any limits on TV time here. I let them watch as much as they want. I do still make them do chores and get outside during the day. I dont just let them sit in front of the TV all day.

yes i do, my kids are all going to school already and they need more time on studying than watching tv. they watch only on something they can learn something on. weekends they can watch but after their chores and up to 8pm only.

When my kids were younger I limited their tv. Now that two are teens I really don't have to limit it all that much cause they have so many other things going on that they don't watch that much. My toddler will be 'monitored' but right now he doesn't really watch too much tv. Usually the only thing he watches is Sesame Street. Or his Sesame Street DVD. I am not one of those parents that has the tv babysit my kids.

I restrict my kids in watching TV and Computer. There is no TV on weekdays, as after work, I would like to spend time with them, talk to them and find out what happen in school. That is the only moment we have for the weekdays as we are working adult. As for weekend, I will allow my kids to have a bit of TV and computer. Usually a 2 to 3 hours on weekend on TV, and restricted to 2 children channels, that way, I know what she is watching. And allow her to have about 2 hours of computer playing games online, split the hour up into 2 sessions, but only allow her to the a particular site that we had vet thru... She is only 6 year old, thus hope that measure that we take were able us to monitor her activities and guide her the right direction..

Good morning (or afternoon if that is the case where you reside) This is one of those hot topics that has research supporting every answer! I feel the key, as with anything else in life, is moderation and common sense. When my children were smaller, I did limit the amount of TV time. It wasn't hard to do and wasn't a big issue with them as we spent a great deal of time playing WITH our children. I have seen research that lists some of the ill effects of too much television as being: decreased reading levels, obesity, increase in negative/anxious energy, seeing poor role models and negative sterotypes and the list goes on. I have listed a couple of websites below for those who might want to read further. http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_

Well, I don't know that I quite count in this discussion, but I limit the TV time my children have by just not having one in the house. They occasionally watch snippets of something, or sports at restaurants, that kind of thing, but do not regularly watch any at all.