How Much Tv and Computer Time Do You Allow Each Day?

I don't really have a time limit. I just try to have a healthy balance of all activities such as play time, quiet time, tv time, computer time, etc. I will tell you one thing, my son is only 3 and can already totally navigate the computer all on his own. He has learned his numbers, alphabet, colors, shapes, etc. on the computer and on Sesame Street. So.....the computer and tv are great learning tools as long as it isn't all they do. Good luck@! :)

N.,

I have 5 boys ages 13 yrs 10 yrs 7 yrs 5 yrs and 2 yrs for my older boys I make them earn computer time. I assign time value to household chores and they have to earn time to play on the computer. For instance moving a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer will earn them 15 minutes of computer time, running an item up or down the stairs for me earns 5 min a trip, it did take awhile for us to come to agreement on the minute value of chores. I have also offered an unlimited day of computer time as an incentive on occasion too (very rarely though). For my younger boys I use the computer time as an incentive. My 5 year old is the pokiest thing I have ever seen, especially in the mornings getting ready for school, so what I do is when he is completely ready to go, which means he has eaten, gotten dressed, bushed his teeth, washed his face, and combed his hair, if he has any time left he gets to choose an video/song to watch on youtube. His favorite is the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom song.

As far as TV time goes instead of limiting the TV itself, we limit the programs that they are allowed to watch. We do have cable and tend to have the TV on a lot, but only on educational type shows, PBS in the mornings, and then Discovery, History, Weather type channels. I find that because the TV is on all the time, my children spend very little time in front of it. Once in awhile they will become engrossed in a program and just sit there, but for the most part they are moving around in and out of the room.

We do however have a routine in the afternoon when they get home from school. The TV is turned off, we all sit down and eat dinner together (right after school-which works for us) then we do homework. After that they have chores that need to be done everyday. Then their time is thier own. If the weather is nice they will usually go outside, I have one son who constantly has his nose stuck in a book, and 2 of the other ones are Lego fanatics, so if they are stuck inside they tend to be doing those things.

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with letting them watch some TV so that you can get a few things done, to me its more important to be picky about WHAT they are watching, and it sounds like you already are.

Good Morning N.!!

At our house we lump ALL things that are sit down and stare at a screen (TV, videos, computer, Wii, Nintendo DS, Leapster etc) into the category "MEDIA".

When the kids are in school (all day everyday) they get one hour of media to use as they choose (except Friday, because they have no school the next day). If they have no school (or are in pre-school which is 1/2 day) they have 2 hours.

Since we have 3 kids who use Media... we have a chart on the fridge that is broken down into 30 minute intervals. And each child has a magnet that is the first letter of their name. As they ask/use their time they move their letter up to how much they have used.

It works for us!! And it is amazing how much they fuss when their time is done... but when they don't have something to entertain them they are very creative at finding interesting things to do. They read.. play together building things... sometimes they even ASK to help me!!! (Gotta love that!!)

Hope this helps!
Peace,
B.

I firmly believe it is not the amount of time (necessarily) that they spend watching TV...it's how much you interact with them (or them with each other) during that time. If TV is a babysitter while you get a few things done...fine. What's wrong with that? Im sure you are careful what they are watching. My kids love the computer (although they think it only goes to mommy's work and the disney site) and it's a necessary part of learning for this generation. Again, it's what they do on the computer that matters. I think if you are aware of the time (which you are just by asking) then they will be fine. It's not the TV or computer alone that influences kids...it's what they watch/do that matters, as well as what the rest of their day consists of.

~L.

I have an almost 5 year old and a 16 mos old. My rule is no TV before 2.5. At 2.5 I let my son watch a 30 minute DVD of Elmo, Dora or Disney. Now, he can watch about 30 minutes of TV at night, with me or my husband before bed. He can play on his Fisher Price computer when he wants, he never plays more than 30 minutes at a time and it is educational. He really isn't interested in video games.

On the weekends, I allow about an hour or so of TV (Disney channel only) in the am right when we get up. But this time he is also playing, not just sitting and watching.

Occassionaly during the week I will allow him to watch Disney channel before school so that my husband and I can finish getting dressed. This is usually no more than 15 mins.

There is no standard. Because everyone is different with varying thoughts on their own individual kids. Kids are different.

Not that it worked but we tried limiting our kids to an hour or two of tv per day.
they had to bicker over the computer. If someone was playing a game they didn't want to be interrupted.

So it really varies.

I don't think there really IS a standard. Some people think TV is the devil, some rely on it all the time, some have found a happy medium. The key is to find out what YOUR happy medium is. I don't see anything wrong with your kids watching TV while you get housework done as long as it's age appropriate and, even better, educational to some degree.

If you would like to set an actual "amount of time", try getting a timer or set the timer on the stove for however long you are comfortable.

Good luck!

There are standards for TV and other media viewing recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and they include no tv for children under 2 and then no more than 1 hr per day after age 2.A very large study was just reported on by the National Institute of Health and it showed negative health impacts for children who were exposed to TV/Internet/video/DVD for more than 8 hrs per week. I spoke with the lead author Ezekiel Emmanuel and here are his recommendations:
No TV/DVD or other type of video media for children under 2 and in fact it is great if you can manage that up to age 5 (I haven't managed it myself).
Less than 8 hours of TV/Internet/DVD/Videogames per week for other ages (in line with the study). So that is no more than 1 hr per day.
When you are doing housework, it is great if you can involve the children in what you are doing eg. helping with cooking etc. I have started this with my 2 yr old and it is working great. She loves to sit on a big stool and watch what is going on and stir a bowl etc. For the rest of the time, I have her do art workor play with her dolls etc. and I also forgo a bunch of housework :)Also, there is no evidence of benefit from the TV or DVD learning tools that the toy industry promotes so well. Generally, as found by Maria Montessori and a lot of other researchers, children learn through action and so 3-D stimulation is important. Good Luck.

My kids seem to have their own "inner" TV clock. We only watch educational cartoons and after about 30-45 min they get bored all on their own, turn it off or go and play. If my inner "mom" clock seems to think it's been too long then I ask them to turn it off and they always comply. I prefer this because it doesn't make TV taboo and they learn to balance their time well between books, toys, TV and video games. Contrary to popular belief my kids have watched TV since birth, both spoke words by 4 months, sentences by 1 year and were COMPLETELY conversational by 2. They both know numbers, letters, shapes and my 5 year old is a fluent reader. We are just a more relaxed family and I know that sometimes after 8 hours at school he just needs to come home and chill out. Go with what works for your family. Teach your kids to be responsible for their own actions and it won't ever become an issue.

Good Luck!

I know what you mean I get my cooking done when my kids are watching tv. I have a 5yr old and a 3yr old I allow them to watch one each for the whole day and I let them play on the pc for 1hr.

I know I'm late to respond but want to throw in my 2 bits worth. I sort of did a psychological experiment on my kids. My eldest now nearly 6 wasn't interested in a lot of the educational shows and preferred things like Danny Phantom, Ben 10, Star Wars, and Scooby Doo. My daughter now 4 preferred more educational programs like Maggie & the Ferocious Beast, Pinky Dinky Doo, Dora, Diego, Yo Gabba Gabba, Between the Lions, etc. Despite their watching a lot of TV...my son is a very creative person and can understand foreshadowing and draw conclusions (whereas my daughter can't) and even went so far as to pretend he was wearing Ben 10's Omnitrix while he was playing soccer and "became" an alien to deal with the unpleasantness of having to get through a season of a sport he hated.

My daughter, on the other hand, is in 3 yr old preschool. She is advanced for her age, knowing all her letters and the sounds they make as well as being able to identify them. Based on what she's been watching on Between the Lions, there is no doubt in my mind she is at least 1/2 there to knowing her sight words as well.

Can too much TV be bad? Yeah, probably. But I think the major key is limiting WHAT they watch...as you can see, I don't see significant effects to my kids watching what they have. I DO however, agree that video and computer games should be limited...that's where I see the BIGGEST tantrums being pitched in my family. And it is ALWAYS the first thing to go when kids are having a problem getting up in the morning or doing undesirable chores...after all, we can't all sit around and play Wii 24/7...LOL.

I also agree that it is important to have them involved in other activities...my kids are both involved in swimming, gymnastics and dance. They love to ride their bikes and go to the park as much as we can be dragged out of the house to take them...LOL...so hope this had shed some additional light on what I have found worked/didn't work in my house.

Hi N.,
I know it's a bit late but I still wanted to comment. I have never restricted my 4.5yo son's tv time, only the content. I don't know if he's the exception but I babysat a many of my friends' kids and all but one of those who have the restricted tv rule become mesmerized and not do anything else while it's on. My son, on the other hand, is a very creative guy and plays constantly while it's on, stopping occasionally to really watch it. He also will sit on the couch and watch when he's tired. He will also ask for videos on occasion. BTW, the shows are on channels I choose (PBS has fun educational shows). I like that he's hearing these shows even when he's playing superhero fireman with his fire truck and race cars! lol

IMO, restricting tv time has backfired because the kids just wanted more. On the flip side, perhaps my son will be one of those who needs background noise to do anything--we never know how, huh?

D.

I am really glad mothers are actually limiting the intake of tv and video games - I thought I was the only one!! It seems so many kids today are baby-sat by electronics. I took over the parenting from my MIL who spoiled them and they watched tv constantly and played one hour of video games a day - and my DSS was only 8 and DSD was 5 when I took over....so their whole lives were consumed by media and noise, etc...when i started to limit this, they freaked out and couldn't even play outside for 5 minutes because they did not have imaginations or any kind of creativity whatsoever. They would get bored or tired (out of shape at a young age!) and they would beg to come in and watch tv or play video games. It was a struggle at first, but I remained consistent and only let them watch 1 kids movie (usually 89 minutes) or 2 tv shows a day and only 30 minutes of video games...I tried to do the hour of games, but that was far too much - my DSS would get frustrated and cry if he lost, etc and I realized it had a damaging effect on him at a young age....so I decreased the amount...when he turned 11, I increased his game time to 45 mins to see how he handled it. DSD still have only 30 minutes...sometimes I would lose track of how long they had been playing, so I started using a timer, but then if I was in the other room, they would set the timer back to make me think they had more time...I caught onto that real quick and decided they had to wait till 'game time,' so they would not rush their homework and chores in order to play, and also so I could keep track of what time they would have to get off. This seems to have worked well for me...and not the kids are SO GOOD about playing in their rooms or outside and are behaving much better. Also - have to add that while some shows are oriented to kids, they are still not good for them - some kids cartoons are banned from our house because they are not teaching proper behavior...I would hear the kids imitating the characters and starting to get attitudes with me, so I took away shows where the kids were disrespectful to their parents or called each other 'stupid,' etc and this has also helped because now they aren't talking back as much and say 'yes ma'am' and 'yes sir.' Parenting is a full-time job, but it's reassuring to know that other parents are also taking this job seriously! Great job!

N.; yes i have 3 kids also, i have made it a rule, that once homework ,and chores are done, they can watch tv or play on the computer, we put in a password so the only way to log in is if we put in the password, otherwise they cannot just get on the computer, once all is done, then they can use computer and tv up till bedtime, but we are all on computers at that time, and we as a family enjoy games and other things together, my kids are older and they are home by 3 most chores are done by 4 or 5 , they still have a bedtime and go to bed at 10 pm, for school aged children, the two left in school are both in high school, if they have stuff they want to do in their room, but they are in their room , by 10 ,so at times my older kids can have up to 5 hours, depends when they get stuff done, but for younger kids, we were usually there with them, when they played, and we made sure, it was content according to age, but a few hours wont hurt, on good content, of course if content is not intended for that child , no amount time is good, use your judgement according to your own kids, my husband is a computer guy, so we all have computers, and use them in the living room, no one has computer in their room, this allows us to see what is going on, keep it in a public place it eliminates alot of not knowing, any way, have a good day and if a game or tv show affects their attitude, it was not allowed to be viewed or played, so do what your family needs, and can handle, enjoy life, D. s

Our rule is half an hour each day on weekdays, and two-and-a-half hours total for the weekend, which makes for a grand total of five hours a week. The children use a timer and decide whether to watch TV or play with their nintendo ds or use the computer.

The best thing is we have Tivo, so if they watch tv, they are watching shows that we have approved, and are waiting on Tivo. They never just go to the family room and turn on the tv and watch whatever is on.

My boys read a lot for fun, every day. And by a lot I mean an hour minimum each day.

N., It is so wise of you to ask. I would say "Don't let them watch any, LOL!" It is hard when we have things to take care of and they just want to be entertained or play. I set up a play kitchen, little art center, kids computer games and other things to help the kids be creative and do things to play instead of watch tv. they can also watch movies, not tv. Part of the problem is the influence from tv messages, commercials but then you are also starting habits of watching tv. I think limiting them is great but get them into doing something else. I have a foster home. Many of the kids that come into my home, love to watch tv when they come...by the time they are exposed to all the fun stuff I have put into their invironment...the tv never comes on. My daughter...she never watches tv. As my daughter as gotten older (9) she as moved into other things, all creative. I am not rich by any means, I'm a single mom who has had my share of struggles. There are many things you can add to your home your kids will enjoy that are cheap or free. I'm a big craigslister...You are the biggest influence your kids will have, and you only have a small window of time to do it...then the rest of the world has the rest...and PRAY

Hi N.. I didn't see your original post or would have responded. Just saw your response. I know you've already set a plan in place but thought I'd just give some experience and suggestion from my own thought... My friend has two sons who love their Wii - more even than TV. One of her sons has a love for academics (he doesn't fight his homework) but the other has a difficult time concentrating and putting to mind homework and reading responsiblities. What she has done is allow him Wii time in accordance with his reading time. For instance, if he reads for one hour, then he will get one hour of Wii time. This has not only provided a motivation for him to read (as is part of his homework) but has actually turned into a love for reading moreover than the love for the Wii. As a side benefit, she no longer has to continue to remind him to read. This obviously wouldn't work for your two year old but may be a great motivational factor for your 7 year old. Children who read are much more open to academic success. For my own children, I don't allow TV before school and after school, only after homework and chores are complete. At that time they can either watch tv (only shows approved by me) or play video games, though more often than not, they prefer to play outside and only end up watching tv while I'm making supper. My daughter likes to watch tv, my son play video games. On the weekend, they are allowed to do either as long as they also have outside play time and complete their chores. Chores and homework always come first. I hope this helps. You are a good mom to look into what is best for your children and set down rules and boundaries. I love this site! It is such an amazing network of women. Have a wonderful day!!!

My kids love to watch some cartoons when they first wake up. Soon after breakfast I tell them the t.v. is going off after the show they're watching is done.

When my kids (11, 5, 2) were home all day during the summer my rule was 1/2 hour on the computer 2x/day , or 1 hr total. Sometimes my two oldest would combine their time and get on Webkinz together.

As far as movies, they could each pick out a movie to watch (2 total max), which I would put on after lunch for a nap/rest time. Sometimes they'd watch them all together, and sometimes they'd watch their own movie in separate rooms.

They also had a couple of age-appropriate chores they had to complete each day, I'd try to get them involved in a craft or just draw, write, read a book etc. And, since it was summer, they had to go outside at some point, weather permitting. We'd walk, or go to the park, sometimes we'd go to the Library, or just water flowers in the yard.

It is so nice to be able to use the t.v. as a sitter sometimes, and I've done that too. Sometimes we all just need that!

i have a 1 and 3 year old..

Tv is my electronic babysitter... but I use it sparingly..

a 15 minute video before nap.. 15 minutes before bed and then if i have to get something done or mom just needs a break..I also often use TV when I am preparing dinner..

Of course there are days when I have a headache and I just lay on the couch and they watch 2 horus of TV... but that is not our normal day.

I know this is very late but thought I would just throw in my opinion too. I agree with the mom (I think Lisa B) when saying it's not so much limiting TV but limiting what they watch. We have TV on most all day but my girls are very active. They don't watch much for long. They have their favorite shows but we have a large backyard and my girls make good use of it. The oldes reads too and they have lots of toys for imatingation etc. We also love to bake/cook together and craft. The oldest is in to swimmng and the youngest of course goes to the pool as well and loves playing. We are also very busy with church activities, play groups and have lots of "family time" because hubby travels quite a bit. We also are avid on having dinner almost every night at the table and "talking" in detail about our day. TV goes off at this time even though it's in the other room, I dont' want to hear it in background.

I liked Belinda's response re: "Media Time". We have the same, we call it "Screen Time". This covers movies, TV, computer time, and video games including those played on a TV or handheld.

Our kids (ALL ages: 14, 12, 6, 4, and 2) get 1 hour a weekday. They have to set a timer on the oven in order to use it. The older ones used to use old Chuck-E-Cheese tokens to buy 1/2 hour per token. They are not allowed screen time unless chores and homework are done.

On weekends we will often watch a movie which obviously takes more than 1 hour. But we limit it to that.

The reason is that the olders (my stepkids) go back and forth between homes. They do not have restriction on screen time at mom's house, yet they both have struggled severely in school. We believe it is directly related. (Homework is not turned in, yet they can always tell you what happened on their favorite show the night before!)

I also read an article about the way shows are filmed nowadays, there is constant motion. There are multiple TV cameras and they jump from one angle to the next. In the past, this was not so. If you want to see what I mean, compare a typical kids' show today (or any TV show) with Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. His show is very, very slow in comparison. There is no jumping between cameras. There is one camera which follows the entire show, for the most part. I can't remmber their technical name for this particular effect, it was like the flash effect or something. What it does is train kids' eyes and brains to want constant motion, very active, etc. This supposedly contributes to ADD and ADHD. I can't say what the scientific research is to back this up, but it seemed to make perfect sense to me once I compared the TV shows.

To report in on how well it has worked with the stepkids, they do not question our screen time policy at all. They stick to it, and no questions asked. My kids try to push the package a little more, but we try to stay consistent.

Honestly, I would like to use the TV as a babysitter more, but I try not to.

Best of luck to you as you decide how to proceed!

I know this is late and you got lots of advice. In case anyone still reads - I am wondering about if anyone watches a show as a family do you count that as their time? We usually end our evening (last 30-45 minutes) watching some things we like as a family, such as Man vs Wild or food channel, travel channel, etc. It sparks good conversation and we have fun doing it. I don't count this as "their" time.

I am happy that you put a limit on tv. If you study the nervous system and the brain there are bad effects from watching too much tv. you can look up psychological reports of it. When a catscan is done on the brain there are negative reactions from the light that is flashed in there eyes, emulating the light from tv.

I have a 10 year old and a 7 year old, both boys. In our home the computer and video games are more of a problem than tv, but what we do can be applied to either. We make the boys "earn" game time through physical activity. Basically, they get a minute of video games/computer for every minute of real physical activity such as riding their bike, jumping rope, running up and down the stairs, or some of the activities on WII Fit. This has worked well in our home and can be adjusted based on what you feel your child needs.

N.,

For awhile we used laminated coupons that we hung on the fridge with magnets. We tried to limit tv to one hour a day so the coupons were for 30 minutes at a time. Each time he wanted to watch tv he had to give me a coupon and I would set the timer for 30 minutes. It worked pretty well because he could see how much more time he had left.

Now I just use the timer to monitor tv time. I also use it to help me get tasks done around the house. We taught our son that if the timer is running you can't ask questions or talk to the person who is working until the timer beeps. It took patience and lots of reminders to teach him to check the timer before asking questions or bothering me, but it has paid off.

Good luck!

-C..

I was wondering if the mom who wrote about the MEDIA time and how they keep a chart- if she could help give me more detail- It sounds great and I would like to try to do something like it for our family.. So I would love more info- or even a picture - so I could understand it better.

We have an "hour on/hour off" policy for all video. During the school week they get 1/2 hour of video game time for every A they've received the previous marking period. From Sept to Nov its weekends only. And nothing until homework is done. They need unwind time after school, but I let that be snack w/o video input. Now that my son is 14 and gets home before me, its harder to monitor TV, but I don't bother if the shows are good, since he likes Mythbusters and History and Discovery channel shows. I admit I used TV for myself when I was home with them and they were very young, but I still kept it to no more than an hour at a time.

I also had three children under the age of 5. I lived for the Barnie tapes! Sometimes you need the "routine" to get things done in the house. I did use a lot of video tapes and DVD's since we didn't have cable or satellite. My kids would watch for 30 minutes take a break. Probably a total of 2 hours a day. We als had a movie in as I started to put the kids to bed in reverse age order. I let me kids play computer games for roughly 30 minutes at a time, but I am fortunate that I never enforce the rule. They play a couple games and move on. Our rule is homework needs to be done by 6 or practice time. They can watch or play games, but they need to get their work done as well. My children are very active and go outside or play sports without being prompted now and that is what we encouraged before they got into school. Balance is the answer. Don't feel guilty about using a good show or entertainment to keep your young kids in one room so you can cook dinner.

Hmm I am coming to this late and it is interesting to see the responses. Apparently alot of folks like to leave the tv on all the time and think it has zero effect as long as it is an educational type show. When my child was young it never even occured to me to let him watch tv. When he was four or five I let him watch a Sesame street or something.
I think it has a profound effect and so do video games. Experts have shown also that all this media effects how children sleep at night etc. so if your child can't fall asleep you might want to turn it off.
The problem isnt even when they are super young when it is easy to control.(I'm talking video games and boys) As they get older it becomes addictive and that's all they want to do. So I hear from many moms.