"Restrictions of Amount of T.V. Time...."

I would suggest enrolling him in sports which practice on weekends. My dd is so busy, that watching TV is a real treat when she gets to do it...I don't argue about it because she watches very little.

Well n non school days, why is he inside? Our child played outside way more than inside at this age. No access to a tv out there.

She would wake up expecting to be. Able to play with her friends all day on non school days.. Or we were going to events, festivals, running errands , museums...visiting family.. And no tv or videos in the car.. Instead we sang, listened to books on cd, played car games.. Or she would read...or draw..

We did not restrict TV, but we were always going and blowing.. No time for TV till we were just flopped out...

My boys are 7 and 10. We don't have time for tv during the week at all. On the weekends I don't mind if they watch tv or play video games for a couple of hours between supper and bed. They usually play video games Friday night, we watch a movie as a family on Saturday night, and watch we tv on Sunday night. During the day on the weekend we are busy with sports, church, outings, playdates or I just send them outside to play.

OK - so I do things backwards from what most people do..... so take this however you will.

When my daughter was little I didn't really have ANY restrictions. It was just that FUN came LAST. After responsibilities. So, they had worksheets that they brought home from Kindergarten as well as 15 min per day reading / book report., she had "self-care" responsibilities (room picked up, her dirty laundry sorted / clean put away), piano practiced, help with dinner prep/clean up.

Once that was done..... really anything was fair game. It was "fun" time. Now, I value "variety" so I encouraged her to vary what she did. I also sort of set a "natural" limit, by having "Completion" transitions..... "ok, that episode of Backyardigans is over..... now what shall we do? Color? game?" Sometimes she would say watch more TV... sometimes she would pick another activity. I would say in general she watched about an hour until Jr High.... now it's more, for a variety of reasons.

I also made sure that the shows she watched were of MY choosing.... You have about another year to do this.... before your son really masters the remote and figures out what is on all on his own.

My son's TV time is very restricted. He can watch TV or movies, or play approved video games, one night a week. The rest of the week, his entertainment is books.

Academically, he's between two and five grade levels above his age. I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's because we limit his TV.

Even if you don't choose to limit your son's time so much, I do think it works well to have set times when TV is an option. Say, for example, if you let him watch cartoons until 10:30 on Saturday, then the TV clicks off at 10:30 sharp. Don't negotiate or even discuss the matter beyond that. It's either TV time or it's not.

For the weekend-- how much time do you think is reasonable? I would factor in how much time I would want my child to be outside, working on chores, cleaning up their room, helping with meals, playing with friends, and then schedule in tv time for last.

I'd say an hour, tops. If you want the 'earning' to mean something to him, then maybe start with a half-hour and let him earn more? Or go down to nothing and let him build up from that?

Don't forget, too, that incentives only work until they don't. Whatever the behavior issues you are dealing with-- you need to find those underlying causes for the misbehavior and deal with those. Incentives are like a band-aid sometimes; they change the behavior for the short term, but don't really address what's beneath whatever is challenging your son. Limiting tv is always a plus, making sure kids have lots of playtime outside (even if it's cold) is good (kids get cranky and have a bad attitude with too much screen time). Let him pick one hour of programs he wants to watch for Sat and one hour for Sun and then, any more, he must earn.

Also consider watching side-by-side with him. Do you like the behavior on the shows you see? Kids can be influenced by what they watch. If you decide you don't like how the kids/characters treat each other or behave on the show, nix it.

(in our house, tv comes last. I watch it in the evenings only, and Kiddo watches it pretty rarely. Maybe a total of an hour a week-- not that we have a point to prove, there are just far more interesting things to do!)

We give our kids, 3 and 4, one hour of TV per evening (they have none during the day - they are in a pre-k program). On the weekends it may be a little more, maybe 2 each day? One hour in the morning after breakfast, and then one hour as part of their normal night time routine (they each choose one show to watch while we clean up after dinner and get backpacks etc ready for the next day).

I have just cut off screen time around here...our new house rules have no tv on (Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays). On Thursdays they can watch/play video games if their homework is done and they have enough time saved up. Friday though Sunday it is a matter if they have collected enough time to watch.

I made a list of things that get them screen time...most things are above and beyond normal every day chores. Somethings are related to school like bring home all their papers, or scoring above a 90 on a paper.

So far we have only done this for a week...and wow, all the things my kids get done each day and the time they spend outside playing is awesome!! I will let you know how it continues...but so far so good...

About 1.5-2 hours. Since they both gave up naps at 2, their TV time is their quiet time. Save for a few behaviors I don appreciate, I've seen no negative consequences. My daughter and son are very imaginative and advanced for their age.

With that said, my daughter had zero TV time until she was 2. My son started watching close to 2 as well.

I disagree with Mira completely. My daughter is super advanced -2-5 years ahead in those areas she is interested in, and she gets lots of screen time.

Right now (winter):

School days= 45 minutes (15 for breakfast and 30 after school)
Weekends= 60 minutes (2 shows in the morning)

Sometimes we'll watch a family movie on Friday or Saturday night.

When the weather is nice, the TV is rarely on. They always watch a little Curious George during breakfast before school:)

I can tell you that the children I nanny for and my grandchildren get 1/2 hour a day of screen time. that incorporates, tv, computer, video game, handheld games etc. 1/2 total. no to that can be added up to an extra 15 minutes if they have all of there homework done there chores done and they do some extra reading. extra 15 mins of reading gets them an extra 15 mins of screen. but thats it. and issues with behavior the screen time is the first thing to go.

I have often asked my 4.5 yr old "how much do you think is a reasonable amount of time?" and strangely enough sometimes he tells me less than I was thinking! So I would involve your son in on this 'time' choice. It may be that you decide that 2 half-hour shows in the morning and 2 half-hour shows in the afternoon are plenty. That's my key - I'm not giving you 3 hours of vegging out in front of the tv, but I may give you 3 hours total if you watch a little here, then go play, a little there, then help me in do laundry, and so forth.

I can't say for sure how much my son gets. Ths morning he watched probably an hour long DVD of Tom & Jerry. When it was over, tv got turned off. He will likely want to watch something later on today. It will depend on what his dad and I are doing and his behavior and what sort of outdoor exercise he's gotten that will help us to decide if he can watch something else later.

Oh and as you decide how much time each day - decide if he gets "rollover minutes" - ie: if he gets 2 hours a day, but the day y'all go to the zoo, he watched only one, does that one extra hour roll over to the next week?

I think using tv as a reward is a good idea. Good luck!

2 hours on school days, and that goes for weekends, too here. But weekends are HARD. Even if the kids got 4 hours that still leaves hours and hours of them bouncing off the walls. Yes, we are super busy and do sports, music, even a daily after-school program until evening for the 6-year-old. (Even getting home after 5 leaves a dragging evening, I need to cook and the TV goes on). But he's been busy for 9 hours with no TV at school, then aftercare. He just wants to relax. Bed is 7:30.

I commend the responses that don't allow much tv. But I can only say that as a mom who has her kids enrolled in EVERYTHING under the sun (5 little ones), there are still hours and hours to stay busy. 2 of those are TV. And still the days are long!

I follow the AAP recs. The ones under 2 don't get any because they don't watch or care to. I really have no way to make sure they never see the TV like I did with my oldest.

By the way, we have no other screen time in the house and no electronics for the kids.