My 16 year old has cable TV in his room. My triplets do not. After school they get a snack, do homework and if the weather is decent they can go out to play for a bit. Otherwise they get one or two half hour shows that are on DVR that I pre-record. I choose shows on PBS that are fun learning shows. I never do shows that are above their age. When I DVR and have parental block on all TVS then I get control over what they watch. But after dinner it is a no TV time for them. Dinner, shower and bed. If there's time then they can read a book or play quietly in their room before bed at 8pm. They're 6 turning 7 next month.
They came out with a study on TV today about young children being too stimulated, not learning as well, when they watch active cartoons. I've known this for years and have been trying to tell others as well. Spongebob was an example, and that's one show I don't like my kids watching. I've noticed with my triplets that if they watch a slower paced show then they will not be as hyper so they are not allowed to watch Spongebob or other shows that are above their age or just too hyper. Not during the week at least. My older boys did not watch much TV after dinner either. The end of dinner marked clean up, showers, and quiet time to get them into bed on time and in the right frame of mind.
**I wanted to add that our rule has been you can have a TV in your room at 16, but it's circumstantial depending on the child. (not sure how this will work with triplets) Our oldest son now 24 wasn't allowed cable because he was a TV junky and we only allowed certain movies in his collection. Our 16 year old now rarely plays his Wii and only watches TV to watch baseball games that we DVR for him (Yankees fan) and we have parental control on his TV as well. He's not allowed to watch rated R, only TV13/14 or lower and all gaming and such is blocked along with individual channels since some stations don't use proper judgement on ratings so we block Comedy Central, rated X channels, MTV and BET (some music videos are nasty) and others. Otherwise, the kid is sporty and is outside practicing baseball or running around doing something with friends.
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K. B
mom to 5 including triplets