TV time!

Ever since Miles told me all the names of all the characters on his cartoons I decided to severely limit the kids TV time. It was kind of a wake-up call of sorts. I thought I was limiting their TV time already. I took a step back and thought about it. It was a lot of TV watching. All the " here and there's" sure do add up to a lot of time. Amara would wake up before anybody and turn the TV on and might get 1 hour in before the rest of the house was up. When Miles got up it was only fair that he got to watch a show-or 2 before breakfast. So, by 8AM Amara should have been done watching TV for the day. They would both watch 1-2 more shows after school, depending on what I was doing ( cooking, cleaning or whatever). And then the hour before bed( Dora and Diego). Yep, that's way too much according to the experts. This does not include the ESPN that Matt used to turn on as soon as he came home from work. After all, adult shows don't count right?!?! Wrong! Any moving picture - cartoons, video games, computer shows, prime time TV etc. counts as TV time.
We now limit TV time. It was easier for Amara to understand. Miles on the other hand, well he is getting used to it now. The TV is set to the music station now so when Amara gets up in the morning she can still turn the TV on, but there are no moving pictures just music. I also have www.pandora.com on the computer now. We can listen to music for free while the kids eat and play. I use TV as a reward for Miles and his potty training at the moment. Because going #2 is such an issue these days- the kids can watch 1 (30 minute) show every time he goes #2 in the potty. This is about an every 3 day occurrence. The kids were able to watch a bit more TV during the Winter Olympics because it was the Olympics! I need to make sure I don't keep coming up with more excuses like that though just because I want to watch TV. If Amara is home and Miles is sleeping she and I might watch a show on The Food Network together every once in a while too. Matt has also stopped turning the TV on, so that helps immensely with limiting TV. I feel good about our decision. We LOVE music in our house and it is on more than it is not. The kids are always singing and dancing around and also make requests. We are reading a lot more and doing more crafty things ( I am not crafty at all, but I try). I like the fact that viewing a TV show is more special for the kids now instead of the norm if that makes sense. I am hoping we can stick with it. I think it will get even easier as the weather warms up and we can spend more time outside. So far, so good.

More TV talk......

I came across this in my daughter's newsletter that is distributed once a week. I think I need to try this out.

If you want to limit your child's TV time, try this idea:

Every week give him seven slips of paper. Each is good for an hour of TV. Remind him to plan ahead. For example, if he wants to watch a movie that is 2 hours long on Saturday, he'll nee to save an extra ticket during the week.

Educational TV for kids

My kids pediatrician says not to watch TV or play the computer for over 2 hours a day for my kids. I would like to say that I wish I abated by these rules all the time, but I don't. I admit it. We have gotten a lot better especially since Amara's Doc asks her how much TV she watches! She tells the truth! I try to do 1 half hour program in the morning and then the kids eat breakfast and I turn the radio/TV ( not videos) on while they eat and then it's still on afterwards.


The same goes for lunch time and dinner. Now that Amara is in school and Miles naps during that time, the TV is rarely on for that 3 hours.


It's after school that I am dealing with. The kids get one 30 minute show when Amara gets home and then I try to turn it off. I say try because it's usually around dinner time then and I am in the kitchen and they both want attention. Coloring gets old and Amara can sometimes have enough of her little brother! It's not everyday that I give in to the idiot box, but on some days it just seems unavoidable!


I came across an article in Children's Health Magazine called
"Grading the TV Teachers".

The Top picks were:

Sesame Street

Beakman's World

Between the Lions

3-2-1 Penguins!

Cyberchase

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Fetch! with Ruffman, and Teen Kids News

What to avoid:

Curious George

The Replacements

That's So Raven

The kids don't watch any of these shows except for Sesame Street! I have only heard of a few of the others.