TVs in bedrooms

[theglyphon]

So far I a holding out in being a one TV household. It seems to me that if the kids have TVs in their rooms twe'll never see them. And if they sometimes have to trade off and only get to see some of the program they want then that is probably a good thing. I mean kids need to learn how to compromise...

But it does seem to me like most of there friends *actually do* have TVs in their rooms (I'm not just taking their word on this. Am I hopelessly behind the times in wanting kids to live in the living room with their family rather than trick out their rooms like mini apartments?

[penguinmama]

There are two TVs in my boys' room...BUT they are not hooked up to television. They use them for GameCube and TV plug-n-play games... and THEN only with permission.

I do not recommend TV hooked up to cable or satellite in a child's room, personally. Too difficult to supervise and control what's being watched.

[tater03]

My boys are currantly sharing a bedroom and they do have a TV in there. It was mainly hooked up for this golf game they were playing. They don't watch it during the day but at night they do watch a half hour of it and then it goes off. I do know what they are watching because it is Spongebob all the time.

[TracyW]

My 10 year old does have a TV in his room. We only have Directv on the TV in the livingroom so he can only view the local channels via tv antenna in his room. He mostly uses his TV for playing his Playstation2 and GameCube. I know that once I allow him to have satelitte TV in his room ~ I will never see him. He loves Disney channel and would coop himself up in there ~ but yes, there is a thing as tooooo much TV. Tough parenting decision. My son asked for a "lap top" for Christmas ~ I was like WHAT???????? what in the wooooooooorld is a 10-year old going to do with a lap top. He was like "well, so and so has one and so and so has one and they play games on theirs" ~ OMG what is this world coming to? I can't afford for my 10-year old son to have a lap top ~ if I could ~ I would have one for myself.

[theglyphon]

I totally agree on that one. Would I give a kid who can't carry a glass of juice across the carpet without spilling with a piece of equipment that costs a month's salary? The have a desktop in the living room to use. If any laptop enters the picture it will not have the internet. I am not paranoid but if I watch to ensure they are never doing anyting online they want to hide from me. Call me evil Mommy. sigh.

[Tom]

Personally I'd call you caring mommy or wise mommy but not evil mommy for that.

I've heard too many MySpace horror stories and have also watched too many Dateline "To Catch a Predator" episodes to imagine allowing kids unlimited computer/net access.

At this point I think I will want my child to have their own computer and internet access. But (if I were dealing with this situation today) I'd have the computer tightly locked down (usage hours, filtering sites, applications, etc.). And, although I'm struggling a bit with this at the moment, I would likely follow this up with auditing (ok "spying") to make sure the child isn't somehow doing things I believe I've prevented.

I feel lucky working with computers for a living in that I'm confident I could limit access pretty thoroughly but I wish this job was easier for parents who aren't so familiar with computers. The new version of Windows (Vista) has added some parental controls capability which will hopefully help parents get a grip on this issue.

Two good practical pieces of advice I read were 1. to have a "no computers behind closed doors" rule and 2. if the child is quickly minimizing windows as you walk in it might be time to start paying closer attention to what they're doing.

[Stephanie2377]

My son absolutely will not have a computer or a TV in his room. The TV will be in the living room, and the computer is in the office near the kitchen. Everything will be supervised. In my mind, there is no need for TV in the bedroom. Bedrooms are for playing, for sleeping and for quiet time. TV isn't included in that, in my opinion. Plus, there is no way for me to control when my child turns it on (unless I take it out at night!)
I am sure my son won't like it, but oh well! I never had a TV in my room (and no phone, either)... and I did just fine!
We are considering turning our FROG into a playroom. If this happens, there will be a TV up there. But, it will only be for DVDs (and we will control when that TV is on)

[theglyphon]

In terms of having a computer locked down with software, I looked into that and was not sure how I could get it to work. I could put on a net nanny program, but there is so much they can still do. Like you cannot really stop them getting free email accounts like gmail and started pages places like mysapce. Currently the only real controls over them are my beady little eyes.

Fortunately my two are still a bit less computer savvy them me, they don't know how to clear the cache or anything like that. So when they sue the computer while I am away I tend to have a look at where they are going. It is a releif to see it is mainly games, pop stars, friends blogs, the disney site--the same things they do when I am around.

[destiny]

Originally Posted by theglyphon

If any laptop enters the picture it will not have the internet. I am not paranoid but if I watch to ensure they are never doing anyting online they want to hide from me. Call me evil Mommy. sigh.

I think television in a child's room is fine (probably better with a VCR or DVD player so I have some
say about what's been watched) if they're only watching at certain times, but I am *very* against
the internet in a child's room. "Evil Mommy????" No *WAY*!!! It has to be that way, there isn't
another good option, I think.

[mamab]

My kids don't have tvs or computers in their room. I won't have it. I like being able to keep an eye on them for their sake, not because I'm trying to control them. Too much tv is as hazardous as too many sugary snacks, IMHO. My boys have a computer, and one of them is connected to the internet. However, he's not allowed to get on the internet unless someone is in the room with him.

I don't think that any one of us is being "evil" for not allowing our kids to have access to things that could feasibly harm them in some way. There's too much going on in today's world to have to be concerned about. It's not that we're being "evil" in any way, it's that we're being good parents by setting limits. The kids just don't see it that way, RIGHT NOW. They'll change their opinions when they have children of their own. (Hopefully 20 years down the road, after they're married. )