how much television

[mirime]

*deleted*

 

[me&thegals]

Never had one growing up and husband and I choose not to have one now.

I have no idea when we would watch it! It does sound a bit tempting in the cold of winter, but all other times of year there's too much other stuff to be done We have mountains of books in this house, books on tape, books on CD. The kids make their own entertainment playing outside, playing Legos, Lincoln Logs and whatever other creative things they come up with

 

[miss_thenorth]

My kids, age 10 and 12, have, over the summer watched maybe 20 hours of TV. and that includes some movies on rainy days.

We have a trampoline and a basketball net inside our shop that they can use year round, we also have a pool for summer. And two horses to ride. My dd and I love to read. We all also love going out and playing with the goats and chickens.

My ds loves video games though, and I do have to limit the time he plays them. He usually gets about 5 hours a week. But he doesn't complain about this. It seems to fill his "downtime" need.

My kids are rarely bored, and when they are, i tell them I have lots of housewrok that needs to be done, and they usually scoot out the house to find something to do. Between all the chores around here, their friends, and activities (baseball and riding lessons), and just playing around the house, there really isn't much time for TV anyway. TV is a non-issue around here

 

[MorelCabin]

I very rarely watch TV...sometimes in the fall I will watch some home and garden daytime shows but I just can't watch the 'normal stuff' everybody else watches...it creeps me out. I end up thinking too much about what happened...what would drive a person to do what they did...everything. Then I get worried about what if I suddenly had a change of heart one day and cheated, or worse...nope I like to think my own thoughts without having them influenced by hollywood crap:>)
My husband watches tv every night though so I can't through it out. The shame of it is that the kids watch it with him and I don't agree with what he allows them to see...

 

[Beekissed]

It stunts the growth of one's imagination, double if your a kid!

Just think how disappointing a movie is after you have read the book. Wasn't the imagery you created in your own mind much more suitable to the characters and action than was the movie? Probably because we "own" the images we create and nothing else could measure up! That's how I judge a good movie, if the characters are close to what I had already imagined them to be!

When I was young, a pick-up game of softball, whiffle ball or kickball was started nearly every day in our neighborhood. Now I look around and ask, "Where are all the kids??" I can drive through our local town and never see a child of any age playing in the yard, walking on the street or just hanging out at a playground. It makes me feel sad that my kids will never know how fun it was to play....really play and use your imagination, your body strength, and your time. The days lasted forever in the summers of my youth and they couldn't quite last long enough! Mom always had to yell at us to come in....several times! We were always hot, sweaty and dusty, but, MAN, did we sleep good! You could have played connect the dots with all the bug bites and scabs on our legs and we couldn't have cared less!

Remember when a new pair of NBA Converse canvas tennis shoes(high tops, of course) would make you run faster and jump higher? Why were those new shoes so much lighter and springier than the old ones you just took off? I tell you what folks, the TV and other entertainment technology robbed my kids of having that experience. Its just not the same when you are the only kids out in the yard playing. Can't really have a good Red Rover game with 3 kids, can you?

I often imagine Heaven will be a lot like those never ending summers and those halcyon days...

 

[miss_thenorth]

When I was young, a pick-up game of softball, whiffle ball or kickball was started nearly every day in our neighborhood. Now I look around and ask, "Where are all the kids??" I can drive through our local town and never see a child of any age playing in the yard, walking on the street or just hanging out at a playground

When we first moved from "up north" to a subdivision near Windsor, ON, my kids were always out playing. Slowly the neighbour kids started coming out and playing. Of course my kids were young then, wo I was out with them, and slowly the mothers started coming over to talk. One mother said to me--Before you moved in here, we never knew there were kids in that house or that house, etc.

They thanked me for getting their kids outside and playing. i just smiled. But I seriously thought it was sad that they weren't out before my kids moved into the neighbourhood.

 

[mirime]

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[poppycat]

I grew up with no TV so I won't inflict that on my kids.

The upside of it is that we did a lot of outdoor stuff. I learned a lot about nature through observation that my TV watching peers missed.

However it is somewhat of a liability as a teenager to be clueless about popular culture and current events. Also there are things that kids are exposed to through TV that my parents never even considered. For example in 9th grade we were supposed to do a mock trial (i don't remember what the subject matter was anymore.) But the other kids had a pretty good handle on general courtroom procedure, cross examinations, objections, etc. so they were quickly able to put their pieces of the project together. I was clueless and ended up getting a bad grade.

I scratched my head on that for a couple of years. I just couldn't figure out how everyone else knew so much about trials and I knew very little. Eventually it dawned on me that they must have seen it on TV.

We allow TV in out house, but only on weekends. I find it interferes with too much during the week.

 

[mirime]

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[Beekissed]

A teen can gain knowledge of popular culture by reading newspapers, magazines, listening to radio, catching a movie, etc. I did. We didn't have a TV from the time I was 7 on up to adulthood. Not only was I more well read than all the other kids my age, but better than most of my teachers at school.

As for TV popular culture? I watched a few episodes of Days of Our Lives in 1984 and again in 1997 and the same things were happening to the same people on the show! Other than missing some really good Saturday Night Live shows, I didn't miss much on TV through the 70s and 80s and I'm sure I'm not missing much now. You can buy the best shows from that era now on DVD....The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, etc.

What one does with the time spent away from the TV usually dictates what one has learned during that time. If you limit your reading to romance novels or sci-fi thrillers, then that is what you will know. If you take the time to become very eclectic in your reading, music and peer groups you can become a very well-rounded individual. Most people who know me would never have guessed that I was raised in a two- room log cabin without electricity or running water, no TV, very little radio and no social interaction outside school and church. I'm as comfortable in a classy restaurant as I am in McDonalds.

If you're observant and thirsty for knowledge, you can learn most anything. If you want to learn about world events, one only has to pick up a magazine or newspaper and catch up. I have introduced a lot of pop culture to my kids by showing them old classic movies and music. They would bellyache when I turned them on, then you could see the interest growing and pretty soon its one of their favorites.

I'm not saying TV is all bad, but one would have to be very disciplined to consistently filter out the outright trash on the tube. Its too easy to get hooked on watching some inane show, when your time would be better spent developing good relationships with your family and friends. Or even keeping a better house, fixing your hubby a home cooked meal instead of a microwave special, reading your kids a story or playing a game with them.