Saturday, January 07, 2023

When Is the Right Time To Put A TV in Your Child's Bedroom?

 

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When is the right time to put a TV in your child's bedroom?

This is a question a lot of parents debate about and being completely honest, there is no right or wrong answer because all families have different needs and experiences when it comes to their children.

My sons are almost 10 and 6 and I have made the decision not to have a TV in their bedrooms - that being said, they are allowed to use their tablets in their rooms, so perhaps I just don't see the need for a TV in their bedrooms at this time in their lives.

We have a oled TV for them in they playroom and this is used for gaming and to watch Netflix.

As a child I did have a TV in my bedroom and I don't think it did me any harm, but as a parent of a child who loves gaming, I fear that if he had a TV in his bedroom and constant access to games, etc. he wouldn't be able to regulate a time for rest and a good night's sleep.

Online electrical superstore Reliant has conducted a survey with U.K. parents about TV's in their child's bedroom.

As you can see from the survey 75% of children want a TV in their room - I think this is a huge percentage. Also according to the survey kids start asking for a TV when they're in infant school - my children buck the trend on this as one has never asked and my eldest only asked this Christmas, however, we compromised with having a TV in the playroom instead.

According to the Reliant survey, 50% of children are still watching live TV, again, we buck the trend on this - my kids have always preferred watching their tablets, YouTube or subscription services as opposed to live TV.

There seems to be a stigma that watching TV is bad for children, however, I don't think it's the TV watching in itself that's bad (we all consumed a lot of TV as kids!), but the content that they're watching.

Nowadays, there are lots of TV programmes and channels available to suit a lot of varied interests in kids and I think a lot of them can be positive. When my boys were small I put Cbeebies on for them a lot and liked that it had a lot of sweet, age-appropriate programmes but also encouraged inclusion.

Like all things in life, watching TV or screens is not a bad thing, as long as it's not a continuous thing throughout the day and screen time is managed - just as it is for mobile devices.

We all need downtime and children need entertainment and TV's provide that, whether it be watching regular TV, Netflix or gaming, etc.

The answer to when is the right time to put a TV in your child's bedroom is one that varies for each family. Right now, for our family, we have chosen not to have TV's in our children's bedrooms. However, as they get older and venture into their teenage year - wanting their own space and time to be on their own, we will allow them to have a TV in their rooms.

When did you allow your child to have a TV in their bedroom?

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