tv in kids room?

billiburrows

I'm considering buying my almost 5 year old a tv/dvd player for his bedroom in the hopes that he will stay in his room a little longer so we can sleep in a little longer in the mornings. he gets up soooo early and will not self play. we have to get up with him.  he's up before our 1 year old every day by at least a half hour.

anyway.... does anyone have a tv in their kids room? if so, how is it? any problems or things i should be thinking about? we don't have cable so we shouldn't have to worry too much about what he might find on tv...and i'm thinking he will probably just watch a dvd anyway....

rona118

we are probably getting one for DD (who will be 6 in December) for Christmas. DH and DD fight about who gets to watch whose show...even though we have another tv in the basement. I swear I have 2 kids... one that is 40, one that is 5 and one that is 4 months.

Luckystar2

I feel for you as my dd has always been the same way. I don't mind her watching tv in the morning but hated having to get up with her to do it. I'm sorry but I need some extra sleep on the weekends!

My concern would be...how would you plan to limit it? What if he wants to watch in the middle of the night?

We let de have an iPad in the morning on the weekends to watch shows but she has to come in and get it from us. Another issue that it has created though is that she seems to wake up even earlier because she really wants to watch tv. So we are still left with what to do...let her get up really early anyways and watch or convince her to sleep more/self play in her room till later.

We were using a clock for a while that turns green at a certain time you set and told her she wasn't allowed to ask for tv before that. Now she understands telling time a little more so am working on staying in her room until a certain time.

I don't know...we have been in similar situation and I'm wishing we never started the tv when she gets up because I think it makes her wake up even earlier. But not sure what ekse to do because I didn't really want to wake up at 5am on weekends!

Meghan&Rich

We have a TV in our playroom.  When Mason gets up super early before us, he just goes downstairs and starts a movie in the playroom.  Right now we have TVs in our family room, playroom, and basement, so we haven't had a need for TVs in the bedroom.  That might change down the road, but right now I like that our bedrooms are TV/technology free.

bride2003

No sleep is tough for sure, but I'd be inclined to work with him to stay in his room until the clock says "x" and give him games, puzzles, cars etc... to play with for that time.  If he doesn't "self play" then giving him something that doesn't teach him to do that gives you a short term solution (sleep) but doesn't really solve your problem or teach him how to entertain himself.  It rewards him by giving him a tv in his room.   I just think its a slippery slope and hard to control & I think you will have luckystar's problem as well.  Some kids are wired to be early wakers.  I'd talk to your ped about it before I bought a tv. 

billiburrows

we've told him to go downstairs and watch tv but he's too scared to go by himself...

we had an owl that would turn colors when its time for him to leave his room but that scared him.  

i guess its worth a try telling him he can't come out until a certain time but in my heart i know it isn't going to work.

I've recently started this thing where we would pack up a bag with fun toys for him to play by himself in his bedroom when he wakes up. this lasted ok for 2 days and now we are back to him waking us up to take him downstairs to let him watch tv. 

the waking up earlier to watch tv i hadn't thought about. wow that's awful! 

i'm still going to consider the tv in the bedroom but thanks for all the input....

bride2003

good luck! Something tells me he will still wake you up to turn on the tv or get the dvd in.  I think he just wants to have his mom & dad awake with him!

sarahandtim

We put my old 13" TV/VCR combo and first generation DVD player in Logan's room before he was born. It was more of me thinking I'd want something to occupy me while I was feeding him. Ha! Not so much. We like having it in there now bc he does have some VHS tapes he likes to watch and he can do so from his crib (supremely helpful if I need to get things done like showering). I absolutely don't want him to get used to it though. obviously we're at a very different age than you guys.

Good luck with your decision!

AmandaJLewis

I am against tv in the bedrooms. I want to send her to her room and have it be no fun   EJ was an early riser for a long time. She sleeps until 7 now most days and that is excellent progress based on where we had started.  She still wakes us up to go downstairs if we happen to still be in bed. but most days one of us is up around 6 with the dogs anyway (and soon with the babies!)

denalea

billiburrows said:

we've told him to go downstairs and watch tv but he's too scared to go by himself...

we had an owl that would turn colors when its time for him to leave his room but that scared him.  

i guess its worth a try telling him he can't come out until a certain time but in my heart i know it isn't going to work.

I've recently started this thing where we would pack up a bag with fun toys for him to play by himself in his bedroom when he wakes up. this lasted ok for 2 days and now we are back to him waking us up to take him downstairs to let him watch tv. 

the waking up earlier to watch tv i hadn't thought about. wow that's awful! 

i'm still going to consider the tv in the bedroom but thanks for all the input....

I think I would work on these things first. 

Figure out why he is scared to go down by himself.  Maybe set everything before you go to bed so he just has to hit power and play.  Or give him his own flashlight so that he can light his way down. 

 Find another clock (non-owl) that doesn't scare him. 

Find another visual cue...you can't come in to Mom and Dad's room until we open the door.  (And then you or DH, first one up could crack your door in the AM.)  But maybe you could put the toys right outside of your door so he still feels close to you.  Or even, if he's willing to play quietly, you could put them in your room for a time as a transition, and them move them right outside.

I think it will be hard to teach him to not come out until a certain time, and it probably WON'T work for a while, but the only way to change that behavior is to work at it.  So maybe a time of still no sleeping in, getting up, and teaching him to stay in his room will buy you some extra ZZZ's down the line.

I agree with the other ladies that I suspect he will still be waking you even if he has a TV in his room.   I am hesitant to take that step, as I feel like once you take it, you can't go back. 

LastAcorn99

My husband and i were considering the same option for my very active 4 year old, like a couple of months back. Coincidentally, that weekend their school called for a PTA and spoke about how the brain of our children are affected by exposing them to any screen, TV, laptops, phones etc. for long hours, apparently having the potential of causing attention deficiency later on...anyway that made us rethink our decision. Hope that help!

Jcubed2003

We have an ok to wake clock that is a stoplight - red, yellow and green with a little car beside it. And we say, please don't come out of your room until green turns on. Some days it works, some days it doesn't. Maybe that would be better?