Have you successfully cut way back on TV?

[Anonymous]

I think this is easiest done when there are REALLY firm boundaries. If you let him watch TV one afternoon when he's been good, you're going to hear whining for it all the time (or at least that's how it works in our house).

Going cold turkey worked for us. One day I just told them we weren't watching TV/playing on tablets during the week any more. I had put off doing so for a longtime, but once I did it, things went relatively smoothly. I let them know that they could watch on Sat/Sun morning, so they had something to look forward to (and something for me to threaten taking away if there was too much whining about TV!). We're less strict now then we were at the start, but our general rule is still "we only do that on the weekend."

The end of the school year might be a good time to switch to a new routine.

[Anonymous]

Somehow we also fell in the bad habit of the kids watching Netflix every morning while we were getting ready for work. It started innocently enough (1 show while I feed the baby!), but 1 show morphed into 2,3,4 and the "baby" was now 3 years old!

We moved to a new house, so I used the transition to start over. No more Netflix in the AM Monday - Friday. I thought there would be a mutiny, but they did great! We've been going strong for 9 months! I used to "rationalize" our AM Netflix habit by saying things like "it's not like they are going to go play outside at 7am", but you know what... Sometimes they do! Or they they play in the basement, etc.

I do let them watch as much as they want Sat and Sun before breakfast. I find that after about 90 min, they are bored with it. They don't get to use iPads or the phone, so this is it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:During the school year we have a no screen rule M-Th. On weekends pretty much anything goes, but my kids do sports and don't have much time plus they like to play. Probably 2hrs each day.

For us, having a no screen on school nights is pretty cut and dry. They don't ask.

+1 This is what we do too. Works great. No whining or complaints - they know the rule.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we no longer have cable. Netflix and Blu rays only. Best thing we ever did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we no longer have cable. Netflix and Blu rays only. Best thing we ever did.

+1 Got rid of cable years ago - we do Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu (the ad-free version). Don't miss cable at all.

[Anonymous]

We cut out tv cold turkey on weekdays. The only thing to be mindful of here is binge watching on the weekend. It's not so much an issue in summer. Make sure that your children have activities to replace the tv time. We have a ton of arts and crafts supplies, books, games and puzzles. When the weather is nice we will go to the playground or the pool during the week. We also don't get home until around 6pm and with a 9pm bedtime it's not so hard to avoid tv.

[Anonymous]

We've gone cold turkey for a week once a year. I want to do it once a month. The first few days is the hardest, but once they learn how to entertain themselves it's easier.

[Anonymous]

Op, I was you several months ago. My kid also lost interest in pretty much everything except legos and his minecraft videos.

I was thinking and suffering and then I received a note from school that he didn't pass a vision test and I should get him re-tested. H finally!!!! was on board re: cutting TV, and we went down to 1 video 3X a day, i.e. about 60 mins per day.

He ended up being totally fine when re-tested, no vision impairments. But I never told my husband... (and he has a habit of forgetting such stuff).

[Anonymous]

We got rid of cable. It made all the difference in the world.

[Anonymous]

We were able to cut back dramatically, but had to do it in phases. First, we cut out TV in the mornings before school. Then we worked on cutting it out in the evenings. Instead of watching TV while I make dinner, I have the kids help set the table, prep dinner, or do some kind of little special project around the house to help me out.

We're down to TV only on the weekends. And we're finding that they're getting better about finding other things to do, that they don't even ask for much TV on the weekends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:During the school year we have a no screen rule M-Th. On weekends pretty much anything goes, but my kids do sports and don't have much time plus they like to play. Probably 2hrs each day.

For us, having a no screen on school nights is pretty cut and dry. They don't ask.

+1

[Anonymous]

Yes. We went cold turkey. After a couple days my kids stopped asking and suddenly magically started entertaining themselves with their "boring" old toys.

We did reintroduce after a month but now watch sparingly - maybe an hour or two every couple of weeks - because every time they do watch, they get back into the routine of asking for it constantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cold turkey. You should also set the example and put down your phone.

I started with our kids today. One show in am if ready to go. Two shows at night.

Is that what they were watching or the reduced amount?

[Anonymous]

When things get out of hand, I do literally hide the wire for a week.

[Anonymous]

New poster.

Love 9:26's encouragement.

My 2nd and 4th grader have really late bell times - 9:25 and have 2 hours at home before we walk to school.

What are some good morning things to do before school that don't require a lot of energy? The reason I let them watch is because they want to lie on the sofa under blankets. Is reading the only thing to do on the sofa? Other calm ideas?