29 replies to this topic

[TheCourtJester]

Question for the folks that don't watch much TV....  do you listen to music much?
My wife rarely if ever watches TV, but loves music - not that she gets much of a chance to listen to it, but if it were a choice between those two she'd pick music.

I have about 2,000 songs on my computer...always working on more. Another 2 or 3 thousand on a portable hard drive (Which I USUALLY use to transfer and store video files when I'm editing), have instant access to about 4,000 more songs, and instant access to as many music videos. There's plenty I haven't seen or listened to. In essence, I'm a HUGE music nerd. I've only more recently been introduced to Indie...WAY more variety there, since there are way more bands signed on independent labels than on major companies.

[ngilbert]

Thought I would bring this up since my other thread on flying with Infants had a couple of responses suggesting DVD players.

How old should a child be before allowing them to watch TV/DVDs?

I know people that have plopped their children in front of TVs since day one. I understand that some of the newer DVDs such as Baby Einstein are quite popular, but don't you think that allowing a child to be stimulated by a parents interaction and their own imagination rather then a DVD is healthier for them in the long run?

My wife and I do not let our child watch TV. Instead she loves to listen to music and just explore. She's at the age now where she can see the TV when it's on, but has no interest in it (which is fine with us).

I think it's about balance too. For example, it's okay if you let the kids watch something on the 27" TV as long as you make sure they're also watching something on the 25" TV too.

I kid. But as long as I'm monitoring what they're watching and they are active in appreciating other aspects of our cutlure, then I don't get all worked up about it.

Obviously there's a lot of stuff on that's inappropriate for my kids to watch, but I think something that's truly creative and well-done and funny like Spongebob or Clifford the Big Red Dog or the Amanda Show (feel free to disagree) for example, which, believe it or not, does not insult kids by talking down to them, then that's not bad for them. I do want them to develop their creativity and their sense of humor and sense of fantasy and so on, and, (whether this is a good thing or a bad thing) TV *is* as much a part of our culture as classical music or popular music or sports. It *is* part of our common language.

Now in the vast scheme of things I'm not sure how important it is for my kids to get the reference if someone says "beam me up Scotty" or "wherefore art though Romeo?" to them or not.

This really is the golden age of quality kids' television. When I was a kid the cartoons were obvious commercials for toys (He Man, GI Joe, etc.) and were crappily assembled somewhere in South Korea, and the only thing moving in the cartoon was the character's mouth, and that pretty much talked down to us. And of course my parents hated them because there were no multiple-levels of appreciation (meaning some jokes only adults would get because they got the cutlural references).

[Cloud9]

How old are the kids ngilbert? They watching planet of the apes yet?

[ngilbert]

How old are the kids ngilbert?  They watching planet of the apes yet?

They're 6 and 8. They are of course are fully immersed in the teachings of the Lawgiver, and my son can go on and on about how Tim Burton's "reimagining" is heresy (he's so cute when he gets like that).

Funny you should ask though, because I'm so proud of my six-year-old who just yesterday was able to recite Sacred Scroll Three, Verse Nine from memory for her Show and Tell.

As you know, it reads as follows:

Beware the beast man, for he is the devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, or lust or greed. Yes, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him. Drive him back into his jungle lair: For he is the harbinger of death.

Interestingly we got a call from the school child psychologist later that day. Something about giving the other kids the heebie jeebies and wondering if everything was alright at home.

[Steve Heard]

I've never understood the 'no TV' crowd. It's as if information and entertainment are fine when they are heard or read, but seen? BAD!

Does that mean you can go to the movies, but can't rent a DVD?

You can listen to the news, but not watch it?

Read a history book, but not see the story on the History channel?

[TheCourtJester]

A great deal of it (at least for me) is that you don't get a book interrupted with "ASK YOU'RE DOCTOR ABOUT VIGRA. SIDE AFFECTS MAY BE DIAHREA, HEART FAILURE, CONSTIPATION, VISIONS OF LITTLE CHRISTINA AGUILERA MONSTERS, AND ANAL SEEPAGE"
..."harry potter then ran down the hall to class."

With books or music...you can skip forward, read certain parts, fast forward, or even hit the 'delete' key or *gasp* rip a page out. You have to sit through all kinds of crap to hear a story you want, watch a good movie, or even find out what the weather is on TV.

Books and music are also generally un-watered-down and uncensored. Any half-decent ideas that end up on TV have been filtered, censored, cut down, and packaged to make it "palatable" to the public. just look at what happens to any good book that gets turned into a movie. And look how much MORE a film gets cut down before it can be aired.

I have a hard enough time remembering names and phone numbers...I don't need that information battling with all the useless tripe you see on TV hour after hour.And just to relate it to the thread topic a little more...label recognition (and therefore, after time, preference) begins as early as a child can see as far as the TV. Why let a young brain go to waste with that junk?

That's MY take on it, anyway.

[fantomu]

i was raised on watching shows like fresh prince, step by step, full house, family matters. no wonder im so werid now! dont let your kids watch these shows!

[ngilbert]

i was raised on watching shows like fresh prince, step by step, full house, family matters. no wonder im so werid now! dont let your kids watch these shows!

What's wrong with Full House? It's just some show about three adult men in San Francisco living with three little girls .... oh wait. I see your point.

One thing I like about Full House is that when the "important life lesson" part of the show comes on they start to play background music, which they don't play at any other time in the show, so that's how you know when what they are saying is important.

[nhardy]

I've never understood the 'no TV' crowd. It's as if information and entertainment are fine when they are heard or read, but seen? BAD!

Does that mean you can go to the movies, but can't rent a DVD?

You can listen to the news, but not watch it?

Read a history book, but not see the story on the History channel?

It's not that we will never let our daughter watch TV, it's just that she's only 16 months old and I don't see any reason why she would watch it. I guess I should have said "when should you allow your kids to watch TV. Certainly a 16 month old or younger would not be watching the History channel.

We know parents that have kids the same exact age and they just plop them down in front of the TV and let their tiny little brains turn to mush.

[fantomu]

fresh prince gave me my ghetto attitude. fullhouse made me understand gay people, step by step taught me to fail at school like all the idiots in the show, family matters taught me to never give up the girls you like

[nhardy]

family matters taught me to never give up the girls you like

Riiight, cause Erkel was a playa?

[CostcoLover]

TV resources for parents

http://www.televisio...k.CBBE/Home.htm

http://www.tvguidelines.org/

http://www.fcc.gov/parents/

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

http://www.kff.org/entmedia/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8988660/

Kaiser Family research shows that kids watch an average of about four hours of TV a day and that two thirds of children age 8 and up have television sets in their bedrooms.

[uberman]

Any half-decent ideas that end up on TV have been filtered, censored, cut down, and packaged to make it "palatable" to the public. just look at what happens to any good book that gets turned into a movie.

The same institution that waters down tv shows and movies censors books and magazines. Walk into borders and you'll be bombarded with boat-loads of cr@p. Books that were written purely for the incentive of $$ and not story-telling.

One example is that clown James Patterson that seems to come out with a new cruddy book every days..

Explain to me why James Patterson Honeymoon costs 30 bucks when Hamlet costs 3?

Modern books are no different than any other sort of entertainment. I've heard many cases where companies have paid authors to mention their product in their book rather than whatever the author chooses on his own, Ford Expedition as opposed to a Chevy Suburban.

When it comes to books, i'll stick with my collection of classics, that is, pre-1900, except for Steinbeck, Jacques, Tolkien, Adams and Herbert.

Riiight, cause Erkel was a playa?

Dude, he got her in the end!! Remember? He goes into space and proposes or something, or rather he survives... Looks like persistence pays off!

Who says Ralph Lauren shirts won't help you get the girl?

I love TV, I love Books, I love creativity in whatever form it comes in.

[cybertrano]

That's a wise thing to do. There is no substitute for interaction between parents and children.

My wife and I do not let our child watch TV. Instead she loves to listen to music and just explore. She's at the age now where she can see the TV when it's on, but has no interest in it (which is fine with us).

[Folsom voter]

That's a wise thing to do.  There is no substitute for interaction between parents and children.

I agree. Just beware of interaction that goes like this:

8 year old: My friend Eric is allowed to watch Family Guy. When will I be allowed to watch Family Guy?

Mom: Well Eric is a little older than you are...

8 year old: He's 10, so that means I can watch it when I'm 10 right?

Mom (hoping that the show has been canceled by then): We'll see...

One year, eleven months later-
9 year old: I'll be ten next week, I can't wait. You promised me I can watch Family Guy!