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mom2mpr
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| Posted: Feb 02 2008 at 3:31pm | IP Logged
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We have been cable-less for about 15 years now. We are pretty much TV/video free but for a lot of reasons I have been plugging my dc in about once a week to a video. I do feel a little guilty, then talk myself out of it by knowing it is something we have chosen.
We looked at our phone bill the other day and dh(who's eye's were twinkling with glee)and I realized that for $10 more a month we could have cable. He say's, "It's a no brainer." ESPN, Discovery channel, Disney....a whole new world. Personally, I was psyched to have EWTN on a bigger screen-we watch it on the computer now :)
Anyhow, IF we were to do this I am wondering what limits you place on your family/kids related to the TV. And how you do it. I was thinking school work done, playtime outside and jobs for the day done and then TV time. How do you keep an eye on what they are watching. I barely have time to make sure what they read is OK, now I have to police the TV too?
I would love to get Tivo so we can just record what we are interested in and then we don't have to worry about what is on at what time. But that adds to the cost. Can you still use a regular VCR? Don't laugh, my TV is 20 years old and doesn't even have a cable jack 
So, when you are done laughing, bring me up to speed in the TV world...
Anne
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mavmama
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| Posted: Feb 02 2008 at 5:20pm | IP Logged
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We knew a gal who gave her kids one minute of "screen time" (TV, computer) per minute they read. She said the kids got timer-style watches and kept track. One summer, they had 23 hours of screentime saved because they read so much! I loved the idea, but could see my kids using every second on the TV as soon as they got it earned. She started very early with her kids, and it worked great for them. I'm looking forward to hearing others' ways to manage this.
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Liz
Blessed by 4 wonders
dd11, dd911, ds9, ds8
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Feb 02 2008 at 5:30pm | IP Logged
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My neighbors limit their kids to one a hour a day- they've done this forever, and the kids know the rule. My own kids get to watch one thirty minute video a day. They take turns picking which one to watch.
I don't know... I have a hard time with the TV commercials. Even with sports, the commercials can be pretty marginal, sometimes even scary (like for CSI).
I'm just not ready to go "real TV" with my kids. TIVO would help the commercial problem, though.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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LisaR
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| Posted: Feb 02 2008 at 5:46pm | IP Logged
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we just have the 10.00 TV antenna and 4 channels, PBS, CBS, ABC,NBC, and when the weahters good- FOX. between that and 8.99 netflix, we are saturated enough! Believe me, the sports seem to somehow be on constantly around here, and I lean heavily on PBS when I need to.
Our phone costs are minimal, our bill is total maybe 40.00 per month and that includes the slowest DSL.
We get cell phones cheap through DH's work plan.
Besides sports, which are "unlimited" hours as long as dad is with them, I'd say we do about an hour a day.
but Lent and Advent we go to only on sundown to sundown sabbath. we've done this since we got a TV, so it is a given in our home, and difficult the most for me my easy babysitter gone, boo hoo 
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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mary
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| Posted: Feb 02 2008 at 5:51pm | IP Logged
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i limit my kids to one show per day. they rotate who gets to pick the show so that they all get 2 turns/week. the show is only put on while i am prepping supper and they have completely picked up the house. they generally pick dvd/video options so we don't have to deal with commercials, but if they do pick a live show, we tivo it during the day and then the commercials can be fast forwarded. they tend to watch some neat stuff - lots of eyewitness science shows, lone ranger, curious george and schlessinger history videos.
i really recommend tivo. it changed the way we view the tv. before we got it, the kids would sometimes say - we need to be back by 2 to watch prehistoric planet! and after we got tivo, they didn't care so much about when it was on or even about watching it. they knew it would be waiting for them when we find a nice time to sit and veg. we ended up watching less tv once we got tivo.
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graciefaith
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| Posted: Feb 02 2008 at 9:09pm | IP Logged
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We had cable for a bit and now im glad we dont. The commercials were the worst and when it was geared towards kids(like for toys), they would come to me telling me they want this or that. I also got into a bad habit of letting them watch too much. Now that we're on basic channels, there isnt much on all the time and no commercials. Oh, we're overseas so we have Air Force commercials for basic cable. They're pretty educational b/c there are many about different capitals or states or countries. Dd's love those and run to the map to point out the state. lol
They do watch movies. Not everyday and the rule normally is only on the weekends. We do let them watch during the week though, depending on behaviour. If we were in the states, i'd probably do tivo so we could cut out commercials. Can you do that with Tivo? If not, then at least they could fast forward through them.
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Blessed wife and mom of 3 girls, Sept. '01, Dec. '02 and Oct. '07
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Limits on TV
