What Age to Have TV in Room?

I'd be afraid it would fall on him...........unless he could use a remote.........how about buying him something that he can play with instead, like a leap frog system or something that is educational...........tell him when he wakes up, to play with it...........

Or tell him he needs to stay in his room and read books........find something more his age and that he can learn from as well.....

Good Luck.....take care......

My daughter who is 5 has always had a tv in her room since the age of two. I do the parental control and block all channels but the one for her age. That has helped and on weekends her and her sister watch tv or put their dvds on and watch them until my husband and I wake up.

A tv does not have to be IN his room.
I never had a tv in my room.
Many kids don't or do.
INSTEAD of a tv IN his room... just put one, a small one, in the play room or family room. If there is not one already there.

When we were young, we did what Laurie A. suggested.
We'd wake up, go to the family room, and turn on the tv.
No need for tv in their bedroom.
Then, my parent's would have easily accessible things for us to eat, already on the kitchen table, for us.
The tv channel was already on the channel we'd need. The cartoon channel.
My parent's room was not far away... so they knew we were up and could hear us.
It was a 'routine' we had, especially on the weekends.

Personally, I really do not believe in tv, in a kids room...

My son is 3, almost 4.... and my daughter is 7.... and when/if they wake early... they 'know' to be quiet and that they can go in the play room to watch tv. And they do.
But they will ALWAYS let me know, what they are doing.... without making a lot of noise. Or ask me permission to watch tv.

You teach them... what to do, IF they wake before you, and per your child. But, a TV in their room, is not the 'only' solution.
It will be, later, a distraction and a problem.

And yes NO matter what time a child goes to bed... they WILL wake at the same time. BOTH my kids do that too.
All people, kids or adults... tend to do that.
I myself, no matter how much or how little sleep I got... I ALWAYS wake at the same time... and many times, before my kids even.

all the best,
Susan

I personally don't believe in it. I think most kids that have TVs in their rooms become dependant on it and can't sleep without them. Example, we went on a family vacation once and my in-laws gave my husband and I one of the bedrooms but when we got there, we were told we had to sleep on the couch instead because my niece couldn't sleep without the t.v. No adult should ever be kicked out of a bedroom bc a child and the t.v. Can you put a gate up so that he can get to the bathroom but not to your bedroom?

My son had a tv in his room at about that age. His had a v-chip and we could set the parental controls how we wanted so he couldn't watch certain things. I don't see a problem as long as you let the early mornings he wakes up be his tv time for the day so he doesn't think he can watch it all the time and you can get your rest! ;-)

I was really glad to see I was not in the minority for no TV in the bedroom. At four, you can show him how to use the remote to turn on tv and cable (have it pre set to PBS or something) or I also second the mini DVD player and a couple of interchangable movies.

I never had a tv in my room growing up, it made tv time family time. My hubby grew up with one and now cannot fall asleep with out it on. I HATE having a tv in my room, even now!

My son is the same age, and he will never have a TV in his room. I find that the kids that do end up not spending nearly as much time with their family. (Why spend time with mom and dad downstairs if you can watch what you want up stairs?) Plus, with all of the garbage on TV these days, Lord only knows what he could be watching while you are asleep! I do however, have 2 suggestions for you.

1. Have him come in your room and put on Nick Jr. or PBS in the morning. My son loves PBS, so when he is up early, he comes in, I turn it on, he crawls into bed, and must stay there until I say it is time to get up. We keep poptarts (I know, not the healthiest) and cup of water in our room, so even if he wants to eat, he knows he can, but has to stay in the bed! My poor hubby often times has crumbs on his side of the bed, but it works for us!

2. If you have a portable DVD player (or are willing to buy one), put THAT in your son's room once he has fallen asleep at night. Teach him how to work it, and let him watch a movie every morning. It will keep him in his bed, and you will know exactly what he is watching (have him pick the movie the night before).

I hope this helps, and good luck!

Never. My son is 11 yrs and the only electrical gadgets he has in his bedroom are his alarm clock and CD player. As it is, if he gets up and can't sleep (or if he wakes up before we do), he'll read. He never goes to the living room and turns the TV on without permission.
We don't have a TV in our bedroom either.
Your son is 3, and a little more independent that he was when he was younger, but not many 3 yr olds are very good at playing on their own for awhile. Try to get to sleep earlier (you might consider getting the TV out of your room - I've heard being on the computer close to bed time is bright enough it can mess up your sleep patterns, too), avoid caffeine after noon (if you are sensitive to it). Your boy will be older before you know it.

Never, regardless of age, no TV's in bedrooms.

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There is never a good time for a TV in the bedroom but different strokes for different folks.

Even the Cartoon Network has inappropriate content for your 4 year old. :-(

I loved the suggestion of the TV with the DVD player in the "family area". You can pop in a video and he could watch it which could possibly be a solution. On another note I would probably try to work with curing the insomnia or the causes of your insomnia so you can get some better quality sleep. Doing both of these things would be a win win.

I hope this is helpful to you.

FYI< i just read another post about how bad TV is... I think it depends on how much and what your child watches.. Our child is a National Merit Scholar, very creative and a double major at a very good college.. TV never hurt her..

How about a TV with a built in DVD player? Do not hook it up to cable. Just allow certain DVDs to be watched.. Once one is in there he can turn it on with a remote and watch it on his own.

At four, we used to allow our daughter to get up on her own at this age and watch the Disney channel. I always had, cereal bars, fresh fruit and other healthy snacks on a low shelf in the kitchen. Of course fresh fruit, and juice boxes in the fridge. She knew she could eat something and get her own juice.. She did great.. Since everything was childproofed, she could not go outside or get into anything (never did anyway) and we have a tiny house, so we could hear everything going on..

Sorry, I'm with the other posters. No TV. If you're desperate, I'd get a mini DVD player and leave one DVD for him to watch. That's plenty of TV for the day. Alternately, teach him to go turn on the TV in the family room. Good luck.

Its my personal bias never to have a tv in a bedroom... If you need your son to sleep later in the morning, maybe you need to adjust his bedtime back a bit?

Never. Studies show that having a TV in the bedroom is very unhealthy for you, even as adults! It keeps people from getting the best quality of healthy sleep and do you really want your child channel surfing while he's alone in his room??

Seriously, do some research= every doctor, pediatrician and child expert in the world will tell you that this would be a decision that could be bad for your child. Do you really want to set him up so early for something that won't be good for him? I have insomnia too, and it can be difficult when little kids get up early, but sometimes you just need to figure out another solution, instead of going for an easy fix.

I don't think TV in a bedroom is a good idea. We only have one tv and it is in our living room. Sometimes as a special family treat we watch a movie on the laptop in our big bed, but mostly our bedrooms are for sleeping and reading and talking with each other.

Now for some ideas. Our sons used to wake up early to find that dad had created an elaborate Thomas the Tank Engine track. It worked great. Kiddo had something special to look forward to and we got a bit of extra time. Perhaps you could have a special toy box that only mommy could get to and you could set out a special, quiet safe toy for the morning?

NEVER! With all the innapropriate show in tv these days you have to be VERY diligent about what your children are watching.

He's four years old, and the world is his oyster! Compared to a child's imagination, TV can be so limiting! How about books, toys that spark creativity and engage him (building or action figure type toys), or perhaps a goldfish that he can watch and talk to? Maybe if he can be convinced to create his own world of adventure, with "people" in it that he can interact with in those early morning hours, he'll let you and Daddy inhabit the world of sleep a little longer! Even more important, can you talk with him about how important it is for Mommy and Daddy to get sleep, and how much he helps you by letting you sleep? Good luck!

Personally I wish even my 15.5 yo did not have tv in his room.....his older brother (now 19) also had one in bedroom before going away to college (not sure what he does now, I know the tv is not in bedroom, and only watches on computer, because we don't pay for cable in his house-lol)

Definitley too young imho. I like the idea of a DVD player with certain movies he can watch; also the leap pad or books.

maybe it would help if you saw a sleep specialist for your insomnia.

Could you do a reward system, e.g., every time he goes 5 days without waking parents, on Sat. am he can watch cartoons in bed with you?

Good luck

K. Z.

My kids have learned early on that unless it's an emergency, not to wake up mommy or daddy. They have always gotten up and colored, read, played with dolls, etc. Now they play ninetendo, read, draw, or play board or card games when they are both up before us. The are currently pre-teens and still don't have tv's in their rooms---however the family room has a tv (with parental controls and dvd/vhs player for them to view something from their collection of educatioanl videos or one of the favorite movies.)

Good luck with trying to get a 4 yr old to sleep in his room until you wake up. Kinda goes against everything inate in the kid, but good luck with that.

Now my 3 yr old has a tv in his room and we, on occassion will let an episode of mickey mouse clubhouse or wonderpets play while we try and take a nap in there with him but to expect a 4 yr old to wait for an alarm to go off or to simply wait in his room is not being realistic.

Maybe napping when he does? Maybe sleep aids to help you get to sleep? Maybe keeping your child up later at night in order to see if he won't sleep in later? That'd be the best bet, rather than trying to get him to stay in his room...

Sending good thoughts your way...

We put a tv in our 3 year olds room so we could watch big kid shows on the tv in the living room like CSI Miami, Bones, Criminal Minds, NCIS, etc....it is difficult to have only one tv and want to have some grown up time. I always try to turn the tv off if the kids come in and it's autopsy time or something like that but I want to have some tv time...so, a tv is now in the 3 year olds room. It only has OETA, Nickelodeon, and Disney saved so that's all he can switch it to. The Cartoon Network has Adult Swim at night so it is out all day too.If he wakes up early he turns his tv on and we can hear it so we know he is up. His sister and all the kids that come over to play go out of the living room and into his room to watch movies and tv and I have my living room back, most of the time anyway.

My son is older and had a TV with a VHS and a DVD player in his room. The TV was analog so he couldn't get any channels on it so he would watch a movie as he was falling asleep. I actually thought it kept him up but he instisted he needed it to fall asleep. He got a game system that someone was getting rid of and his dad said he could keep that in his room too. BTW, I was against all of it but what to do when dad says ok. I noticed he was spending more and more time in his room. I would ask him do help around the house and he would disappear into his room halfway through. I finally got upset and told him to bring it all upstairs and out of his room. I've seen him more, his chores are getting done and I have more control over what he plays or watches. Don't get a TV in his room. If you decide to anyway, wait unti he is older. Too much TV at any age is not a good thing.

we put a gate on OUR door so our daughter couldnt come in in the morning! It worked out pretty well.

Give him lots of books to read when he wakes up. He can learn to read quietly in his room until it's time to get up. Putting a tv in there now will teach bad habits you don't want to have to deal with later. Age appropriate books will be great for him and keep him entertained. He might even read himself back to sleep.