Parents Not Allowing Their Children to Watch TV

Do you feel that a parents decision to not allow their children to watch television - at all - is too extreme?

Yes I think it's way harsh and a combination of overprotectedness and power trip. TV may have a bunch of crap airing that kids shouldn't see but not allowing them to watch TV at all is just OTT.

yes i think thats too extreme...

Yeah, no TV at all is too extreme.

Very, which is why when Madonna announced she doesn't let her kids watch TV, (or read newspapers, or eat junk food, and she throws their clothes out if they're not picked up at the end of the day) my first thought was 'this bitch is crazy'.

RiteDiva wrote:Do you feel that a parents decision to not allow their children to watch television - at all - is too extreme?

Yes. I'm all for restricting certain (types of) programs, and limiting hours in from of the TV, but no television at all is very harsh.

Supernova wrote:Very, which is why when Madonna announced she doesn't let her kids watch TV, (or read newspapers, or eat junk food, and she throws their clothes out if they're not picked up at the end of the day) my first thought was 'this bitch is crazy'.

So funny you mentioned that. I remember where I was five years ago when I read an article about her not letting the kids watch TV. I was waiting for my mom to get a test done at the hospital. I thought of that when I read this thread the first time.

I thought, "This bitch is crazy" too!

That's called abuse.

I do think it's a bit harsh, but I also know of families that have gotten rid of cable entirely and only allow the children to watch movies. I had friends who didn't allow the kids to have cable, though, and found that whenever the kids had the chance (like at a friends' house) they were GLUED to the TV and would watch almost without blinking. They were wondering if they'd done the right thing in being so strict with TV, as other families had the TV on all the time and no one paid any attention to it, whereas their kids were mesmerized every time they were allowed to watch TV. I can understand limiting what your kids are watching, but getting rid of the TV entirely seems a bit harsh.

Some parents like to be strict for the sake of being "strict" and this is an example of that. I don't really understand the need to disallow TV altogether and think taking that it will only make them cling to it when they have the chance to watch it.

RedBedroom wrote:

Supernova wrote:Very, which is why when Madonna announced she doesn't let her kids watch TV, (or read newspapers, or eat junk food, and she throws their clothes out if they're not picked up at the end of the day) my first thought was 'this bitch is crazy'.

So funny you mentioned that. I remember where I was five years ago when I read an article about her not letting the kids watch TV. I was waiting for my mom to get a test done at the hospital. I thought of that when I read this thread the first time.

I thought, "This bitch is crazy" too!

If you call Madonna a crazy bitch for her parenting skills on here, you are in good company, if you say the same thing on an IMDB board, suddenly you don't know what you're talking about and she's such a great mother, she loves her kids so much, she's doing the right thing, blah blah blah blah blah blah...blah.

Super, really? I don't go to her page at IMDb, but for one thing, I think she is full of shit that her kids are not exposed to media. They are IN the media these days. I can't imagine that they are exposed to none of it, and if they are not, she is not setting them up very well.

I take great issue with those who are anti TV for kids 100%. My son's ped thinks he should only get a half hour per day, which is to include the morning news being on when he is getting ready for school and his personal videos of his training footage.

I don't think any kid should live by the TV, but no TV or a half hour per day...b.s.

I think we can agree you have to be full of shit to not allow your kids to read newspapers...seriously, what is she thinking? Is she thinking that they're not going to find out what an attention whore she is? All the screwed up things she did? What is her logic? That's what I want to know, or does Miss Kaballah Water or whatever, have any logic?

Yeah I don't agree with those kinds of restrictions either, I've watched a lot of TV in my time, but I've certainly never been glued to it. Which is odd because when I was 2 and 3, when they say half an hour or an hour of TV a day?, I already had a favorite movie, The Bat from 1959 with Vincent Price, as far back as I can remember, I loved that movie as a child, scared the hell out of me but I loved it and watched it all the time until I wore that tape out.

I don't see the point in completely restricting television. I wonder if Madonna denies her kids access to TV because she's afraid of what they may learn about her past antics from before they were born.

Here's another question: Do you think babies and toddlers should watch TV?

1. That's what a lot of people think, that she's deluded enough that she thinks they won't find out what she's done.


and 2. I don't see what harm it would do, you just don't leave them in front of it all day.

I think that's way too extreme. I don't see what the big deal is about letting a child watch TV. Would I let them watch TV six hours straight, some of it inappropriate? Not at all, a child needs to be monitored, but to cut it off completely? That's crazy.

Impact wrote:Do you think babies and toddlers should watch TV?

Yes, but not too much of it. Maybe a half-hour a day.

Yes it is extreme but I don't think it's abuse. It's unrealistic. Is there a TV in the home and the parents watch? Are the children forbidden to play at the homes of friends who do have TV? Of course monitor what they watch on TV and how long they can watch it, where they go on line, who they hang out with but you can’t shield them from everything in the world. You’re asking for trouble if you try.

MandyPerfumeGirl wrote:

Impact wrote:Do you think babies and toddlers should watch TV?

Yes, but not too much of it. Maybe a half-hour a day.

When I was in 2nd grade, I wasn't doing well in school, especially math. Of course in those days it was called arithmetic. My teacher suggested that my parents only allow me to watch 1 hour a day. It was sort of like teaching me the value of a dollar except it was the value of an hour. I had to decide if I wanted to watch 2 half hour shows or 1 one hour show. It wasn’t that hard because in those days we only had six channels to choose from so it wasn’t like there was a lot on anyway.