I know I’m probably in a minority here, but my kids don’t have a television in their bedroom.
Yes, you read that right. They’re 5 and 9 years of age this year, and they’ve never been allowed a telly in their bedroom.
What kind of mean mother am I?!
It seems the norm to have at least two TV sets in the house doesn’t it? A family one downstairs in the living room, a telly in each and every bedroom for the kids.
Nope, not here. You want to watch telly? You watch it on the one in the living room. If there’s a programme clash, well you’d better get the dvd set to record then or catch it on Iplayer later.
I like it better that way. Who needs televisions in small children’s bedrooms anyway?
When it’s time to wind down for bed, there’s nothing better than curling up with a good book, reading stories to themselves or to us or just playing good old fashioned board games like Monopoly or playing with their toy cars or whatever.
I know you’re all probably thinking I’m all old fashioned and should let them have a telly in their room.
Nope, they’ve never known any different so how can they be missing out on something they’ve never had?
That’s all I need – them able to turn the telly on in their room in a morning and wake each other up by Cbeebies blaring out.
Or being wide awake and wanting to watch dvd’s in their room until silly o clock instead of going to sleep as it’s a school night.
We’ll stick to our bedtime routine here, thanks. Bath, pyjamas, story,in bed for 7.30.
If that makes me ‘mean’ then so be it. 
What do your kids do? TV in the bedroom or no TV in the bedroom?!
I completely agree. No tvs. How can you monitor what they are watching it what time they sleep if they are in their room? I don’t have one in our room either.
Oldest boy got his own tv for his 10th birthday. His younger brother was given the choice for his 10th a few months ago, but he didn’t want one. Go figure.
I think it depends what works for you, and what children don’t have they don’t miss. I would say if one’s children are far apart in age a bit of self-sufficiency for the older one isn’t a bad thing.
my 2 (6 and 4) don’t have them. the only reason we do is because there is nowhere else to put a second telly and i just can not watch sport ALL the time, which is what would happen if we had 1 telly! Its good if the kids are ill, i tuck them up in my bed and let them watch cartoons.
We have just the one TV in the house and it will stay that way untill my children are working and earning their own money and buy themselves their own one if they feel the need.
I’m the same as you, downstairs for TV and them when it bed time it’s time to relax and unwind with a book or magazine.
If that makes us mean parents then im more than happy to join your club x
I agree with you. My kids read in their bedrooms . I have 2 big rules I won’t break. No tv in bedrooms and no chocolate for breakfast. In my opinion making tv/dvd part of a bedtime routine is a bad habit to get into.DVDs do not send children to sleep . We have them in the car, without them my 3 yr old sleeps on long journeys but with them on she never sleeps. Well done for sticking to your principles.
I am with you on this one, we do have 2 TV’s one in the living room and one in the Kitchen. No TV’s upstairs at all. Bedtime is about having a read then going to sleep.
Louise
There’s nothing nicer than reading bedtime stories for winding down for bed in my opinion!
We also only have one TV, downstairs. We took it a step further and we don’t have cable, satellite or anything else that would give us more than the bunny ears do , i know. Do I venture over to Hulu, yes! After the kids are in bed.
As much as I would love the peace and quiet that would come with putting a TV in the kids’ (ages 10, 7 and 4) bedrooms, it just ain’t going to happen, even if I had control of the Off Switch. They get way too much stimulation as it is playing on computers after school – and it’s bloody hard enough getting them out of bed in the mornings.
Couldn’t agree more over the getting enough stimulation as it is what with computers after school. The morning school run would be made 10 times more harder as well, as it’s a big enough battle as it is to get them to focus enough to get into school uniform and out of the door!
I completely agree, my children will not have a TV in their rooms, I agree with Reluctant Housedad, bedrooms need to be a place to switch of and settle for sleeping and I don’t think it would help. We do have a TV, it is attached to a DVD player and that’s all we use it for, watching DVDs. We do not buy a TV licence and do not use our TV for watching well, TV. My toddler often watches a film during the day, usually Cars because he loves it and can never get enough of it, if I get my way it’s Toy Story. My teenager is allowed to get up early at weekends and watch a film and we will sometimes watch something with him in the evening once the little ones go to bed. I don’t want TV to dominate our lives and really don’t like the constant noise of them being on all the time, I have partly gone to the extreme as I know if we had a TV licence I would be likely to watch rubbish all day, I have no self-control!
Well, I’m the odd one out here. My( 6 and 5 year old) children do have a TV in their room. They are not telly addicts. We don’t have the tv on when they get in from school at all, we talk about their day, do any reading/homework, eat together when Dad gets home, bath, read a bedtime story downstairs, then they are allowed to watch 30 mins of Cartoon Network in bed. As soon as the tv goes off, they settle down to sleep (if they haven’t already dropped off). It has never been a problem for us. Frankie, who’s 2 will probably have one as well when he gets to about 5 or 6 years old.
That’s not so bad though if you’re monitoring how much they get to watch. Controlling the amount watched is the key…
Our boys are 12 & 13 and do have a television in their room, the girls who are younger don’t. It works well for us, as the age difference means there is a clash of the kind of programmes they watch. Having said that the boys use there television for playing game as well, and immediately roll up in the lounge once the younger ones have gone to bed, good job I don,t want to watch much.
I hope you’re wrong and it isn’t the norm for children that young to have a tv in their room. That is so very sad.
We have one in the lounge and one in our room that is only really on first thing, we catch the news if we’re lucky or the kids might have Postman Pat before up and dressed at 7.30 Sharp! I admit I use it as part of the morning routine – bad mother!
I like to think it won’t happen and certainly won’t be initiated by us but I wonder if L will ask for one when shes older? Probably and that will be the hard part. As shes only 17 months it’s not something I need to think about yet thankfully, I can see me being a right soft touch though so as much as I like to think no, who knows…
No tv upstairs – not in the kids (5&7) or ours. We do have 2 tvs – one in the play room and one in the living room – but only because I brought a US TV and DVD player over so that my kids ( then 3&5) could watch their DVDs – something from home, and familiar, to help adjust (and I wasn’t buying all new movies, since this move isn’t permanent)
They likely won’t get computers in their rooms, either – not for a loooong time.
Mine don’t have any gaming things – it is mommys wii. They do crafts, play with toys, and read. I don’t think it is a bad thing that they are deprived in comparison to their peers back in the states.
Mine don’t have gaming things either, we used to have a play station we decided not to replace it. My son, who was 11 at the time, sold the games and used the money to buy himself some Airfix models, perfect!
I’m completely with you.