My problem is the time I can waste on the internet. I teach a university class and use the computer extensively for their homework assignments (submitting and grading). Then while I’m online I read all sorts of news/blogs and pretty soon I’ve wandered over to the solitaire-type games and lost all track of time. How do you manage to ration your time on the computer effectively?

Michele Obama is both fortunate and unfortunate in that she can let everyone know what her standards are – and then be the recipient of criticism for those standards. But each parent decides what is best for their family. No TV on weekdays is harsh? Please. No FOOD on weekdays is harsh (tongue firmly in cheek, hope YKWIM). TV is hardly a necessity for good parenting.

We let our boys watch 30 minutes of Discovery some weekdays, or play 20 minutes of videogames – provided their chores and homework are done, and dependent on other activities. With those parameters in place, TV/game time doesn’t happen too often. We give them more leeway on the weekend… but the chores & homework still have to be done.

Will my kids rebel and play hours of videogames or watch nonstop TV when they hit college? Maybe for a month or two, and then they’ll get bored.

We tell our kids, “This is life: you do want needs to be done (in their case, chores/homework/etc.; in our case, work/housework/etc.) and then you get to play.”

We never had cable when I was a kid, either. In fact, one family tradition included RENTING a VCR and movie on Saturday nights at the video store. Yep, we were poor… and to this day, I watch less than an hour of TV a week. I love me some Office. :b Our own “family tradition” is watching America’s Funniest Home Videos together on Sunday nights. Much laughter = much sleep.

The comment about seeing kids from the Christian community go overboard when they leave and get to choose for themselves made me giggle.

I grew up and went to an even more conservative stance than my parents (as did my husband).

Some of my children *have* left home. My oldest two are 26 and 25 and they are both married, one has a baby. Both of them married men who love their television and movies, and both of them discussed this before marriage and got their husbands to agree on a no-t.v. AT ALL stance for their children until they are six years old. So my children, rather than diving in to what they’d ‘missed’ actually went stricter than we did.

We no longer put any limitations on what the 19 and 20 year olds can watch, of course, and they aren’t interested in watching television all day, either, or even more than a movie a week.

I don’t think it depends on the child, I think it depends on the family, and how they did things. If it’s all about the NO TV BECAUSE IT’S EVIL, with nothing fun in its place, then I think it’s more likely that the kids ‘rebel.’ But if it’s about, “meh, what a waste of time, let’s do this instead,” then I think the kids are more likely to be on board, or even, as mine have, go further.

Reactionary vs Actionary, in other words.

I read a book by Steven Maxwell (Raising Sons to Provide for a One Income Family) that talks about TV in a chapter or two; he mentioned that we need to be careful with the appetites that we “feed” in our children, especially in regards to television and movies.

Some great points were made in this post and in the comments. Thanks for sharing!

Admittedly, I often found myself wasting time because I’d turn on the TV while I folded laundry, then I’d be sucked into something for the next hour or so. Ridiculous.

We bought an HD antenna, which my husband installed in the attic. I’m surprised at just how many channels we get with that thing. But still, we rarely use it. We do have the $8.99/month Netflix subscription. Much cheaper than cable, and we get to watch stuff on our own time. This is a much better solution for our family.

I don’t agree with Obama politically, but I do think he and his wife are doing a nice job of raising their girls. I hardly see how not being allowed to watch TV during the school week is going to turn those girls into TV gluttons in college. It’s not as if they’re being completely deprived of all TV. And even if they were, it doesn’t mean they’ll be unable to control themselves in the future.

I do not see a problem with what the Obama’s do as far as tv because it says they do not watch it during the week. It doesn’t say they dont watch any on the weekend. I think this is a good way to make sure that studies and family life are well taken care of since so much of a day goes to school during the week.