How do you control TV or computer time?

[Mamalicious Alicia]

Hi mummies,


I agreed with verykiasu2010 mummy,
you need to pre-negotiate the time slot / amount of time allowed, and stick to it strictly, and that is it

Before any activity, it is good to talk to your child about the rules and safety issues. In this case, they need to stop watching TV after the allowed time. This will ease any troubles later.

If you keep practicing communication to them before any activity, they will learn to abide by the rules. Having said tt, you need to be

1) Firm
2) Stick closely to the rules, especially the safety issue

If they breach any of the rules, they will not be allowed to continue. i.e. playing at the beach---rule/safety issue: no swimming---if they go into the water, stop activity.

For our first son, we did not enforce these rules and it became very hard to implement them later. So with our second child, we train him young and he listens and abide by our rules (although sometimes he wines too).

Good luck. Be firm. if you need more ideas, you can read
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Stop-Your-Child-From-Watching-Too-Much-Television&id=3843965
or

http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Your-Child%27s-Computer-Addiction

-I like the 'Buy or download a program that restricts computer use' idea

Mamalicious Alicia

[Herbie]

TV time is hard to control at home… especially after 7pm… cos the KING will be home to relax after a day of hard work.


For computer time, i am still trying to figure out a way cos my kid has project work but he/she will get distracted and start to go to other website and not doing the real work… this is the biggest headache which i am facing rite now.

My advise for laptop/tv is never have them in the kid’s room cos you will never gradually lose them and they will be in their own world… place the laptop in the living room

[verykiasu2010]

all my PC/lap top at home must login with password to access it


and i change the password regularly…so everytime the kids need access to PC / internet, need me to login for them

placing laptop in common area is best option

[Oppsgal]

Try setting an alarm clock next to the tv or computer, say like half an hour. When goes off, then tell the kid need to off, time is up.

[Herbie]

i think working out a weekly schedule with the child and stick to the schedule will also help to continue tv and computer time…

[cyn-w]

agreed ... a weekly schedule would be good TV time for me is usually family time too .. we'll watch the shows together with my boy


this website, i think, is very useful and quite relevant=) it is recently launched by MDA, working with TOUCH community services! part of a cyber wellness campaign. http://www.cyberwellness.org.sg/Knowledge

[Castle House]

My DS is also ‘addicted’ to games but I stress to him that he has to complete his work before he can play. So far, he has been quite co-operative.


Only thing is when he is done with his work, he will fight with the sister to let him play immediately.

So, now we are following a fix schedule to work out with the 2 elder ones and discipline them.

[Herbie]

i think the word ‘control’ doesn’t sound good… we help the kid to plan their time… teach time good time management…

[MummyThreeStreams]

Best way is to not let them get into the habit in the first place. My kids are all under 6. We control TV and computer time by not getting them into the habit of watching TV or playing computers.


When DS1 was about 2, I did get into the habit of letting him watch TV so that I could get things done around the house. But I realised later it was bad, because he would keep asking to watch. So I decided to nip it in the bud and entertain him in other ways. Now he doesn’t ask to watch TV at all. DS2 will ask to watch Thomas or Bob the Builder once in awhile, but I just have to tell him that it’s not showing and he accepts it.

Having said that, they are all still young and relatively easy to control. I suppose it gets harder as they get older.

[cimman]

HappyFaye:

deminc:

[quote=\"HappyFaye\"]

I am hoping to have an auto-shut down for TV and computer :oops:

[/quote]actually, there is a way for the auto shut down.
For computer, get a Parental Control Software or get the Kaspersky Anti Virus software which has parental control built in. This application allows you to specify when the computer should be turned on or the duration that the computer should be turned on. Once the time is up, the child no longer has access to the computer unless the password is given.

As for TV, I would suggests getting a carpenter to build a little box around the power point where your TV is connected to. Get a lock to lock up the box. Put a timer and program the timer to turn and off at specific times of the day. When the timer is off, electricity to the TV is cut off.