Tv and computer rules

[Guest Alana]

What are your rules regarding what you children can watch on tv? Do you monitor them on the internet? If so, how?

My son is only 4, but he's pretty good at finding stuff online. Sometimes we'll watch things on youtube. The hard part of you tube is that you can be watching one totally fine video, and then the next one it suggest for is completely inappropriate. I'm right there with him, so I can help him keep clear of things, but when he's older I won't be holding his hand every second. SO, what are your rules? How do you enforce them? How do you know they are followed when you're not there?

[BenRaines]

Education and Trust. I don't have a 4 yr old any longer but I have two 5 yr old granddaughters. They are allowed to go to Nick Jr. and play games online like Dora but that is the extent of it. I would not have a 5 yr old online on YouTube, I think about 12 would be appropriate for YouTube.

Dynamite is safe when used properly, so is YouTube. I would not let a 5 yr old play with dynamite either.

Ben Raines

[Truegrits]

My 7 year old granddaughter is allowed to play a few games via computer...at the moment her fav is a Barbie dress-up game. (She is pure girlie-girl!)

My 15 year old son has tight controls on his PC and his television; limited time on both, also. Every so often he pulls the "That's not fair! So-and-so can do ......" we just tell him we are not responsible for what "Joe" can do, but we ARE responsible for him.

Our home...our electronics...our rules.

[Misshalfway]

We watch our kids really closely. We preview their movies and tv shows and have a deal with our kids about which internets sites they may visit. Our kids are pretty good about asking permission and then my husband and I go to those sites to investigate safety and content, etc. We use protective software on the computer and tv so that we limit access. This involves time limits. For example, the kids can't use the computer after certain hours of the night. The computer will turn off and they are denied access. They also have to get us to add more time to their session if they want that. Right now they are limited to 30 min. a day. I think the most important thing is limiting access so they don't get curious and also opening lines of communication so that we can discuss issues as they arise.

I struggle sometimes when my kids visit friends who don't have the same parental involvement. We have had to sometimes limit who my oldest son plays with because his friend introduced him to inappropriate sites. It was a hard lesson for all of us.

[Dr T]

We have our computers in the open and they can only be used with permission. We don't have tv so that's easy. We do however carefully watch any movies they want to watch for things we do not want fed to our children. One of my children is got into webkins. They are animals and u log in to play games and put the animal to bed and other things. We limited his access to it and he became very upset. He was given a virtual gift by someone on that site and we didn't feel comfortable with him interacting with someone that we do not know so we put the stop on webkins for now.

[Elgama]

TV I have no specific rules with - we do insist chores and home education are done before it is switched on unless Mummy is ill then its a free for all.

Computer only gets used with us or at the library (strict controls on sites) but my 2 year old does watch YouTube with me and so does my 5 year old. We love Musicals, watching really old Children's TV shows etc, Shirley Temple is a favourite with my daughter, she loves slapstick comedy. My son likes listening to choirs, hymns and Lazy Town songs

Our main childrens sites are Cbeebies (BBC one) and Kneebouncers.

-Charley

[Palerider]

We watched our kids closely and we always knew what they were watching. We tried to teach them the best we could. We put our computer in a high traffic area and the computer was such you could see the monitor from way across the room.

[RainofGold]

My 14 year old son has limited use of the computer, and I have the parental control installed. So he is very limited as to what sites he can access in the computer. He needs my password if he is trying to get into sites where he is not allowed to visit.

Rain

[TheyCallMeMom]

we do not own a tv..

we do however use the internet alot

we have one computer and it sits in the living room , where most of you have a tv..

we do watch "tv" online, but its commercial free.. and very regulated

my kids have their own acct on the computer with safeguards.. due to the varying ages 9 and under, they go to a large variety of websites. they are bookmarked and they really dont surf

as far as you tube, we watch alot of it.. but again, my kids are pretty aware of the fact there are things they cant see and even when the 3 year old is watching veggie tales songs we rarely have "accident" issues

For those that have not yet found it.. GodTube is a spin off and as far as I can tell, quite safe

[Hemidakota]

I monitor the router with filters and do not allow something words, websites, and other things I find offensive. Even the TV is monitored with TV filter in not allowing some channels and ratings not to be seen.

[Palerider]

always remember your home is your "Temple".....make it a place where the Spirit can reside....:)

[LDSVALLEY]

We have a home computer and a lap top. Our kids (13,10,9) have to have permission to use either of them and they are sitting in the living room six inches from the coach. We do not have special safety features on it but they know the few sites they are allowed to go to. They are not allowed to touch them when we are not in the house. Our eldest tried to do it once when we were out, but was unpleasantly surprised when I not only told her she had done it but gave her every site she had gone too. (History is a wonderful thing and even if they delete it you still know they were at the computer.)

We use computer time, except for school projects, as a reward for chores done. Usually 15-30 minutes per day per child max. If two of the three are away somewhere and only one is home we might allow them an hour.

As for Television we also limit the amount of time and the types of shows. They get maybe an hour before supper and sometimes another after if everything is done. A weekend or Saturday afternoon might include a rented movie. In the summer each child gets control of the television for 1/2 hour and they can combine to choose another giving them two hours of television during the summer.

Overall it seems to work, our eldest walked out of a school shown movie once and told the teacher she didn't think her parents would feel it was appropriate. It is often harder on us parents as we were not raised in the church and there are many shows we would have loved to watch 15 years ago that are no longer appropriate. And if we tried our kids would quickly correct us.

If you start out with correct behavior and instill and teach the Prophets teachings on these issues then they have no room to barter with you and you are not the fall person. At first it is difficult but now they know they cannot go to parties on Sunday, or watch certain shows or roam the internet.