while I don't necessarily disagree with what you were doing, I think it is pretty drastic. I also feel its somewhat irresponsible to completely discount the fact that modern media can be a good thing.

I would back up some of the other posters here in that it may be beneficial to your children to provide it in moderation and supervision rather than complete withdrawal. Not every child who has access to TV and the internet becomes a mindless drone. Many kids who do not have these things become mindless drones! I grew up with video games and television in my bedroom, and internet in my household. I currently watch probably about 1 hour of television a day, and literally about 2 hours of video games a week. I also know people who had similar resources as a child and watch the most bland "reality television" religiously

I think you should judge it on your own children's experience. If you see a problem in their having television, then begin to monitor and limit what they are watching. Ultimately it is on you as the parent. But, you seem to be dismissing television to easily. Whether you decide to acknowledge it or not, there ARE good, educational programs available, many even targeted towards younger children like you own.

Now I'm all for children reading books, so for that I commend you! There arent nearly enough kids that read anymore. But, if you have an issue with your children talking about television with their friends, how is that really any
different than talking about a book? If you disagree with what the content of the program is, that is fine. Otherwise, what do you expect a kid to talk about??

Personally I would balance them all out, emphasizing the importance of each, and making sure the television they are privileged to view is of good quality, whether it be interactive, inspiring imagination, or just educational or relevant to their interests. But again, in moderation.

Again, I support your pushing books and drawing and things of that nature on your children, but the internet and television can also provide resources of an informative and leisurely nature that can benefit them as well. Why not embrace it all??

My 2 cents (or more )

[edit on 13-6-2009 by kyle6677]

I see a lot of replies here that state that I have taken the easy route.
I beg to differ.
It is quite easy to sit your child in front of the TV and let it entertain them.
Far different to have to be the one to create activities for them to do when they run out of ideas.
After reading the responses to this thread,I asked my children how they felt and if they missed having movies and videogames,(as for tv, we had 2 channels anyway), and the answer from all of them was a unanimous "NO".
They have all found better ways and more fun ways to spend their time.
You can all argue and debate that all you like.
Thanks to those who support my decision in this thread and via u2u.
To the others, you have your right to disagree, but you don't know me or my kids..and your judgment is narrow.
Now if you all will excuse me, I have given this thread more attention than it deserves...and it's story time.
good night.

Originally posted by bronwyn82
There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the path that A.D. has chosen to raise her children.

This quote alone proves my point, could you get anymore "sure" of yourself. Sounds like your trying to convince someone, sounds more to me like your trying to convince yourself.

While I think you are awesome for taking the tv away I also think it's lame. I've ran into home schooled kids and they are totally outta touch with social reality.

I say allow a few hours in your home each day where the tv and other electronics are not allowed to be used. We are living in the world no matter how much you want to escape it.

I grew up with tv, computers video games, and cable all my life, but thanks to my parents as a young child I was aware of the NWO, depopulation, aliens living here on earth, alternate realities, meditation, esp, etc.

You have to know what your enemy is up to. So teaching children how to watch tv and listen to radio with a critical eye and ear will help them to weed out the subliminal bs and become stronger warriors to fight for our freedom.



[edit on 13-6-2009 by Teeky]

Originally posted by TurkeyBurgers

GAOTU789 I AGREE with you that Television is horrible. It is only horrible in what is on T.V. I have Cable and we have like 300+ stations. There is 90% GARBAGE on! But there ARE good channels. Do not throw the baby out with the bath water. The Science channel is amazing. Animal planet. NOVA. Some History Channel Programing. Even the military channel has some good world history on it.

I agree that there are some decent things on tv. Problem is, I am not willing to shell out the money for that access to the, at best, 5% of quality.

Of the shows /channels you mentioned, all are available on line and do present quality material. We have watched many space and science based docs from some of those channels on line together and when done, we discuss what we saw. That's another thing I think is sorely lacking with kids and parents today, communication. During a fund raiser for her school this year, they had to sell magazine subscriptions. Ya know what mags she asked me to order? Scientific America, Astronomy and National Geographic.

The Internet is AMAZING! It is the combined knowledge of the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not keep this from your children. Sit WITH them and explore the archive of humanity together! Oh the places you will go!

Trust me, I will never deny her the most important tool of the information age. I will, however, monitor what she does on it until she is old enough to discern some of the dangers that it can also present. Here is a list of a couple of the things that are in her bookmark folder...

Nat Geo
Astronomy.com
Space.com
Discovery.ca
And Kinglizards avatar thread with all his paintings in it.

She has some game sites and stuff as well but their is just as much stuff like above as the time wasting stuff.



[edit on 13-6-2009 by GAOTU789]

Kudos for treating your kids like intelligent human beings and for letting them learn real skills like reading and conversation.

I wish some of the parents local to me had the same attitude, then their kids wouldn't be kicking over my trash can for entertainment instead of understanding that they could do more.