When Does the TV Come on and Go Off?

Sometimes right away, sometimes later, sometimes never. Depends. We have no "hard and fast" rules about the TV like that. There's lots of other things my kid would rather do.

I'm with your cousin, pretty much. I mean, I don't always turn it on right away, but I don't prevent anyone else from turning it on. Once the tv is on, it stays on till we go to bed.

mines on pretty much 24/7 unless we go out. then we turn it off. doesn't mean that cartoons are on though.

If we have somewhere to be, like school, there is NO TV at all in the morning.
If it's a lazy day - like Saturday - then yep the TV is on as soon as they get up.

We turn on the tv almost immediately. I like to have Good Morning America or the Today Show on while i'm walking through the house getting us all ready for the day. It's not as though we are sitting down watching it, but it's background noise while we move around. It's toooooo quiet when the tv is off. I like to catch a bit of news and weather too. That damnend demon tv!
When I come in from work, tv on, background noise while I cook and dad goes outside to play with the kids. It's on until bedtime. Especially if there is a football game or a good movie on. I love Redbox and we have our favorite sitcoms. It's a good way to unwind at the end of the day.

When my husband gets up with the kids, it goes on immediately. He takes a little while to "warm up" in the mornings, and it's his way of dodging the toddler-tornado for a little bit--flip on some Pinky Dinky Doo and let the kid slowly wake up and relax while laying on daddy's chest. The baby doesn't really watch TV though--sometimes she'll crane her neck at what the boys are watching but then she crawls off after a few seconds to play. When I get up with the kids, it doesn't get turned on until I'm putting the baby down for her first nap. The kids sit in the kitchen with me chatting and playing while i make coffee and breakfast for everyone. My son (2.5 years) gets to watch one episode of something while i'm putting the baby down for her nap, it's the only way I can keep him occupied and quiet! It gets turned off until after dinner when daddy and little man like to watch Power Rangers together. We don't have cable, just netflix. So it's nice that it automatically stops when one program is over and doesn't just run constantly. I watch my shows during nap time or after the kids are in bed for an hour or two

I could go all day without the TV on. And certainly if it's a nice day - me and the kids will be out and about. My husband however turns on the TV the minute he gets up or gets into the house. In fact, we got back from vacation a couple of weeks ago at 1:30 am. Both kids were sleeping so I got one and he got the other - he went in to 'get the bed ready' for our oldest child.....when I walked in he had turned the TV on!!!! What's the point? From what I've learned with he and other friends of mine over the years is that some people have to have it on no matter what - if not just for the noise.......I didn't grow up that way so it drives me nuts but he did.

We don't have any set "rules". Our TV is usually not on until the 4pm news starts and then it will be on until we go to bed around 10.

Daughter and I like to watch some shows together and it is our time to chat, etc.

Never ever before school. they would never be ready on time if the TV was on. During the school year, only on Friday Saturday and Sunday.

I HATE having the TV on as background noise. There are some people (like my in-laws) who have the TV on all day long, even when they aren't watching it! We do watch a little TV though, mostly movies. But never during the day, only a little towards the end of the day as time to wind down or on the weekends. I prefer letting the kids watch movies rather than TV channels because I really hate commercials more than anything. But I always tell them there are so many things in life to do, and TV is only one of those many things.

The tv and the computer turn on/off when I say so.
My son (he's 12) asks before turning anything on and a lot of the time he doesn't even ask - he's got a lot of good books to read.

All depends on the day. Some days it never gets turned on, some days it's the first thing anyone does. It all depends on the day as to how long it's on too, could be all day or it could be for a couple hours. Sometimes it's mindless entertainment, other times it's educational shows- documentaries on the universe, history or how things are made or educational kids shows .
It does get turned off if I get sass talk about getting things done that need to get done. I don't care if it's on if they are doing the things they need to but the minute they refuse to do things or start back talking etc the TV is off and that's it.
My husband is the only one in the entire house that wakes up ready to go. The rest of us take a few minutes in the morning to get rid of the morning fog and really be able to move around. We often stare at the TV for a few minutes while doing that.
Not damaging us in any way. The TV is not evil. I just don't agree with that at all.

It really depends.

Some days it's on first thing, other days it's not on at all, other days it comes on halfway through.

Some days it gets turned off for the rest of the day almost immediately. Some days it's on and off, some days its on almost all day.

While I totally agree with your message and your rule, we do it a bit different (during the week) because I'm a working Mom. Our schedule goes like this...
I wake up and go into our 3 yo's room and open the blind a bit to get some sun in so he will start to wake up. I let him know I'm going to go let the chickens out (yes, we live in the city & have chickens - it's awesome) and ask if he'd like to come with me - he usually does.

When we come inside, we get breakfast for him. At that point, he can go watch one show (a 20 minute program) with the understanding that when it's done, it's time for him to pick out his clothes and get dressed (we have netflix on demand, no cable, so when the show is over, it's over). during those 20 minutes, I am able to get myself ready - clothes, make-up & hair.

He knows that as soon as that show is over, he comes into his room and picks out his own clothes and then I help get him dressed or he does it on his own. This schedule works for us during the week.

After we get home, it's back outside with the chickens and we spend about an hour and half to two hours with them outside. We come inside and start to make dinner. Most of the time, he and Daddy will turn on the t.v., but won't watch it much, they'll be on the floor playing dinosaurs or legos. After that show, it's dinner time, then bath time, then reading, then bed.

Weekends are all over the map;) We try to work in chores, play time, relax time, outdoor time all in two days, so while I still try to keep on some sort of schedule the truth is weekends are willy nilly.

Our informal policy revolves more around the amount of time spent watching. The 2 year old does get to watch PBS when I lay the baby down for a nap because, thankfully, she's completely engaged by the programing. I might feel weird about this if "completely engaged" didn't also include dancing and singing along. Otherwise, we don't really watch TV during the day. We just recently started having no-technology Saturdays at our house and I'm a huge fan so far! In the evenings, we pretty much turn on the TV to watch something specific, but the babies don't really get TV except for the occasional Mommy cuddle Movie when they're sick.

I don't stress too badly about it. Growing up, we all had TVs in our rooms and I know I watched WAY too much so I figure if I'm keeping an eye on things and the kids active I'm taking positive steps.

In the house my husband grew up in, the TV was never off. Ever. They SLEPT with it on. Usually, more than 1 would be on in separate rooms. My parents never turned the TV on during the day unless a child was home sick; then they could watch Sesame Street and a handful of game shows. For a lot of people, having it off seems bizarre, and for some, having it on seems noisy or distracting.

We're somewhere in the middle. No TV before school, no TV until homework and chores are done. Then, we watch a fair amount, but usually it's on to watch specific programs, not just because we can't be bothered to turn it off.

We don't have a rule about how soon the TV can be turned on (I must clarify that TV means Qubo, PBS, or videos only in my house, as far as the kids are concerned). It depends on what's going on that day, how much TV watching has occurred recently, whether or not the kids have make-up chores, etc. On non-school days, if my kids wake up before me, they can watch TV until I wake up. They don't always choose to turn TV on. Some days we won't watch TV at all. Others, we'll watch 2 or 3 movies (especially if I don't feel well and it's bad weather). My oldest has a harder time waking up (like his mom!) and will wake up quicker if the TV is on. So, on school days, I wake him up earlier and let him watch 10 minutes of TV. However, if he lags and isn't ready to leave in time, then he gets no TV the next morning. The only hard and fast TV rule we have is no TV immediately after school. They have to eat snack and play outside for an hour, do homework, and then they can watch 1 show.

No TV when the kids are awake (mine are 4 years old). A few times a week I put a recorded show on for them before dinner, but that's it. After the kids are in bed, husband and I will sometimes turn the TV on around 8pm and it's off by 10pm. Other days it doesn't go on at all.

My 15 year old niece just spent two weeks with us and was also surprised that we didn't watch TV during dinner. Apparently she usually eats alone in front of the TV while her dad eats in front of his computer. Her mom is still at work, and little brother eats on the couch in a different room watching a different TV.

My children don't watch TV, so....never. Well, for them.

My husband will turn it on in the evenings to watch the ball games, if they're on. Or turn on the radio, if he can't get the game on TV. (We don't have cable)

I like to watch a couple of shows, so I watch them online after the children have gone to bed.

If I am home alone with the kids, the TV doesn't go on at all.

My husband has this strange ability to turn it on before he even pulls into the garage. OK, I am kidding. But it sure seems that way. He turns it off right before he goes to bed, which is usually after me because he just has to finish some ridiculous program - something about killing alligators or shooting guns.

I despise our television. I hate watching my family sit in front of it like zombies. Thank goodness I have active children who would prefer to be playing with me or their friends. They watch a max of about an hour per day on weekdays, maybe two on weekends. My husband is the only real zombie. I could scream "the house is on fire!!" while he is watching something and he wouldn't budge or even acknowledge me.

We will let the kids watch tv either in the morning or in the late afternoon maybe 2 hours total per day. It is never on all day long. We do not let them watch tv in the early mornings before school. (One is going into kindergarten and my 4 yo will be in full time pre k class, basically same sched as kindergarten). The 4 month old baby obviously does not watch tv although he cranes his head to watch when the girls are watching a show and I have him on the floor in his baby gym. I keep rotating him around so he is not looking at it! LOL!
Obviously, daily tv watching is out once school starts. This will be the first year they've been in school M-F. Hubby and I have talked about it and I am pretty sure we're going to have no tv during the week at all. Hubby and I usually watch tv in the evenings, when we're not busy with house projects, or doing work from home. (I am freelancing and he sometimes works late). I would guess we watch about 8 hours per week of tv or so.