This post was written in conjunction with Reliant Direct, but all thoughts are my own.
Earlier this week, in a feat of spectacular timing given that I was already planning to write this blog post and thinking about what I’d say, from out of the blue my almost-nine-year-old daughter asked whether she could have a television in her bedroom. She had seen one of those cream TV beds which look like any normal bed, but have a TV which pops up from the foot of it, and was angling for one for herself.
My kids don’t and have never had TVs in their bedrooms.
I don’t even have one in mine. We’re a one television household. When my children get back from school and stick on the TV (which they do most days for an hour or two), they have to agree on what shows to watch; something that is getting trickier as they get older.
My daughter doesn’t always want endless Pokémon and prefers tweenager nonsense staring overly smiley and enthusiastic teens from the Disney channel; I prefer silence and a cup of tea. They have some shows that they agree on; Gravity Falls, and Taskmaster (the kid-friendly bleeped version) are the current favourites, and ones I don’t mind watching too.
Up until now, my kids have never asked about TVs in their bedrooms, but apparently this is quite unusual.
According to research by Reliant Direct, three quarters of children want a TV in their room. Almost half of children (46%) ask their parents whether they can have a tv in their bedroom when they’re between 4 and 7 years old, with 23% asking before that!
It makes sense; of course kids want a TV in their room.
Pretty much all kids watch TV; I’m sure we all start out with great intentions of limiting screentime but frankly by the time my two were three they were better at navigating the Netflix menus than I was.
You’ll be unsurprised to hear that my answer to her plea for a Samsung Frame TV was a resounding no, and for quite a few different reasons.
1. Cost
With two kids who would each want a tv each I really don’t have the cash spare, although there is a big selection of discounted tvs on the Reliant Direct website if you are looking for a new smart TV.
2. Lack of necessity
Like 54% of the children surveyed, in the summer holidays I relented and bought them both their own tablets in the Amazon sale. They are able to use them to stream Netflix and Disney+, which is the how the 47% of kids access shows these days. We don’t have any TV services like Sky or Virgin, or even live television, so they aren’t missing out on much really; a bigger screen, a remote control and a potentially a few channels.
3. Difficult to monitor and control
Their tablets also have parental controls which means I can set limits on the amount of time they’re using them, and see which apps they’re using and shows they’re watching.
All of the shows they can access on their profiles are age-appropriate. I would worry with a television that they may end up accessing shows that were unsuitable for their ages.
4. Interrupted sleep
I would also be concerned about them watching a screen too late at night. My kids do not sleep nearly enough as it is, so anything that makes it worse would be awful!
I’m happy for them to listen to stories on their screen free audio players and I set a timer so that it turns off after an hour or so; at which point they are supposed to go to sleep.
Controlling my children’s use of a tv could be a bit trickier.
Although 45% of parents surveyed said their children fell asleep watching TV, I really wouldn’t want to encourage this at all! I’m not a particularly precious parent, as I’m sure you can guess, but I don’t sleep with the TV on and I don’t want to encourage my kids to do this.
Sleeping with the TV on is actually really bad for you; it increases your exposure to blue light, which can increase your risk for obesity, diabetes, and other health problems as well as making your sleep quality worse. Sleep is important and tired kids are grumpy kids who whinge and don’t learn.
It’s a no from me.
I’m happy with the TV staying in the lounge where I can monitor their usage. I’ll revisit it in the future; I have no problems with teens having TVs in their rooms, but in my opinion, at 7 and 8 years old, my kids are still too young.