Television Time Limits, Arguments and Woes

My two year old recently discovered the television. It's not that it wasn't ever on before this point in his life. With a four year old brother, he has been exposed to the tube over the years but he never expressed an actual interest in the flickering screen. That is, he hadn't expressed an interest until a few weeks ago. Now we're fighting the TV time limit battle with two children instead of just one.

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that children should watch no more than two hours of television per day. They go on to say that children under two shouldn't be watching any TV. It can be difficult to keep a two year old away from a TV in a house in which an older sibling lives and watches that television. We were lucky in the fact that our younger son didn't show an interest until just recently which is right about the same time his older brother did as well.

Now we're struggling with managing his time without the tantrums that come along with a two year old personality. By struggling, of course, I mean that I'm almost ready to take all of the televisions out of our house and toss them in the nearest dumpster (even though that's not how you should properly dispose of a TV).

We follow all of the normal advice.

• Don't leave the TV on for noise. When the time is up or your show is done, turn it off. We do! We listen to music when we're not watching TV.
• Avoid commercial programming. We only watch Nick Jr., PBS or DVDs at this point. Or the news which quickly makes the children disperse and find something else to do.
• We've employed the sleep feature on our TV sets so that it automatically shuts off after a set amount of time. However, my tech-smart kids can turn it back on. That just creates another fight.
• We avoid TV in the evenings and instead go for dance parties, books and general play.

We also employ the very dramatic No-TV Day. The boys will usually whine for about 15 minutes after breakfast on these horrendous days and then they forget and go about their business. I recently learned that TV Turnoff Week is April 19-25 this year. I'm considering it if only because my birthday is on the last day of the week and I think everyone in my family should pay attention to me, not the television!

I figure the consistently warming weather will help. Getting outside and away from the draw of the TV is a big help every Spring. I know that the outdoors is even more intoxicating than their favorite shows and that they can't resist the sandbox, their playhouse or the lure of the playground. I have, however, been known to bribe them back inside with television when the weather turns or the sun gets too hot.

And so, I ask the question many of us have asked in the past: how do you control television time limits? Have you ever utilized something like TV Time Allowance? Are there ever arguments in your house about the television? What has worked for you? (Or, equally helpful, what hasn't worked for you?) Mostly, I just want to be reminded that there's hope at the end of this tunnel. 

Jenna Hatfield, aka @FireMom, maintains two blogs: Stop, Drop & Blog and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land. She also writes for AdoptionBlogs.com and Ohio Moms Blog. When the TV is off, she's outside chasing those two crazy boys.