My kid will NEVER have a TV in his room. Of course, our house isn't very big, and we have three sets, so it hardly matters. He gets to watch one hour a day, not in the morning, and then the weekends are a free-for-all.

We have one TV, but the computers have won out in our place long ago. You know you can watch TV on computers now?

I'd like to see the effects of a laundry machine in my kid's room. Other than the fresh scent, of course.

My elder daughter has asked about getting a TV in her room. It's not going to happen. I got her an inexpensive clock radio with a CD player instead.

She watches PBS shows on weekend mornings while I cook her pancakes, etc. She prefers PBS to the derth of cartoon programming on the broadcast networks. We don't watch any cable kids shows.

She got a Webkinz for her birthday recently, so she does that, but only with supervision. Other than that, she hasn't shown much interest in computers yet.

No TVs in the rooms (and never will have). One TV in the house. Anywhere from a half-hour to an hour a day.

GX brings up the more relevant point. We are thinking of doing some remodeling and moving the office nearer the rest of the house so that as the wee ones spend more time online we can monitor their usage. But what happens if we actually install wiFi in the house (b/c we already have a laptop)? And what happens as TV-watching gets shifted to cell phones and iPods?

Hadn't thought about putting the laundry room in the kids' room -- that would totally free up enough room for the band's practice space! (Note: Band only exists in my dreams. For now.)

We spent the weekend with a kid who owns a handheld Nintendo DS thingy and those make TV look as healthy as mother's milk. Otherwise clever and lively children were rendered dull-witted and single-minded. That said, they're not getting TV in their room, either. As has been mentioned, I am the meanest mommy in the world. Bar none.

No tv in kid bedrooms in my house... ever. In addition to restricting their access to certain channels, I also limit 1st and 2nd kids tv time.

We don't even have a TV in our room. TV's in bedrooms feel icky to me. We occasionally watch movies on my laptop. We have one TV, and that's plenty for us. Bourdain makes occasional attempts to discuss getting a TV for room, but I stand firm on the issue.

I think Wonder Girl has averaged 1-2 hours over this winter. Once it's playground weather she rarely gets more than an hour. I have big plans to forbid it in the morning, but I do love my quiet coffee/internet time.

OK, I think I've said this twenty times on here, but I'll repeat. We have one elderly and increasingly frail color tv in the family room, and one teensy color tv in the kitchen that is way up on top of the cabinet. And we dont' have cable, meaning for the most part all we get is PBS.

But, as with GX, the kids are starting to watch more and more TV on the computer, especially since we got our smokin' hot cable modem and the gorgeous iMac with the 20" screen and fabulous sound. So now Eli begs for "Jetix.com" so he can watch an ep of Power Rangers. We let them do that because it's self-limiting, there are only so many episodes available, so when it's over.

The kids won't ever have a TV in their room, that's a non-starter. And at this point the computer is in a small room off the dining room so it's visible to everyone. We do have wifi now through an Airport Extreme Homebase so the potential exists for us to get them laptops to do stuff in their room in the future. But that's a few years off yet.

Re: the gaming, we have only bought a couple of games so far for the iMac -- Zoo Tycoon and Railroad Tycoon. Miles loves them, they're really creative and fun. No fighting type games for us (except the Avatar and Batman games on the Nick and CN websites which seem to suck my husband in for some reason).

ann, I'm a mean mommy,too, because the hand held games ain't gonna happen in my house, either. Too bad!

Ann, I agree about the DS. My brother got one for my daughter for her birthday, even after he asked and we told him we didn't want her to have one. (My niece is a zombie with that thing. Scary.) So it's sitting in its box, unopened. I'm hoping she forgets about it.

I think I've mentioned this somewhere, but we do a token economy for all things screen (tv, dvd, playstation, comp games - homework doesn't count). Each boy gets one hour worth as part of their allowance and can earn more by doing "extra" chores (they are already responsible for their bedroom, bathroom and walking the dog). As you can probably guess from the high structure, there is and will noy be tv in the boys room!

We have the mighty wifi but are thinking about restructuring the house to have a common office/workspace for all of us. Right now the two small rooms are his/her offices and the boys share the biggest room in the house - but we are probably going to swap so the hubby and I can work together after the boys go to bed and the homework stuff can move off of the dining room table.

How about Wii? I love the Wii. I've played it for exactly 5 seconds (and had to wrest the controls from a big teenager to snag even that much) and I actually think it will make an appearance in our living room at some point. So fun (and played by twos and involves motion). Do I sound as though I'm justifying something? IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN.

Kiwibttrflyty, what channels do you restrict?

oh - we do have an handheld gameboy - but it is only used on car trips of more than 3 hours. They look forward to it and it makes for a VERY peaceful ride.

Stefan, you're just going to have to lock down the local wireless cloud. You can limit the internet available to only certain MAC addresses, so just certain hardware gets the internet, or use WEP encryption (that requires a password). That way the kids' iPod won't have no innernet. This is all the stuff you should do to make sure the neighbors aren't leapfrogging onto your wireless in the first place.

TV's in bedrooms feel icky to me.

Me too. So I don't think it'll ever happen, or even be a point of contention.

I'm way more cautious about limiting video game usage. The other night my daughter insisted we keep playing until the end, and I don't think she ever believed me that there is no "end" to speak of. She's always mad when I say it's time to turn it off; never so with the TV.

Last night I kept all devices off, as I do periodically, and remembered, as I do on each of those occasions, that I'm a really unfun person after a long day of working/commuting. I'm not sure that kind of family time is an improvement over the passive alternatives.

GX, good suggestions on WiFi. (I haven't turned off SSID broadcasting because I have too much fun giving it names like "CREDIT PIRATE" and "The Mothership Connection." Homes are close together in our neighborhood (1/10 acre lots), so I see my neighbors' SSIDs and they see ours.)

After seeing the Frontline piece several weeks ago about kids and Facebook, etc., I'm not sure we'll let our girls have computers in their rooms either. Not that we want to suffocate them or hamper their social development, but it's scary what kids are getting sucked into online.

I know, JTC, just think of those poor, defenseless kids out there on Facebook playing Scrabulous with disgusting wordy old men like me ;)

I think the in-room computer is probably not the best idea, just like the phone and TV. I'm sure in the next 10 years I'll cave. But they CANNOT have a jet pack in their room and that's fucking final!

GX, I used to pirate wifi from our neighbor across the street, Paul.

Ah, Paul, I loved him! He made the internet bearable for us for about a year until we bought the iMac and created our own wireless network.

Which I promptly secured. What? I don't want some no-goodnik siphoning off my signal! That's stealing!

GX: Please don't spread around this information about locking down wifi! I was having a great time online in Starbucks today thanks to some Britney person who must live upstairs. Until Starbucks switches over to their free AT&T wireless, let me have some fun!

Shauna: I never remember family time being particularly edifying or enjoyable when I was a kid. Mom was cranky. TV was better.

TVs in bedrooms are definitely icky. We've got one set, which resides in the living room due to lack of space, and I kinda hate that it's there. It used to be upstairs in a room now occupied by a kid, and I liked that you had to make a decision to go watch it, and not just turn it on because hey, it's there. Though TiVo is great for making a decision to watch something, and not flip channels/waste time. Tried a Wii at 17 year-old cousin's house (she also has an iPhone), felt like a dick jumping around at the tennis game. Nonetheless, could imagine becoming addicted.

Now that we have wifi, I kinda miss stealing our next-door neighbor's.

And Lucky and I will never give our kids TVs of their own. Ann, let's pitch a reality show: Battle of the Meanest Mommy Titans. Or Dancing with the Meanest Mommies. You pick.

man, all these wireless sluts around here it feels kind of dirty. Do you have any idea where that computer has been? Yuck!

Meanest Mommy: Criminal Intent. Meanest Mommy CSI: Kids' Room, Underneath and Behind the Dresser. Project No-Funway. Meanest Mommy Swap. The possibilities are ripe.

GX, I'm amazed by how casually people still use unsecured WiFi. What about those people who intentionally set up unsecured WiFi by Starbucks, etc., in order to steal data from people who use their access points? And pharming/DNS tampering, etc. Firewalls only do so much. Risky stuff, or am I just living in fear?

Admittedly, we keep the TV on way longer than it should be throughout the day, but we hardly actually watch it outside of a few times here and there. I have never had one in a bedroom, though, and I certainly wouldn't start with my daughter's room.

You're living in fear, but with reason. The fact of the matter is, the bad guys are out to get you. And they are more sophisticated every day. Probably several Offsprungers computers are part of a botnet army and don't know it. In fact, for all you know, I AM A BOTNET.

But it's like everything else - liberty versus security. What would you rather have?

Having spent some time with you, GX, I can, in fact, confirm that you are a botnet. I won't even bring my laptop near you.

Jen, with GX it's the Optimus Prime helmet that implies Botnet. Who can even guess what's under there?

Ann: American Meanest Mommy. Meanest Mommy Celebrity Apprentice. Mommy the Television Slayer. Oh, you will keep me up all night with this. On the other hand, I concede: nothing tops Project No-Funway.

Jen: I've already groped your laptop. Muahahaha.

GX: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

DaddyWho's dad gave GirlWho a TV for her room. Rather than argue about it, we decided to let it stay in her room, but with limitations. There is no TV in her room on weeknights, but she can use it to play her kids version of Guitar Hero - I Can Play Guitar. She and her dad also play our old Game Cube in there. On weekends, sometimes we have a PJ party on her bed with popcorn and watch one of her favorite movies with her. She likes to play party hostess. We end up doing puzzles or fixing doll hair while the movie is on, but it's special because we're all in her room.
We limit TV here, but there isn't a set time limit. When we see that she is too engrossed in it, we set up a diversion. Normally, she watches for 15 minutes or so, and then runs off to play. She likes to watch stuff with us, too. She lives for Mythbusters, and can tell you about ballistics gel. Her dad works with guns for a living, so she knows what they are, but we don't have any in the house. I'm not particularly freaked when they use weapons on Mythbusters because we had a tank parked at the end of our old street. Had I been able to shelter her from weapons altogether, I probably would not let her watch that show.
We do not, and will not, have a TV in our room. When we move, we hope to have a family office that houses all the computers and her TV, so it comes out of her room. The office now did not have enough outlets for the TV (really old house) and we weren't paying to put them in. She won't have a computer in her room, but neither do we, so I don't see that as a huge point of contention.

I don't like TV's in bedrooms....so Paige won't ever have one, but at the moment we do and it hasn't been turned on in months. We live in a small apartment and have no where else to put it, and I've threatened to chuck it but daddy weirdest has had it for years and for some reason feels attached to it. Freak

We don't have a TV in the bedroom, either. It's been discussed, but I won't allow it. Once the kid is old enough to want it he won't be allowed it. I'd much rather give him a laptop with limited usage (homework, educational games) than a TV.

My daughter has a TV in her room, but no cable so she just watches movies when she's got friends over. I don't like th idea of TV in the bedroom, real TV with cable and channel options, just because I think it's disruptive to sleep. But what I wanted to really comment is that so many commenters seem to think TV is this evil, evil thing! I just don't think TV is that bad a thing. Like anything, it's something that's fine in moderation - yes, if you let your kid have free reign to watch MTV all day, their brains will rot out of their heads, but there's no reason it can't be an entertainment/education medium you can all enjoy together. For example my daughter, contrary to what one might expect of a 12-year-old, when she does watch actual TV it's not just to watch cartoons and crappy Nickelodeon shows, she actually chooses to watch Food Network and Discovery Channel (she's got Ace of Cakes and Unwrapped on permanent reminder status), with a smattering of Spongebob (an excellent cartoon, by the way) and Hannah Montana thrown in. She loves Animal Planet and Shark Week on Discovery channel. How is any of that a bad thing? I think TV is an acceptable entertainment medium that gets a bad rap due to some seriously stupid content to be had, but that's where you come in - discuss *why* you don't like those shows, why you think they're silly or not worth their time, and then maybe choose something you can all have fun with. Last thing, for all the folks who seem to be terrified of TV... while I understand not wanting your kid to sit around staring at it all day, I would just caution against making it too much of a temptation for when you're around, or they *will* seek it out. It's just like overly limiting food - vilify junk food too much, and the minute you're not around they'll be scarfing McDonalds and Doritos, and in this case vilify television in a lump-sum fashion (TV IS BAD!!), and the minute they're at a friends house they'll be sitting staring at the tube for hours on end trying to figure out what the big deal is.

I think Jamie brings up a good point. I don't think tv is evil, but I think it can be easy to let tv raise your kids. I have a niece and nephew who have their own "living room" with a tv in it so they can watch it all the time and during the day one watches one tv and the other watches the other so they can watch the shows that the other one doesn't like.

When I was in grade school my parents got my sister and I like a 15" tv for our room and we would get up 1/2 hour early during the week so we could watch Fantasy Island while we got ready for school. My parents never had cable tv anywhere though, we lived in the country(ish) and they always said the cable lines didn't go out by our house. It's kinda funny that they got the mega-super-deluxe digital cable package about a year after I moved out. Anyway, we didn't watch too much tv, mostly because there wasn't anything on, and we mostly only watched movies at night when it was too dark to play outside or in the winter when it was too cold.