Description of technique for limiting kids' TV-time:
Let me first say that I like TV and we have extra channels because I think that's where the really good stuff is. I also have six kids; girls ages 14, 10, 9 and boys ages 6, 4, 2, so if we all watched everything we wanted, our TV would never be off.

We have a separate and tiny TV room so that it's not always at the center of attention, first of all. And we have a chart, in a different room, of what everyone's favorite shows are. We sat around and figured out each kid's 2 favorite hours of shows and put 'em on a chart. If it's not your TV time, you do not go in that room. We also have a few big girl evening shows on the chart for 3 evenings each week, that are only watched if all schoolwork is done (homeschool) and the house is clean. While we watch these shows we bond, doing nails, making up hairstyles, making an unhealthful snack...we fold laundry, because there's always a whole lot of that, we play little trivia games with the commercials and generally make it a fully interactive experience. Sometimes we even just go right in and look up stuff on the internet if we want to know more about a subject we just heard mentioned.

In scheduling TV, it's never just aimlessly turned on. We do look out for specials, but other shows have to be traded for them so the total hours don't really go up. If there are several good movies on that don't fit into the picture, we just tape them and save them for another week.

I think it's good for them in small doses. The 9 year-old's weekly shows are actual surgical operations on Discovery Health Channel or wildlife documentaries on Animal Planet. Who could say no to cool stuff like that?

Appropriate age group(s):
All

Other suggestions or comments:
On Mondays, the TV is off all day, and Monday night is Family Game Night, which might include board games, a spelling bee, trivia for M & M's, you name it. On some Saturday nights, we rent a video or watch one of Mom's many Jane Austen productions...remember, there is real educational value to be had through watching a movie on a book you just read or a documentary about that time period. Lots of discussion, even comparison essays or projects can be milked out of them.

Think of TV as a tool to be controlled and manipulated for personal gain rather than an enemy to worry over.