I'm looking for ideas here. TV can be wonderful - but in not in excess. Does anyone have tips on simplifying their TV watching to keep it in good balance with life? Now that my kids are getting older, they have definite ideas about what they want to watch. I feel more responsibility in monitoring what they watch and how much they watch of it. Unfortunately, I'm a TV watcher myself so I want to be a good role model as well. Does TiVo help (I love the no-ad feature there. I hate that my kids are subjected to advertising)?

This is one area where I feel like we have it really mastered although I occasionally feel left out of conversations that start with , "You know the commercial where the ...."

The solution for our family is the TIVO.

My kids get to pick two programs each. I automatically tape them. They can watch them when chores and homework are finished. They fast forward through the commercials. Our TIVO also comes with parental controls so they can't see anything that is rated above G. If it is rated higher, I have to input a pin which they don't know.

I :love: it too. I really like Oprah and I tape her everyday but I'm not so interested in the celebrity or concert ones. When I have time after the kids are in bed, I can watch an Oprah in 38 min, on my own time but only the ones that really interest me. I love this because I never feel rushed to get back to watch a show and I'm not influenced by the commercials. I also tape Good Morning America every day but only watch one news segment and any other interesting interview or segment. This usually takes me less then 20 min of a 2 hour show.

One other show we watch as a family every week is Extreme Home Makeover but because I tape it on the TIVO, we are always watching it from the week before. Again, Sunday night comes, we make a big bowl of popcorn and sit down to watch the whole show in less than 40 minutes.

The things I love about TIVO
* parental controls
* no commercials
* I watch TV on my schedule, not on theirs
* I know what my kids are watching (I know which shows I tape for them.)

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I think I'll make dh read your post, Kathryn! He's my only obstacle in getting TiVo becasuse he doesn't think we need it. Of course we don't NEED it, but I think it would be worth the cost!

I LOVE Tivo! I have had it for around 3 years now, and will never go back! I haven't watched a commercial in i don't know how long! Since I put my kids to bed I always missed the 7-8pm shows which were the only ones I wanted to watch anyhow. Now, we have all our shows in tivo and can watch them whenever we want, plus skip commercials so it doesn't take so long.
I don't watch much tv anymore, just one or two shows a week, but it's still worth it to us. I tivo shows for the kids and specials, and can record them for future use. We have all the holidays shows saved this way. My dh tivos his sports b/c that is the only way he could catch them and with three young kids he doesn't get a chance to sit and watch a 3 hour game all at once.
For all those considering it, basically if you can afford to set aside the $14 a month for the rest of all time then yes get it. Once you have it you won't want to go back to normal tv, so be prepared financially to make the long term commitment!

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I am only one, but I am one. I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do. -Edward Hale

We had the option to buy ours outright or rent it for $20 a month. When I 'did the math' on it, if I had it for at least 18 months, it would pay itself off so we bought it.

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We have the DVR system from the cable company (satellite companies offer them also). It costs $10 per month and is included in the cable box. It allows for 100 hours of recording time (either automatic or manually set). We record everything we like to watch - it has literally been years since we have watched live TV. (We even recorded the Olympics last year - who could stand all of those commercials!) I manage my children's viewing this way - if I don't like it, I don't record it. Period.

I would never go back to regular viewing again. It really is money well spent and I highly recommend it.

*I like to control what shows my children watch.
*I don't want my kids exposed to commercials (I cannot think of any that are beneficial).
*I value my time too much to sit through commercials myself.
*I never have to "rush" things to catch a show.

yes you buy the tivo system but you have the monthly fee as well. When it first came out they had the lifetime membership fee but they stopped that before we got it. It was around $200, but it still would have been a better deal than paying for the tivo service monthly.

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I am only one, but I am one. I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do. -Edward Hale

We also have Tivo. One thing that we really like about it is we can tape shows that we normally wouldn't be able to watch. My dh loves the history chanel and he can watch some interesting shows now. We just tivo t hem and he can watch them on his own time frame.
We also like that we don't have to waste our time watching commericals. We feel that it's improved the quality of tv that we watch.

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Jodie....Wife to Andrew (1995)
Mommy to Riley (2000) and Wyatt (2003)

My solution has been to stop watching altogether. I found myself getting cranky if the kids prevented me from watching a show I liked, such as House Hunters or other HGTV type stuff. So I would tape stuff and then never get around to watching it. Then also I noticed that a lot of what I watched made me discontent with what I already have- and that's not good. It wasn't just the commercials- it was seeing all the things other people had in their houses or what they were wearing. I always felt that I needed to go out and buy nicer clothes, etc.

Then I read that most people, by the time they die, have spent whole years of their lives just watching TV. I decided that I had so much I wanted to do that I'd better start using my time more wisely. So I quit. Plus quitting is free.

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I don't believe in miracles; I depend on them

Wow... you don't watch ANY tv? I admire that, I just don't think I could do it. Does the rest of your family watch tv at all? How about dh?