Tuesday, November 8, 2011

TV reality check

Have any of you recently received a blank TV diary in the mail from Nielsen Research asking you to log your TV time for a week? We started ours last Thursday and it's been interesting to look back and see what we watch.

We usually let Gray watch 30-60 minutes of PBS in the evening while I'm fixing dinner and we're waiting on daddy to get home. Other than that, he doesn't watch TV until the weekend when we let him watch a few additional PBS shows like Sesame Street.

Michael and I have always tried to limit Gray's TV time, and when he does get to watch TV it's always PBS or something educational (except for the OU football game last Saturday). This diary exercise makes me wonder about other families and what is "normal" viewing time for kids. Part of me feels like he should probably watch less, and then on the flip-side I don't really care what everyone else does or thinks.

I love PBS because they don't play commercials, so Grayson isn't bombarded by the latest toys, sugary cereal, etc. Plus, each show has some kind of educational component like learning letters or vocabulary words.

I'm probably justifying his TV time a little too much, but I have to say, I think it's pretty balanced with everything else Gray does throughout the day. He would always watch more if we'd let him (and doesn't hesitate to ask), but I think we're all pretty content with the current arrangement.

All that said, I would love to see the results of the Nielsen data once everything is collected and compiled. Is there any national correlation between households with kids who love PBS, men who love NOVA/science shows and women who love House Hunters or Bravo! shows? Or are we a TV viewing phenomenon?

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