TV Watching
Fellas, and ladies, am I wrong? We have a tv in our living room, one in the basement, and one on the children's room. When I come home from work, I want to watch tv on the big screen in the living room and unwind. My SD 14 gets home before I do. Usually when I get home and her hw is done, shes watching tv. Is it wrong for me to expect her to relinquish control of the tv? She has a tv in her room, I don't. If she chooses not to watch what I want to watch, is it wrong to expect her to go to her room and watch her own tv? I have said in the past when asked why she has to give up control, that its because her mom and I pay the bills, so we have the right. Also, that we are the adults, they are the kids and they need to follow the rules. When she has her own place, she can make the rules. Is this wrong? And note, that my wife comes home later than I do, and when she gets home, I do relinquish control to her so she can watch her programs. I am fair.
Of course you are not wrong.
Of course you are not wrong. This always boggles me. You are not the first person that has come on here and questioned whether it is ok for skids or kids in general to take hostage of the family tv.
You are the adult. she is a child. I assume you paid for the tv, probably paid for the cable, probably paid for the one in her room too. You can watch whatever you like.
Before Dh and I married....we
Before Dh and I married....we told all kids and skids that the common TV belonged to Dh and I. Period. They were more than welcome to use it if we were not around or if we did not want to watch anything.
If DH came home and my son was watching something my DH did not want to watch he just told him ..."I am going to change the channel. You can watch with me or go watch your show in the other room."
You know you are not wrong.
Nope, you are not wrong. I
Nope, you are not wrong. I have two bios, and we all live with my SO. We have three TVs as well, and the one in the living room is the "adult TV". My SO will let the kids watch TV in the living room, but I tell him feel free to boot them out so he can watch what he wants to watch.
You can do this in a nice way. What I do is I tell my bios, okay, kiddos, my turn to watch what I want.
They might grumble a little bit, but I don't feel bad about it at all. Like you say, you're the adult, you pay the bills.
This has never been an issue
This has never been an issue for me since neither SS nor my bios can sit still in front of the TV for more than 10 minutes before being distracted by something else. So, like a trap-door spider, I just sit and wait unit the remote is free and then *WHAM!* it's mine! If the kid's balk I say "Well you weren't watching it anyways!".
That being said, you are certainly not wrong, but I can easily go without TV until the kids go to bed anyways and we have a PVR.
Thank you all for the
Thank you all for the responses and support. I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in my thinking. It just upsets me because my wife no longer backs me in things like this. Ever since SD made a comment about hating living with us, and wanting to kill herself, she has stopped agreeing with me and has taken a step back on the disciplining. I more than understand the concern, but I know drama when I see it. I have worked with kids this age for over a decade.
TV watching is a priveledge,
TV watching is a priveledge, not a right. Same goes for cell phones, computers, video game consoles, iPads, and any other electronic doo-dad that kids these days absolutely *MUST* have. I have to remind my kids of this on a regular basis.