Michaela,
Did these people justify why they only let their children watch television when they are playing with something else? I don�t see what the benefit would be, so I'd be interested in hearing their reasoning. I would think this pattern would encourage watching �mindless� television programs that don�t require much attention. We allow DS6 to have up to 2 hours of screen time a day (including computers, iPad, and television), and he learns a tremendous amount from the programs he watches (Bigger, Bigger, Biggest; Bill Nye; Modern Marvels; What the Ancients Knew). I would think his choice of programs to watch would be different if he could only have them on in the background! If a program is on that he isn�t interested in, he will ask to watch something else or turn the television off himself, so we generally don�t have to make him turn it off in that situation. If the television is left on, however, he will always stop what he�s doing to watch the commercials.
We also allow him to watch his iPad when we are in the car, so his screen time does go over the 2 hour *limit* on many days, but we don�t mind given the programs he is watching. Perhaps we would be more stringent if he were primarily watching non-educational programs.
