I think it is up to the individuals involved to decide what your children watch on TV. My daughter Chloe who is 5 now loves the movie Karate Kid and I let her stay up one night and watch one of the Harry Potter movies. She was tired at the time and I thought she would fall asleep during the movie but she was glued to it from start to finish. My daughter understands that movies are make believe and before she watched Karate Kid I explained the movie to her so she wouldn't get scared or upset. She knew the good guy would get hurt but it will all be good in the end.

Cherine.

at that age my my boys watch disney movies and play school  . most of the time we were out side doing things around the yard or going for a walk . Its up to you  to what you like your child to watch  and much tv you want to see .

My boys are out playing all the in the yard  and now that they are older  they still don't like watching to much tv  they rather be out playing and hate  it when its raining  as they have stay indoors  

You sound like you are doing exaclty what you feel is right for your child. I have been judged before and when I admit in a moment what movies my son watches will be judged again. I believe you have to decide whats best for your child based on your child not on what someone else thinks. Why is it that just because you have a large movie collection that you must spend all your time watching them- do they think the same about a person who has a large music collection. Watching Tv or movies 2 days a week is well under what the 'experts ' recommend so I think you are doing fine.  You know whats best for her and if you happen to let her watch something that probably in hindsite should have been avoided its not likely to cause irrepairable (sp?) damage. My son loves Documentries and we get to teach him things at the same time.

My son is 4 and from birth he watched a range of baby educational videos (suited to age and viewed for 30 minutes a day). When he turned 1 he started watching some ABC kids shows (usually play school) When he turned 2 he was introduced to disney and other cartoon movies(finding Nemo, land before time, bugs life toys story and others like that). He has a collection of about 40 DVDs. Since he turned 3 his movie range has expanded and he is quiet mature enough to watch other movies. This year he started watching Harry Potter. Last year he was watching Spider man and Superman movies. For some reason he can't watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoons becasue he goes loopy afterwards. He gets 2 hr viewing time during the week so he can watch ABC kids in the arvo or he can watch a movie (his choice which one). On the weekends he can watch a few more hours if he likes especially if it is raining and he can't play outside.   I definately don't use TV as a babysitter and my youngest is nearly 2 and only just started wanting to watch playschool (the concert DVD) so I know he is going to be different and probably won't watch some of the movies DS does.

Hannah's turning 4 this year.  She has all the Disney classics, and I think that even if something is classified PG it may not be suitable.  If anyone has seen the movie Dinosaur, you may remember that it is very violent.  I sat down with Hannah to watch it as she was given it for Christmas last year and was not impressed. I turned it off and put Mary Poppins on for her.  However I do take her to a wildlife sanctuary as we have membership there and she has seen a crocodile leap from the water and eat a bird that had flown in to the enclosure for a drink of water. I say stupid bird, it was unexpected and made us both jump!  But the point is, I then explained to her about how animals kill for their food and that's the reason also that we don't go swimming at the rivers and creeks around here. Crocodiles are in the water and they will jump out of the water and kill us just like it got that bird.  I think there is a difference between exposing them to kiling and violence and educating them on animal safety. I also try to have her respect all animals. I want her to have a degree of fear so she will know not to swim in some of waterholes around here and she will know not to pick up a snake or anything.  As for movies, I make sure I watch everything with her first, if not beforehand, to make sure it's suitable. Since Dinosaur is a Disney movie I didn't even think about watching it before her or I would have known not to allow it.