Once my kids found the creek, the TV wasn't much of an issue for us. Until then, we watched lots of vidoes (Veggietales, Bibleman, and anything rated G - they really enjoyed, and still mostly do, the musicals like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Cats, Singing in the Rain). The amount of TV in a day is kindof determined by the day. Rainy and cold usually means more TV than others, but we also play lots of games. They've been known to turn off the tv to play chess against one another (they are 7 and 9).