5yo & addiction, is it possible?

not sure were to put this, so hope this spot is ok...

i have started to think my 5yo is addicted to tv... not sure if that is even possible?
everytime the chanel is changed, he carries on, you walk infront of it (if he is far enough back) he yells "move cant see cant see, quick move"but the worst is, if i turn it off, then the house is screamed down, if we are going out, i turn it off while i put bub in the pram, hes snuck back in and put it on.
ive tried to limit the time it is on, dont have it on during the day, ect, but the minute i leave the room to go the loo or fix food, bam its on. we went realy well for 3 days without it on, i would put the radio on instead, but he is back to wanting it 24/7 if i say no, its a tantrum, if he puts it on and i turn it off, he screams and usualy resorts to bashing his brother. the few days i managed to keep it off, he was almost a diffrent kid, 60% of those days, but alas it was realy short lived.
how do i stop the "dependancey" he seems to have with the tv? for good?

I think it's pretty normal. I think it's a matter of being consistant and finding alternative? does he like books? colouting in?
I really have no idea... hope you can find some more suggestions. xxx

he has been in bed for over a hour now., and is still banging on about the tv, if it didnt cost so much $$ id have thrown it out the front door!!
he is interested in other things, but will get "bored" of it after a max of 20 mins then demand the tv

I think all you can do is probably keep doing what you're doing... Just thought, maybe unplug the TV from the powerpoint in the evening before you go to bed (or when he can't see you do it) and then in the morning when he wants to turn it on try and then tell him that its broken and not working... After a couple of days of thinking it doesn't work anymore, maybe he'll get over it...

I was going to suggest that! We did that here... Didn't work very long though coz DH can be a couch potato!

I had a similar problem with my middle child (now 5). He is obsessed with the TV and utterly unresponsive to anything else when it is on. We limited it to half an hour a day, and I gave up watching TV in the evening before he went to bed, and it seems to have worked. I can now watch TV in the evening and he carries on playing, and kids programmes are limited to only after homework and before dinner. However if you have tried this and it didn't work then I would be unplugging it, or putting a parent lock on so it can only be switched on with the remote (my DVD player has this function) and hide the remote. Good luck :)

We got to a point here (with a 2 1/2 year old) where we were watching way to much tv. i was going through that very tired stage of being pregnant and over used it. but i would put ABCshows on on the computer as we only have normal tv. so she would watch an hour in the morning on normal tv, then a few shows on the computer, normally half an hour or 45 mins in the arvo. then the evening shows on tv, so another half an hour then a few more after dinner on the computer. it started to take over and she would cry and scream after it was turned off and be grumpy and a handful all day!

SO, the comupter ''broke'' and the shows now no longer work on there :wink: she bought that and now we only have the shows in the morning on normal tv. ( and she hates seaseme street so it only ends upbeing half an hour) and if its rainy or im having a bad day, we watch a bob the builder dvd, or jungle book, they are the only DVDs we own. and she is much better, has stopped asking for it and now she knows the set time she watches the tv we have a lot less tantrums and sooking about it!

Try unplugging the tv when hes not ment to be watching it, and if hes too smart for that, does the plug have a fuse in it you can easily take out. i found the 'its broken' line works well, but he might be a bit old for that one! I think they actually forget what to do without it if they watch it for too long and get stuck, but they soon remember and go back to normal imaginitive play. stick at it. good luck