I don't usually set limits on recreational activities so much as I set expectations on non-recreational activities. After school, my kids can watch TV if they want to, but they can't turn it on until everyone is done with their homework and the bags are repacked and put on their hooks. The TV also gets turned off during dinner and can't go back on until they have cleared their dinner dishes, and the living room is picked up. Occasionally, the kids get to watch a video in their room before bed, but only if they've picked up and are ready for bed before their usual bedtime. If they stall the evening floor pick up and are goofing around, then bedtime usually arrives before they are ready and in that case, sorry, no TV. One of the reasons I am not as anti-TV as some moms is that we have a Tivo. We've set up the Tivo to record 3-4 episodes each of a handful of different kid shows of which we approve. When the kids watch TV, they only watch off the play list so I know they aren't getting into anything I haven't already Okayed. Similarly, we have restricted the kid's computer to the websites we know and trust so if they wander along a link to another site, it simply doesn't load. The computer lives in the living room, where I can see what they are doing at any time but having the computer police it self as well helps a lot!