Rules for 4 year olds

I have looked through some of our old rule threads for ideas, but I'm going to ask anyway ;)

We want to institute some specific rules, but we want them to be understandable and appropriate for our 4 year olds. We already have no hitting, ask to be excused from the table, no throwing hard things, and the like from when they were younger.

Now we want to institute a rule about tv/screen time
I'd also like one about not saying "I hate that" at dinner before you try it

But what kind of rules do you have or did you have at this age?

Our "yucky food rule" was: "You need to try (child's age) number of regular bites before saying you don't like it." La would usually forget at bite 4, and finish it all :) It's how she found out pepperoni pizza is actually okay.

We don't have to worry about screen time. We've had cable a total of 3 months in the whole time La's lived with me. Our VCR broke, our DVD player broke (both replaced more than a year after breaking), and our computer is a laptop with a touchpad that she just can't figure out how to work. So, screen time is whatever computer time she manages to get during after-school care. All that being said, I asked her doctor to remind her that screen time should be a limited thing, largely because her prior daycare had the TV on as background noise, and La was drawn to it. Once she heard her beloved Dr. Jennifer say 30 minutes a day, she was much better about it.

we're working more on habbits than rules but here's our list:
-you have to try it-one or 2 bites. Usually they are good eaters but sometimes supper just doesn't go over well.
-the obvious-no hitting, taking away toys, kicking the dog
-ask to be excused
-no whining-you don't get anything if you ask for it with a whine-you have to say please and thank you-if everything that is comming out of your mouth is a whine you may go to your room until you remember how not to whine

habbits:
-clearing dishes from the table
-picking out clothes the night before
-undressing/dressing self (we're just getting there with DS at 5, I still help DD who will be 3 this month). Getting dressed before TV in the am.
-hanging up coat, putting shoes on the rack.
-laying out clothes the night before-this has really helped with getting dressed in the morning-that and getting dressed before TV/breakfast. When it was right before leaving for daycare he would procrastinate, whine, cry, pull everything out of the drawers.
-we don't really limit TV time. DS really doesn't care and DD seems to need a little TV when she gets home to veg out. They have limited TV at the preschool/daycare that they go to and lots of activities-schoolwork, craft, music, recess etc so some downtime seems warented. I do need to limit it a little better on the weekends though!

Thank you so much for your responses.

Mimi - I love your reply - we used to only have DVDs, no tv - I wish the DVD player had broken! But instead, we added Roku, and now they have even more options. So we've settled on 1/2 hr on weekdays and 1.5 hrs Sat & Sun mornings - but that is all inclusive screen-time - ipod/ipad games, too.

I think we'll do the X # of bites, too, before you are allowed to say "I don't like this." It's funny how they discover they like things, after all. Not often enough, but it's like a little ray of sunshine.

We've also got to have a rule about name-calling, in addition to hitting, kicking.

Meg - How are habits handled differently than rules in your house? I really like your list and would like to start with a few of them. My problem is that my daughter would really take a shine to doing them, while my son would have to be coaxed. What do you do when your kids don't follow through.

We had intended to roll out our new rules this weekend, but DH has been quite sick, so the grand family announcement has been postponed. :hysterical: