No TV for children?

LJM

my girls have the tele on but they dont actually watch it it is more background noise,for this it is normally music, yet they do have there regular programmes they enjoy watching they dont actually watch that much but they havent suffered for it at all

minimoneysaver

I didn't have the TV on for my baby until she was about 18 months. As a single parent it was useful if I needed to get something done quickly, for example, put the dinner on, but she never saw more than 1/2 a day unless she was really ill or her short stint in hospital. I am her mother and I will raise her, not Cbeebies or anything else along those lines. Now that she is five, she enjoys her French & Spanish language DVD's and has a couple of others for winding down with, but I don't want the television to become a big part of her life.

strawberrypud

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

How much TV does your daughter watch, OP?

Somedays it is no tv at all, but that's when the house is all tidy and things run like clockwork so I can set up an activity for her like painting or playdoh when I need to cook etc

On the chaotic days when I don't want to add playdoh or paint to the mess it can be as much as 2 hours broken up into smaller chunks. It'll be peppa or a disney movie for example, always safe stuff I don't have to monitor.

Most days it is about 30 minutes - 1 hour. But I love the no tv days the best. Makes me feel like a great mum lol :rotfl:

wannabe_sybil

Mine watches loads and loads of tv. He is nearly four.

Okay, especially at first it was Classic fm, then different age appropriate stuff, but it drowned the noise of swearing neighbours. I admit to breaks etc for a few hours here and there, but loads of tv.

His nursery have him around 18 months ahead of the benchmark academically and he was described as thoughtful, kind and considerate. You should hear some of the games he plays when he isn't watching tv (a few hours every day) and the stories he tells me when he goes out with me for a walk or to to visit somewhere. And when he plays in the garden he comes out with some great ideas.

So I will be continuing to let him watch loads and loads of tv.

Edited to add - he has watched at least three hours television today so far and will watch more. This morning he was diagnosed with bacterial tonsillitis, and I dislocated my shoulder last night. I have no shame in these circumstances of having a tv heavy few days with lots of story reading thrown in.

shirlgirl2004

My DDs don't watch TV for days and then they might watch 1/2 an hour if there is something suitable on. They are extremely imaginative and TBH the TV just wouldn't hold their attention anyway. The Americam peadiatric society (I think that#s what they're called) don't recommend any TV for under 2s and upto 2 hours over that. It has been proven that TV effectively hotwires the brain and that it takes it about an hour to return to normal. If children watch TV before school the 1st hour of the school day could be wasted.

fernliebee

My DD didn't watch any TV until she was about 20 months, and then occasionally a 20 min programme from Cbeebies. We don't actually have a TV, just I-player on the laptop, or a DVD on the laptop. I like it this way as it isn't so tempting for her to ask for it on, just if she happens to see the computer, she will ask for a programme and mostly I distract her with something else. That said since having DD2, DD1 has been allowed to watch the odd film/ DVD (seen toy story 1 and 2, and jungle book once each, and then she has a peppa pig DVD that she has watched a fair few times) I wholeheartedly agree that this was lazy parenting, but when you have a screaming, colicky 2/3 month old, who is Breastfeeding every hour or two, and we had feeding problems so this could be a long ordeal, I felt it was fairer on DD to have something which needed little input from me as I couldn't give much constructive input at times. She wouldn't have one very day, or maybe not even one a week but when it was needed it was invaluable. As DD2 is getting better and better I am phasing out as much TV as we are doing much more fun stuff.

Basically I see TV as a small part of my DD's life, It is an activity and she does get a lot out of it. I make a real effort to really get to know the programmes she watches ( I watch too) and so we talk about them at other times in the day and make up games around them etc, I do so many other daily activities like playdoh, painting, sticking, cooking etc that I try not to beat myself up too much for the little screen time she has. I know DD is very imaginative and I have no worries about her development, so TV really is just a timekiller when either her or I is literally too tired to function for anything else. She has at least 20 stories in the day too as she is a bookworm, so I really don't worry.

ETA:When I say TV I mean screentime, as I mentioned out 'TV' is our laptop, so sometimes instead of a programme we will play some poisson rouge, or I will find wildlife clips on youtube or we will google image things of her choice (today it was frogs )

droodleskins

Our littleun is nearly 18 months and when me (dad) is around i admit she watches a lot more tv then when mums around .. maybe too much i'm not sure really .. sometimes shes totally transfixed (always Cbeebies) othertimes she just wants to play when its on. We have a friend whos littun watches far more tv .. and theres a CBeebies prog that teaches sign language and shes now doing sign language for some words .. so can't be that bad .. can it ???

tori.k

my kids were 15/13 & 9 when we got a gogglebox it never bothered them at all...it still doesn't as its hardly on, but what did bother them was the other kids on our street used to call us the poor family as we didnt have a telly :rotfl: being kids they didn't notice the fact i drove a merc

airgead

Strawberrypud - your answer is closest to my situation!
My almost-4 year old watches videos, 30p ish each from charity shops, some days. The rules in general are that she doesn't watch anything until the afternoon, and then its only if we're not doing anything else. Also sometimes specific shows on iplayer, such as octonauts, which she enjoys and are fairly educational. Its a bit like sweets and chocolate - I don't want to deny her, and I think if I did it would just turn into some exotic and longed for "treat". I'm hoping she will learn to "take it or leave it". So far so good.
There are lots of things that you swear before kids you will never do - like stick them in front of the TV - but we're all human, and like or not, TV is a big part of our society. Everything in moderation.

kindofagilr

wannabe_sybil wrote: »

Mine watches loads and loads of tv. He is nearly four.

Okay, especially at first it was Classic fm, then different age appropriate stuff, but it drowned the noise of swearing neighbours. I admit to breaks etc for a few hours here and there, but loads of tv.

His nursery have him around 18 months ahead of the benchmark academically and he was described as thoughtful, kind and considerate. You should hear some of the games he plays when he isn't watching tv (a few hours every day) and the stories he tells me when he goes out with me for a walk or to to visit somewhere. And when he plays in the garden he comes out with some great ideas.

So I will be continuing to let him watch loads and loads of tv.

Edited to add - he has watched at least three hours television today so far and will watch more. This morning he was diagnosed with bacterial tonsillitis, and I dislocated my shoulder last night. I have no shame in these circumstances of having a tv heavy few days with lots of story reading thrown in.

Im pleased someone is brave enough to post that their child watches tv