How much TV does ur child watch?

[sparkle_1979]

Ruby watches loads I hate it but I have a 4 week old and it's the only thing that stops her constantly poking the baby.

I would say she watches 2 hrs a day at least and it has to be peppa pig!!! "sigh" I bloody hate peppa pig

Do u think it is harming her? We do colouring and read ect but she gets bored of that and demands the TV and if it's not on she complains and just plays up...

lazy parenting I guess but Im on my own as hubby works away and it's the only way I can get anything done..

guess I'm feelig guilty

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

An hour on average. I'm sure that'll be closer to 2 in a few months time...

 

[RachA]

I have to be honest and say that my two watch very little tv. I never have it on as background noise when they are in the lounge with me. They have toys in the lounge and are happy playing with those. My son will watch a select few things that we have on dvd for maybe 30min each time but then thats usually only once a week at the most. He will then watch the tv at my in-laws house but again that is for 30min-1 hour.
My daughter never has the tv put on for her to watch. I have just never seen the need to have it on - right from being crawlers i have tried to teach them how to amuse themselves with their toys.


I can understand how hard it is with a new baby and a toddler who is very touchy feeley with the baby and a husband who is away a lot. For me 2 hours a day would be too much but if you are giving your daughter time then its not going to hurt her. It's not like she is sat watching it for 6 hours everyday.

 

[juliew2561]

Hiya
I have never liked too much tv but I too have a 7 week old baby and the tv is on lots. The other morning I was so exhausted from night feeds and had a sore throat that we literally watched cbeebies all morning, I felt awful but the guilt drives me to make more effort the next day. Some days I feel like we just exist and i feed and water them and have tv on loads its such a rubbish feeling but 2 are such hard work!
I have invested in a few fun cds with lively nursery rhymes and childrens songs on and I dance with toddler when baby is in my arms. As for the poking, Evie has had a few fingers in her eye bless her but I have started to allow daisy to touch her with my supervision and she has started to be more gentle and sometimes just isn't interested anymore. I bathed baby this morning and it was a nightmare with a toddler "helping".
I have found that getting up and going out first thing in morning and doing somethung, shopping or park or swimming with toddler if you can get someone to watch baby means that you can have guilt free tv in afternoon.
It's not forever I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[sun]

My LO doesn't really like TV and refuses to watch it unless I'm right there watching with him. So it's not like it gives me any time to get other things done. He does like Pocoyo though - so we watch around 2 episodes a day which is only around 15min! If he was happy to watch by himself I'm sure he would watch more!

 

[eddjanuary10]

Ihsan watches it with breakfast and he used to watch it in the evening for about 30minutes whilst playing with his toys but he is so into watching the ABC song, and the numbers songs now on the internet that we let him watch that now he loves it and has learned to say alot of sounds and words from it and count to 10! IMO its not harmful if you read, go out and do other activities too. x

 

[sparkle_1979]

Thanks for all the replies..We do tend to get out a fair bit but we are an hour from a town or play centre, so we can really only do this 3 times a week. I wish the weather here was not so awful as my little girl loves being out playing but I cant really take the baby out in the pouring rain and wind ( we are in Scotland ) I think we need to think of some more activities to do at home...any ideas for a 2 yr old? x

 

[aliss]

Sorry, I had to laugh because you said it's the only thing that keeps her from poking your newborn, I had a visual!

Not much right now, he'd rather harass the dog, but his favourite show is Le Petit Ours Brun (which is a French program), he watches the same 2 minute skit over and over and over (Le Petit Ours Brun se leve tot - wakes up too early), ugggggggggggggh it's in my head again

 

[RachA]

I liked the suggestion that someone had about the designated cutting time. Get together wrapping paper, paper, cards, pens etc and put them in a box. The she can have a 'cut and stick' time.

Also jigsaws, duplo etc

 

[claire23]

We never switch on TV during the day, it's "broken" If it wasn't an LCD 50 inch, I think we would have thrown it away altogether, as we don't watch it that much at all. We are buying a play kitchen for our daughter (baby is due in 4 weeks). Also, a lot of educational games, new puzzles, she loves books, so I am hoping to read to both of them.

 

[juliew2561]

Ihsan watches it with breakfast and he used to watch it in the evening for about 30minutes whilst playing with his toys but he is so into watching the ABC song, and the numbers songs now on the internet that we let him watch that now he loves it and has learned to say alot of sounds and words from it and count to 10! IMO its not harmful if you read, go out and do other activities too. x

What website is this? Counting to 10 is excellent. My Lo can count to 2 and i thought she was a genius until now!

 

[amygwen]

An hour a day, sometimes less, never more though!

 

[eddjanuary10]

Ihsan watches it with breakfast and he used to watch it in the evening for about 30minutes whilst playing with his toys but he is so into watching the ABC song, and the numbers songs now on the internet that we let him watch that now he loves it and has learned to say alot of sounds and words from it and count to 10! IMO its not harmful if you read, go out and do other activities too. x

What website is this? Counting to 10 is excellent. My Lo can count to 2 and i thought she was a genius until now!

Hi Theres loads but most of Ihsan's faves are on youtube, I actually downloaded 5 or 6 of videos like this and a few nursery rymes he likes and put them on a dvd so I can just play it and take it out to play on my laptop its handy if we have to be waiting somewhere and he gets bored or if I'm having a coffee/at a restraunt and I just want him to sit for another 5 minutes! He learned how to say apple, igloo, lion, ball just from watching this (he struggled with 'l's before...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BELlZKpi1Zs

Oh and theres a song its called 10 little numbers lol, obviously I count with him and read with him too but he likes songs so it helps.

 

[RachA]

We never switch on TV during the day, it's "broken" If it wasn't an LCD 50 inch, I think we would have thrown it away altogether, as we don't watch it that much at all. We are buying a play kitchen for our daughter (baby is due in 4 weeks). Also, a lot of educational games, new puzzles, she loves books, so I am hoping to read to both of them.

lol i like that.

We have a tv that you can't get cbbies or ccbc on, whereas on my in-laws you can lol

 

[Seity]

None, we don't have TV service to the house. He loves reading and playing outside, so we do that.

 

[Belle30]

I'd say about 1/2 hour to 1 hour a couple of days a week. He goes to nursery 2 days a week so doesn't watch any there, but when he's here with me or my mum, we'll switch the TV on for specific programmes that he likes - Waybuloo and ITNG! I quite like that approach - to switch it on for specific things, then switch it off when they're finished, so it's not just on all the time. DS won't normally sit and watch whole programmes, though - he'll watch for a few minutes, then get bored and start playing with his toys or getting up to no good. He does have ITNG dvds, and sometimes asks me to put them on - but again, he doesn't really sit and watch, he just likes the background music I think. He also likes to sit on my lap sometimes and watch kiddies' song videos on YouTube.

But I'm expecting our second on January, and I'm half expecting to have to put his DVDs on a bit more often while the baby is very small!

I wouldn't worry - I do think that many of the programmes are quite educational, and like a PP has said, it's not like they're watching it 6 hours a day!

 

[sparkle_1979]

today we went cold turkey! No TV and lots of complaining but Im feeling better as was feeling really bad about it....

Later when she gets up we are going to maybe have 30 mins and then 15 mins before bed as IMO this is acceptable

 

[Mummy2Asher]

About 2 hours too...they watch 30mins in the morning while make breakfast and then after school so 3.30-5 while I cool dinner.
Ds2 however doesn't watch it and will only look and dance when music comes on and in the afternoon they both generally come on te kitchen to help cook.
I have to admit though when I first had ds2 we watched LOADS of tv For the first couple of months.

 

[smelly07]

Blimey i must be the only one then.............

I have the TV on all day everyday, its always on the cbeebies or nick jr........... i like the background noise......... my eldest daughter rarely watches tv and neither does my youngest, i actually dont think she sits and watches whole programs at all.....she plays with her toys and more or less ignores the tv.

But like i said i like the background noise and would rather it be on a childs programme rather then a adult one such as jeremy kyle..........
even though my girls hardly sit and watch tv as such....you know wide eyed and fixated iykwim....they still pick up on things so would rather that be something child orientated than a chav with no teeth arguing about whos fathered baby number 15 lol x

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

^ I only limit the TV because Ruby is totally glued to it when it is on, if she mostly ignored it I'd not be so strict about it.