toddlers watching tv

[ryder]

I let Jasmine watch tv...

Toddlers like to be assertive though in general... I usually pick out 2 shirts or 2 pants or whatever and Jasmine gets to choose which one she wants... Same when we are out shopping, I usually give her a choice bettween 2.

 

[PeanutBean]

Obese? lol not the way Byron watches TV, dancing about to all the music and standing when he's not dancing. He is a TV head though, gets it from DH. Can't talk to DH if there are moving pictures in the background, he's VERY easily drawn in! Something to watch as Byron gets older but the more he can entertain himself the less he'll need/want TV anyway. We NEED it. I work from home once a week with him at home and I'd get no work done if I couldn't kill some time with the TV.

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Don't see a problem with tv as long as they r not sat in front of I all day.

We have it on for a few hours in morning, he'll watch some then play then watch some more! Frees me up to get bits done before work. Afternoon it's rarely on. Then we wactch bedtime hour but he never sits thru it all unless he's mega tired

 

[Vickie]

One big reason we started to keep the tv off the majority of the time is that Hannah was paying way to much attention to it, she'll just sit there in a trance and watch. Yeah she wasn't happy for a while about it but now she knows better. She does still watch some tv though--it comes in handy when I need to get something done and she's not being overly cooperative.....maybe an hour or two a week?

 

[AppleBlossom]

Bless her, it's most probably a phase hun. Grace loves Peppa Pig too but she prefers watching Dora atm. She is like Annabelle where she will play and occasionally glance at the tv for 5 mins then carry on playing unless Peppa or Dora is on

 

[Lu28]

I tend to have adult tv on during the day if we're home. Aisling doesn't pay a huge amount of attention to adult tv so will just play with her toys and have a look every now and then. If I put In the Night Garden on, she will drop what she's doing and stare at the tv for the whole episode For that reason, I very very rarely have children's tv on because I don't want her just sitting staring at the box. I do put it on in the evenings though if she's tired and whingey and I need to cook dinner but that's about it.

 

[Tiff]

Claire doesn't nap anymore so my views on TV have taken quite the shift.

I will admit, if I have been up with her for a good part of the night and my OH is working (12 hour shifts) I'll let her watch TV for a good part of the day. Generally I try to leave it off as long as possible but on rainy days and whatever its the only thing that will advert her from a meltdown. I don't have a car so we can't go places.

I personally don't get why "they" say its bad either. I was told it will affect their attention spans and they won't learn things. Yo Gabba Gabba episodes helped teach Claire her eyes, nose, mouth, knees and feet. Granted, we don't have cable. So if she watches anything its because we select it for her.

Its never at the expense of quality time though. If she wants to play with us, we play with her.

 

[Novbaby08]

Harleys an addict, she loves Dora, Blue's Clues, Mickey mouse clubhouse, Special agent oso, timmy time, shaun the sheep, fresh beat band, Diego, little einsteins, nihao kai lan she'll actually run into the living room and turn the tv on herself then ask for one of the shows lol

 

[SaskySprite]

Peanutbean, the official stance on tv watching is 2 hours max for over 3s and none at all for under threes. I like having children's tv on though, it adds colour and movement to the living room!
And my two are EXACTLY like Elissa, MishC! Same programmes, same dipping in and out

Does anyone know if there's an article on this that I can read? I'd be interested to read both sides.

 

[Samemka]

Until about a month ago Emma didn't have any interest in the TV. Now she likes watching Mickey Mouse, she stands & dances when the music is on & she's fascinated by it. I do put it on for her when I need to get something done like prepare tea, and she's happy as larry sitting there watching it & I can keep an eye on her & see she's not getting up to mischief. My OH leaves at 7:30am and gets back at 8pm & works 6 days a week & with being pregnant I'm finding I'm getting increasingly tired so I choose to let Emma watch a bit of TV so I can get things done without her getting upset cos she wants to go somewhere else/me to pick her up etc etc etc.

IMO there's nothing wrong with that as it's not like she watches it all day long, I take her to playgroups 3 times a week & do lots of different things with her so I refuse to feel like a bad parent for letting her watch TV (I'm not saying anyone is saying I'm a bad parent, but there is a bit of a stigma about sitting your toddler infront of the TV I think!) xxx

 

[kiwimama]

Gosh it seems my toddler is the only one who isn't remotely interested in the tv. I have tried to get her into toddlers programmes that are on in the mornings but she won't have any of it. Oh well...

 

[Novbaby08]

Gosh it seems my toddler is the only one who isn't remotely interested in the tv. I have tried to get her into toddlers programmes that are on in the mornings but she won't have any of it. Oh well...

There's nothing wrong with that. Most doctors say children under 3 shouldn't watch any tv at all.

 

[oOKayOo]

My girls love TV and im not uptight with how long they can watch it iether. Some people get so anal about time comsumption sat infront of the Tv.. to be honest my girls have learnt alot from the programs they watch and watch Tv whenever they want!

Ella didnt like tv younger then 2 but now she could watch it all day if i let her

 

[missjess]

Nothing wrong with a bit of TV time.

As for the ''studies go'' or recommendations, it's only a guideline. Your child has greater risk of being obese if they constantly watch TV along with the consumption of fatty foods, which, if we generalize go with the fact that they watch TV all day (the way parent raise the child iykwim)

And about the fact it creates trouble at school in the future it's a bunch of BS. But of course a parent who lets their child watch TV all day and therefore offers no stimulation or any introduction to other activities well it will of course have a negative impact on the child.

Josh watch about 30 minutes in the morning while he has some breakfast, and he watch some when I cook dinner. There are days where he doesn't watch any or days where he will will watch a whole 2h movie. We are constantly doing educative activities like going to the zoo, farm, museums etc, so I honestly do not see anything wrong with a bit of tv.

xxx

 

[Shri]

I let Oscar watch TV, somedays more than others but only dvds so he gets no adverts etc (we don't actually have normal tv, just a screen and dvd player).....anyway, he is lively, bright, communicates well and will thoroughly concentrate on other things like, books, toys, exploring outdoors etc. All in all I feel he is a healthy well balanced child. Sometimes he gets fussy and wants certain things on and gets upset when it is time to turn them off, but I've learned to make a thing of saying 'bye bye postman pat' or whatever and he seems to accept that well.
Lately, he is crazy about Thomas the tank engine... he discovered this quite by accident (long story) and now he wants 'toot toot' every day. It's a bit maddening and I don't actually like the show at all, it's really weird, but I talk to him about it and he has had a LOT of fun exploring everything train related that we can show him, so in other ways it's been really good too.
If it weren't for TV watching, I would get nothing done, and I'd be a bit of a wreck TBH.
I'd worry if he was showing signs of being badly effected by his enjoyment of TV watching, but thus far, I can only detect that it has given him enjoyment and information and besides, its part of his technological world (he also loves playing on his daddy's ipad although this is a rare treat).
I'm pretty sure the 'no TV under 3' is the simple shortcut way of ensuring that children don't get into unhealthy habits, which as parents it is our jobs to make sure they don't.
Perhaps there is something I don't know about it all, and I am constantly questioning myself about how much and when we use TV to occupy Oscar, but for now, I trust myself that we are keeping a healthy balance.

 

[Sammy181]

Katie loves watching dvds - I have bought a lot a car boot sales and she has them in a cd case and let her pick which ones she wants to watch. She goes through phases - Dora, fifi, peppa etc. I don't see any harm at all in watching them. Maybe a couple of times a day for half an hour or if we are going in the car for half an hour she will watch them

 

[debralouise]

Oh my gosh I feel like an awful mother! Grace is obsessed with Peppa so much so that we had to ban it for a whole month to try and make her forget it - but like you, shes has the tops, socks, toys etc and does watch it now although we're getting back to the obsessed phase again!!

I feel awful not letting her watch it though before bed coz she adores it (it drives me mad!) We do turn the tv off through the day and she is very sociable so im not worrying too much - perhaps we should ban tv altogether though if studies show it can be detrimental?

xx (worrying now) xx

 

[tricky nicky]

alfie loves tv and his "thing" at the moment is mr maker!!!lol
he dances away to the songs and runs around when music is on, its helped to learn him things also

 

[MoonMuffin]

I have the TV on a lot. Way more then I'd like to, but with 2 young kids to take care of its a necessity for me. I do some work from home and along with the housework I need them to keep entertained. I don't let them watch all day of course, but more then I want. I put on educational shows (with the occasional disney movie) but my kids never just sit there and stare. Kathryn dances, runs off to her room to play, comes back, plays while watching, etc. John crawls around, or jumps in his jumper (he watches it more then her because he's less mobile). The biggest reason they watch TV a lot though is because I live in a small apartment with not much to do around here, and nothing with in walking distance, and our back yard is badly maintained (landlord doesn't care) and there are plies of plank wood and broken glass around so I don't let her play out there. Kathryn does go to daycare 2x a week and only sometimes watches her fav show (martha speaks!) with dinner those days.
We are moving now though and will be 2 blocks from a playground, and almost a mile from the beach, 3 min from the aquarium and 7 min to the children's museum, so its going to make tv easy to limit!