How much TV does your LO watch a day?

[Miss E]

When I was growing up my mum was very strict about the amount of TV I was allowed to watch. From as long as I can remember it was restricted to no more than 1 hour per day.

Now, I also would like DS to spend more time playing than watching TV and aim to keep to the 1hr a day that I grew up with, but have to admit that most days I fail miserabley.

So, I'm curious. How old is your LO and how many hours of TV a day do they watch? And how many hours of TV a day would you like them to watch?

[~Hestia~]

I'd be happy if Moo watched one show per day, something like Play School or one of his DVDs, to give me a little break. But I'm sorry to say he has been watching so much lately I feel terrible about it but I'm heavily pregnant and am exhausted trying to entertain him these last few weeks! The amount of hours differs each day but there have been times where the telly is on most of the day.

[Rowellen]

I try to avoid turning the TV on but sometimes I just have too as that is the only thing that will keep DS entertained for longer than two seconds without me. And even then, he just has to tell me all about what he's watching lol!

To answer your question, he's almost 3 and watches about 2-3 hours a day.

[Jakabella]

The TV is on at my house all day, I can't stand to have it off, i need the background noise! It's usually on ABC kids and DD can watch it as she likes... Never stops us going for walks or playing outside or her playing in her toy room that has no tv. DS loves the colours and sounds but spends most of his time eating his toys.

[Jakabella]

Edit : DD is nearly 3 and DS is 7 months.

[EmmaJane]

Some days we have it on for only a couple of shows, other days I feel like it's been on all day except an hour or two and nap time. Especially when DS was sick the last couple of weeks because he was SO tired and cranky and didn't even want to go outside at every opportunity as he usually would. I fluctuate between feeling guilty and wishing I could think of more engaging activities, to trying to reassure myself that it's okay, it's just ABC2, and he must be learning things in the time he's not watching Tv, it's not ALL the time. Maybe. And I wonder if he has an attention disorder of some kind, and then I wonder if all the research on attention disorders and amount of time watching TV can really distinguish between correlation and effect. Maybe twice as many children who watch TV when they're little develop these disorders because they were going to anyway, and TV was the only way the parents could deal with their behaviour. Can they control for these things?
I always over-think everything.

[~ Mylitta ~]

Our tv tends to be on for most of the days and fluctuates between ABC4kids and the Soul Music channel (where the screen is just black and it's like playing a radio). I find that the kids may watch it every now and then, but because it's on all the time the seem to not pay much attention to it and just play with their toys or me. Occasionally they'll pay attention when something like Playschool comes on, but they seem to get bored of that pretty quickly too.

Sometimes in the morning I'll purposely play a recorded Playschool that I know will hold their attention to get a little rest time. I'm finding myself getting exhausted rather easily during this pregnancy with two littlies to entertain all day, and with DD waking at least 1-2 hourly overnight. Fun, lol.

[Beach Mama]

I used to turn it on in the morning and next thing you know it was lunch time and still on. The kids would play and do other stuff but would stop and watch for a few minutes at a time. I don't like having it on all the time, so we record their favourite shows so now they tend to watch Play School while eating brekky, Team Umizoomi at lunch time and then depending on how tired we are at night they may watch a bit after dinner, or watch a movie if we are all tired and need time out. I have found they are happier and find so many great ways to entertain themselves without it on and being spring/summer is a big factor here as they are outside for most of the day, in winter they are stuck indoors.

[ElleJay]

Too much
He usually goes through the Toy Story movies twice in one day.

As much as I don't like it, when I've finished work at 1am and been up at 6am for him, they've been lifesavers (and sanity savers)
But, admittedly, he will walk away from the tv during the movies and go off and play in his room, or he'll come and watch what I'm watching in the theatre (his tv is in the living room) or play with the toys where his tv is.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - even though I should be cleaning

[Lenny]

My ds1 is 3.5. In the lead up to the winter school hols I almost had a panic attack when i realised how many of our activities were not going to be on. I thought to myself, I am going to end up with the TV on all day and then i'm going to be mad at myself for doing it. So I decided no TV at all. We went a full 3 months with no TV at all. It was fine.
Slowly I have reintroduced the TV. There's no set time or limit or anything. Some days DS1 watches up to an hour, but DS2 has very little interest and is happier to play with me. Some days there is no TV at all. I sometimes use TV for my own purpose (i.e. i need to pay a few bills and 'need' a babysitter), other times it's a bit of a treat, other times we sit and watch play school together and then I use it to inspire me for some further play/song/dance etc.

ETA : I'm not pregnant, though!

[Trillian]

Probably too much but he is outside for just as much time, if not longer, than he spends watching TV. Now they don't have cartoons on ABC1 in the morning anymore he doesn't really watch TV till 3pm now anyway when Playschool comes on unless he's watched a DVD or something.

[onthefly]

We try to limit it. DS used to watch more, but I found it had a negative impact on his behaviour, so now it's a very infrequent thing - maybe 1 or 2 sessions per fortnight. Unless we're sick, then we have tv days. DD I want to keep away from the TV till she's 2.

[Liviam]

Now the weather has warmed up the TV usage has droppped dramatically. The general go is three short sessions - one after brekky so I can clean up (smurfs & play school), second to keep DD quiet & entertained while DS (and heavily pg me at the moment) rest & thirdly 1/2 hour just before bed to get them to sit down and start to quiet down before bed. DS isn't really into TV so he tends to play more which encourages DD too as well.
There will always be exceptions though - like today we are having a bludge day after spending a massive weekend away and I have two very tired cranky kids who just want to rest or if they/me are sick.

[Heaven]

As little as I can. I let DD1 watch Play School in the morning and try to use that time to get DD2 to sleep. Then I turn it off until Play School again at 4.30pm. And really only Play School because she likes it and I do too, LOL.

[Snacks]

DD1 is 4, DD2 is 2. It varies. Probably on average they'd watch 4-ish hours / day, mostly ABC2, sometimes recorded shows (like for when Nat says, "Mummy, it's STUPID Grandpa in my Pocket! NO ONE likes that show. Please can I have something different?)
I have it on while I do morning chores (putting out washing, cleaning up breakfast) and in the afternoon/evening when I'm bringing in washing/cooking dinner etc. Also just before bed they will watch Giggle & Hoot. We are usually out and about during the middle of the day.
Having said all that, TV doesn't do a lot for DD2 who generally plays with other toys or reads books while DD1 is watching. Unless it's playschool, Dora, Peppa Pig or a Justine Clarke DVD - those she enjoys. (Though I have seriously limited the Dora viewing recently. That chick annoys me.)

[Lenny]

Helle - our DS2s are the same age and mine has no interest either.

If any of you are looking for a little extra incentive to turn the TV off, then try working out how much it costs to run a plasma all day. Approx $15 a week. That's $780 per year.

[helle]

My name is Helle and I wish DS would watch more tv!
He has almost zero interest. The most he usually watches is maybe ten minutes in the morning while I'm having a shower and he's eating breakfast, then the novelty has worn off for the rest of the day. Even then he wanders too and fro between the lounge and the bathroom.
I too have it going all day as I like the background noise, so I do wonder if maybe that's the reason for the lack of interest like others have mentioned?
Mind you, we did sit down the other night and watch Happy Feet together which he was very impressed with, he spent the entire time clapping along with the singing and oohing and aahing at the animals

[Tegam]

We try to limit it. DS used to watch more, but I found it had a negative impact on his behaviour, so now it's a very infrequent thing - maybe 1 or 2 sessions per fortnight. Unless we're sick, then we have tv days. DD I want to keep away from the TV till she's 2.

This is us. The tv is not in our main area so you have to go to that room especially. There is just NEVER tv on a school day. So that really leaves weekends and we just end up doing other 'stuff'.

I really hate the negative behaviour that tv brings with it. Eg the sook that's it's been turned off etc.

My kids play so beautifully together most of the time and we have a pool and big backyard where they can ride and jump on a tramp. When we lived in a smaller backyard the tv was on more or when I have been very pregnant.

I might watch tv once a week. But in saying that I don't think it's been turned on for three weeks now. I watch some shows I like on the net, this suits my bed time.