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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?
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.
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.
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.
Edit : DD is nearly 3 and DS is 7 months.
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?
:rofl: I always over-think everything.
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.
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.
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 ;)
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!
Probably too much :lol: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
DD is almost 2.5 and will only "watch" about 20 mins, twice a day (when Bugs and Daffy are on) - the rest fo the time it's on, but she ignores it completely.
The tv is on in our house almost all day at the moment and has been for most of this pregnancy, but mostly when DD1 is at kindy and its just me and DD2. Normally though its not tv but dvds. Like BG, my DD will put a dvd on and then completely ignore it while she colours, do jigsaws or whatever. The days that have been good the kids are outside pretty much all day and so no tv is on then at all.
I feel guilty about it on the days that DD2 stays put and really watches the tv, but tbh at the moment I'm not capable of entertaining her so I figure at least she's happy and not constantly being told that mummy is too sick to play with her.
I've found that putting on the nature/discovery channel on an animal documentary makes me feel much less guilty about having the tv on ;) DS and DD are both liking the "Frozen Planet" documentaries that I'm recording for them. DS is constantly saying "another penguin!", "another polar bear" etc. Then I took them to the aquarium to see the penguins last week :)
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 :)
Sorry bit OTT but Mylitta - are you fast forwarding through the bits where cute little babies get chomped on Frozen Planet? My kids love it too, but they were getting quite distressed by it. We talked about the fact that they're not nasty animals, just animals that need to eat other animals to survive and they seem to understand that but it still upsets them (if I'm honest, it upsets me too!) so I'm flipping through those bits.
Sorry Miss E - didn't mean to hijack
We used to have an hour a day rule but by the time I woke up in the morning they had already watched an hour and then when they got home from school they watched at least another hour and if I turned it off they snuck back in and turned it on again so I got all the kids channels on Foxtel cut off and then I unplugged the TV from the box and told them we had no more TV.
Since then they watch a DVD or two on Saturday and/or Friday night and that's it. They also watch golf with DH but it doesn't hold their interest for long.
MIL has been staying and she put on Dora for DS1 when he got home from school today. I nearly ripped her head off. luckily he's not into Dora but as a pre-emptive measure I will disconnect the Foxtel from the TV tonight so they don't decide to put it on tomorrow.
TBH my life was easier when they had TV but I feel much happier when I see them messing up the house and fighting instead of sitting in front of the box like zombies.
Television time in our house is not timed. Our standing on television watching is that we dont mind them watching it so long as they are learning from it and its not 'fluff stuff'. So they watch educational stuff, they watch playschool, etc. Then on top of that they are constantly playing with or without the television on, when its cool enough and safe enough (sun wise) to play outside they are out running like the cheeky monkeys they are. If they are inside they are in the playroom making a mess and what not.
DD is 2.5 and she has half hour in the afternoon as part of her quiet time (doesn't nap anymore) watching playschool. Other than that the TV is off.
If she sleeps over at my parents she has a DvD before bed as a special cuddle time with Grandma.
My DD knows how to turn on the TV but she never has outside of when I've said 'hey it is time for playschool and a rest' so she musn't be that interested lol.
A lot here. Well they don't watch a lot but it's on a lot. I turn it off if they aren't watching, but I'm not particularly fussed if it goes back on. They come and go as they please. Here outdoors is available all year round so it's usually much more fun to play with each other. However some days are far too hot.
My kids are great at independent play, are very social skills and speak well so it's no biggie really.
A GF of mine only lets her kids watch for a hour twice a week (it's scheduled like a big prize) but they're embarrassing when they're at other people's houses and the TV's on. They are glued to it and cannot hear anything else - even if it's something they wouldn't be interested in like an adult's show. Neither of them play well by themselves and their social skills suck.
As an aside, no-one schedules my TV viewing and I rarely watch it.
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.
I'd say on average about an hour a day - a little more in winter when it rains A LOT here. Also depends a lot on when DD1 gets up and what sort of night I've had with DD2 (although she's 16 months old, she can wake multiple times during the night). So I do tend to let DD1 put the TV on if she's up really early and I've had a rough night.
DP and I don't watch much TV at all and we're trying to discourage it. We tell her that children who watch a lot of TV can't run very fast or climb very high (these are both big priorities in her life :) ). I reckon we'll get a few more years of mileage out of that one.
Far too much- says my mum. But the reality is, DS1 watches Ben10 or Dragon ball if he can and not really interested in other stuff- a bit of bubble guppies, DS2 browses, we have it on in the back ground while the kids play, draw, (gets turned off at dinner time) some times they watch it other times they are in their room playing. Im not a nazi about it, but I laugh when they say "Not these 1s again" When DD waqs born they were on school holidays and they wore bare patches onto the couch, but english tv was stil a novality for them then. During the week they watch Ben 10 when they get home (30mins) and a bit of tv while they have supper, (30mins?) before shoer and bed
Hmmm, on a daily basis maybe an hour for DS aged 2.5
Usually ABC2 in this house too :) Fav's are Fireman Sam, Yo Gabba Gabba, Bob the Builder and Mr Maker of late. I like that most of the shows go for about 10 or so minutes.
However on Tuesdays I work from home so DS gets treated to more, I reckon he'd maybe watch a 2-3hrs that day, which is fine, it gives me time to power through my work so I can spend more one on one time with him later in the day. However this is once a week, so it works for us.
We do however have Sunrise or something on in the morning to catch the News/Weather (which he pays no attention too)
Most days we end our evening with Giggle & Hoot -particularly 'In the Night Garden' as once Hoot's Lullaby is over that's our prompt for bedtime.
HTH
And Snacks - totally agree with Natty - NO ONE likes Grandpa in my Pocket, Bailey wont watch it either. Personally I hate that damn Five Minutes More, it irks me for no good reason :rofl:
Amen. We never watch that either. Or Blinky Bill - that's another "stupid" one according to Nat.
Yes! The more he watches the more he sooks and carries on about watching it! And the less inclined he is to play and amuse himself. Noticed a big improvement when we virtually stopped and even now I'm not always sure the respite I get when it's on is really worth it.:
We used to watch a lot ourselves, but not any more as it's only in the evening (if we have the energy)
one hour in the morning, if it's a stay home day. ABC2 only. So that usually means Mondays and Fridays only.
that's at my house. (where on earth has Rasta Mouse gone btw, dd is really missing it. First Octonauts disappears, and now Rasta Mouse, what are they doing at ABC2??).
when i'm sick, more.
I have total control of the remote (insert wicked laugh) which i don't even have to hide/have up high. She knows the remote is not for her to touch and respects that (Mum's rules).
at her father's house, the answer would be - alot. I bet she uses the remote there too.
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.
This is exactly what dh and I say. :):
None, my son has never watched a tv show or a movie. But he's only 13 months old, so I don't really know what he would get out of television anyway. I don't turn the tv on until after dinner, so I can hear the news while I am in the kitchen.
I was just thinking today though how I could understand why people would use the tv to occupy their kids. I have a home business and don't use child care, so sometimes it probably would be great if he could be entertained for a while. Maybe one day I'll introduce it, when he is old enough to get something out of it, but only for a limited time every day.. maybe half an hour.