TV Watching: Opinions

[Mellors]

Is it wrong to be pleased that my nearly 3 year old has suddenly started to show an interest in TV?

Has has never wanted to watch it (used to switch it off), but is now happily sitting watching Roary the Racing Car whilst his little sister has a nap, meaning peace for me.

I feel guilty but delighted in equal measure....

[Pickle]

Not at all - enjoy the peace and quiet!

C has always loved TV, would sit and watch it all day if I gave him the opportunity. He watches it at around 5pm every evening while I get dinner ready and it always surprises me how much he learns from it (thanks to Mr Maker he's quite good at identifying shapes :) ) I do limit it to about 30 mins a day for now, but his love of TV has it's uses on long car or plane journeys when he can sit and happily watch DVDs.

Lots of people I know with small people who have dropped their lunchtime nap let them have a bit of quiet time in front of TV, no harm done.

P x

[Elfy]

It's a constant source of guilt/relief for me too. My 18 month old can name all the characters of In the Night Garden. It's the only thing we let him watch at the moment. Half an hour a day. He often tries to switch the TV on himself though. When he wakes in the night (which last night was 4 times...must be teething), we have several episodes on Sky+ as it's the only thing that will calm him down...(I often fast forward to the end bit where they are all going to sleep, in the hope he will too!)

[plimsoul]

telly is just great and they learn loads on cbeebies. of course it's best for them not to be sat in front of it for hours on end but everything within reason: isn't that the moto for kids?

i remember using teletubbies to calm them down. other families refused their children telly in the early years and i'd say that they now watch it as much as anyone else.

there's enough guilt surrounding motherhood as it is, let alone something that gives you some peace!

[lard]

Our 6 month old gets a programme off the Baby Channel a day and absolutely sits transfixed and talks to it. Doesn't do any harm imo.

[nicolemodesti]

My 11 month old loves Roary Racing Car and will watch it then goes off to play with the set of Roary cars. He has become an avid cricket watcher with his Dad, on weekends when looking at the highlights, and chuckles away to himself at the batters! Nothing wrong with anything in moderation!! Just waiting for the day he has an afternoon programme, when I can make dinner without interruptions!

[redjam]

I was always quite strict about limiting my eldest daughter's TV intake when she was small - she didn't really watch it at all till she was two and a half. However, that all went out of the window when Daughter Number 2 was born, as I used to use the telly to keep Number 1 happy while I was breastfeeding. So my younger daughter was exposed to regular TV at a much earlier age, and CBeebies is now sometimes on as 'background' for several hours at a time at the weekend. But it's interesting that it's the older one who is much more obsessed with the telly, whereas the younger one (now two herself) is really much more into toys, games, and other physical things. Maybe it doesn't hold such allure for her as she's been exposed to it earlier?

Funnily enough, my hubbie and I follow the same pattern. He was brought up with telly on as constant background, and can now take it or leave it. Whereas I was brought up in a very middle-class 'half an hour a day' household, and I am now addicted to all kinds of rubbish. So as a rule I try to be fairly relaxed about telly intake; it doesn't always work out how you expect!