How old are your DCs and how much telly do they watch a day?

[Flingingmelon]

No opinion or comments either way, just curious to know if our house is average

[Suzy4321]

My DD is 6 months and my telly is always on! I have always had telly on could not bare a quiet house. So she glances at it from time to time.

I don't see any harm. Usually cooking Channel. I don't sit her down in front of tv. It's just on in background

[Thebookswereherfriends]

My DD is 3yrs and watches about 15 mins in the morning after breakfast and sometimes 10 mins before bedtime. Rainy days we usually watch a whole film otherwise the day is just too long!

[Iguessyourestuckwithme]

Just turned 2 - no tv for her at all.

[ffffffedup]

3 boys 8 5 and 9m. I have the tv on in the back ground all the time so I suppose ds3 is exposed to it all day every day but I can't say that he spends that much time actually fixated on it. The older 2 put TV on in their room but it can be on in the background whilst they're playing or colouring etc.

Not really understanding Iguess no tv at all but each to their own

[Mrscog]

DS is nearly 4, probably 2 hours a day spread across the day.

[Fairylea]

Ds 3.5 and dd 12 and we have tv on whenever we are home, normally if it's just me and ds I put CBeebies on. I don't have it loud enough to be a distraction but he watches bits of it here and there. I hate having no background noise at all. Dd is in the top sets of everything at school, as was I, so it can't be doing a lot of harm! I was always watching tv as a child and loved films etc, I also loved to read and play imaginary games too. I think if you have tv on all the time they learn to self moderate, no child wants to sit still and watch tv all day even if it's on!

[Artandco]

4 and 5 years. No TV

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

We have it on at the weekend but the rule is no tv during the week. Dd1's teacher said she can always tell the kids that are allowed to watch tv all the time as they don't concentrate as well in class. Since we banned it on school nights dd1 does seem to be doing a bit better.

[macarooni]

Kids are 11, 8 and 6 they like to watch Simpson during the week so that's maybe an hour a day and a bit of Netflix on a sat/sun morning while dh and I are in bed....they aren't particularly interested in general TV. We have a smart TV but no TV ariel...or such so we stream through the TV and Sky go app if that makes sense. Dh and I don't wAtch TV really apart from news so I guess it's a family habit

[BackforGood]

Mine are teens now and rarely watch anything...prob each have one or two progs a week they watch. More likely to watch films.

When they were younger, they weren't allowed to watch during the day time (at holidays and weekends) until it was around the time they'd have finished school on a school day.

[DeepBlueLake]

DS1 is almost 3 and is probably watching 2-4 hours during the weekdays currently. An hour in the morning, an hour at midday and another hour in the evening. I've just had DS2 though so am getting into a new routine and am really sleep deprived + the weather has been shit so the telly has been used a lot recently.

It was never this much before DS2 though as he was in nursery ft. I am hoping to rectify this come the spring when the weather warms up etc. For now though I will try to keep it to a minimum but am not going to get too heat up over a lot of telly use atm as I am taking him to the park, playing with toys and visiting friends etc.

[Mrscog]

Fwiw I think after 3 children are at the stage where children can learn loads from TV so I worry less. DS 3.10 has learnt his number bonds following a mammoth number jacks session, and just last week was asking me all about poison arrow frogs following Octonauts.

I was much more restrictive until 2-2.5.

[lenibose]

Almost 4. No TV at all. Or the iPad. We don't watch TV ourselves except for the news and sport on a regular basis. The news is not really appropriate for him. So he does watch sport with us but not TV 'programmes'. It is not a policy, just how we are. I have actively discouraged the iPad though. I cannot stand background noise. We do long haul flights (10 hours+) several times a year and he is more than welcome to watch TV then but he usually doesn't. We watch movies sometimes and for eg, I have told him that we should watch Stickman together at Christmas. He does go to a CM and pre school. I can't monitor his TV watching there but he has been going since he was a baby and he says quite openly that she doesn't let the two boys she looks after watch any TV. The other boy watches more TV at home and I know struggles with her no TV rule (his mum told me). My sister's family watch TV almost constantly when they are home from work. The niece is an academic superstar- 4A*s and Oxbridge so anecdotally it has done no harm. My sister says my house is too quiet and I think hers is maddeningly noisy. So seriously each to their own!

[Scotinoz]

2...way too much Peppa Pig 😕 I have a seven month old, a husband who works long hours, no childcare and housework/dinner/laundry/etc that isn't going to do itself...Dont think it's rotting her brain, in fact she seems to have learned stuff from it.

Fair game to those who manage to never let their children watch TV though.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

We did have a lot of CBeebies when they were little. Lots of educational programs that tried to make learning fun. And kept my sanity.

[insan1tyscartching]

Dd 12 watches GBBO when it's on but doesn't watch TV at any other time. She's never been a great TV watcher tbh has had selected programmes she'd watch over the years but that's all. She doesn't get it from me though as I love the TV.

[cabbageleaf]

DS is 14 mo and doesn't watch TV at all because we don't watch it. I grew up without a telly and hated going to a friend's house and all they wanted to do was watch TV, I found it deadly boring and still do. A film on a rainy weekend is ok but not more. If I want something on in the background I enjoy listening to music or the radio.

[Artandco]

For those with small children who watch TV whilst they do chores but want them to watch less, the easiest way is to get them to help you. Yes it takes a bit longer but everyone's happy then also.

Using 'scotinoz' as an example. When mine were those ages I would do something like:

Dinner - 2 year old on chair next to me 'helping' by chopping easy stuff, mixing, watching, eating bits. 7 month old in highchair nearby watching, given a wooden spoon, sieve or similar to play with, plus something to eat from prep. ( mine love raw mushrooms for some reason!)

Laundry - 7 month old in Landry basket with washing playing with clean clothes, 2 year old helping to pair up socks or find his tshirts etc.

Cleaning - buy a mini Hoover (£20 hand held type thing). Entertains toddlers ages whilst you actually Hoover. Put towel on floor and add a washing up bowl with bubbles and water and let him 'clean' already clean spoons/ plastic. It's great for their amusement and an activity for them, and you can do actual kitchen etc at same time.

It mean if you don't mind them watching TV but would prefer less, you can use TV for when they are ill or when you are actually sitting down resting also

[Mrscog]

Artandco If only it were that easy. My DS1 does like cooking, but it has to be totally supervised otherwise butter starts getting eaten out of the dish, sugar sprinkled, coffee maker taken apart. He would have never cooperatively joined in like you describe (and I tried many many times). My 7 month old is only happy with a spoon in the high chair and a snack for 5-10 mins tops before he wants to get out (he is almost walking, so wants to explore).

[Artandco]

But surely you don't need to make gourmet food? Most can be prepped and in pan/ oven within 10 mins, so it's only that time you need to occupy them. You stand toddlers on a chair away from butter/ sugar etc. they only get the one item in front of them you want them to have

[Mrscog]

I did think when I wrote my post 'I could just move the butter and sugar'! So thanks for prompting that thought. I do find it takes me longer than 10 mins to get a basic meal going though - take spag bol, probably 20-25 from start to finish, all the chopping, frying etc.

[uhoh1973]

2 and 5. 20 mins in the evening. We were told by speech and language therapist not to have TV / radio on constantly as you make it more difficult for the children to learn to speak as they are used to tuning out a constant background noise. She also said it is clear to see the pre-school children who watch TV all day. Some of them have severe communication issues.

[Artandco]

Ah see for long cooking I would try and do whilst children nap. For say bolognese I would also make a huge batch so I have enough to freeze for another 2/3 family meals. So the would only have to get a and make pasta the next times

For 30mins I find I could set mine up an activity at table or floor nearby and they would be ok. Play dough at table is quite good or I had 'indoor sandpits' basically large tray with rice/ pasta/ lentils in and spoons/ tiny diggers etc.

[lenibose]

For long cooking, I did it in bits. So 10-12 mins chopping in the morning. Perhaps during the morning nap for the 7 month old? Then during afternoon nap time, bung it all in. Then make the pasta later. It's easier to divide up the 25 minutes into 10/10/5 rather than trying to eke out a full 25 mins with kids causing havoc. It requires a little forethought but it works. Also, if you do have to use TV, then 3 bouts of something for 10 mins on the iPad is not a bad solution. Unlike the TV you can control the length of what they watch.

[NickyEds]

Too much probably. I have an almost 2 year old and a 5 month old and the tv's on for perhaps a couple of hours a day. Ds isn't talking yet so we try and keep back ground noise to a minimum (so no radio either). If I set up Play dough, water bowl and sand trays for whilst I cleaned I would definitely have way more mess than before I started!!