Too much TV for toddler

[Fatas]

He’s almost 3 and I am on mat leave. I’m the early days of lockdown things weren’t that bad as we would play outside in garden, spend 3 hours walking to the park, being at the park and walking back. But with the cold weather (actually I can’t blame lockdown at all) we have done quite a bit of laying around and he dies watch quite a bit of tv.
He’s had lots of new toys at Christmas so that’s helping now and he has 30 mins in the morning and about 1 hour at night. Previously some days were probably 4 hours 🤦🏽‍♀️ morag wgatsaface, Jojo and grangram that sort of thing. He’ll be going to nursery soon which will be really good for him and when the weather improves we will be going out again. We do a reasonable amount of things, drawing, painting, play doh,playing with toys, walking, swimming etc. But I’m worried I’ve done some irreversible damage. I’ve been reading about how too much tv changes the structure of a toddlers brain and also leads to conduct disorders. I mean there’s no sign of any problems thus far... any one given their little one too much tv And come out the other side.

[Ticklemynickel]

My similar age DD watches a fair bit - she likes to get up at about 5.30am so it's mostly out of desperation in the morning - we've got a newborn too so very little sleep is going on here! We also use it as "chill out" time or when I need to do something like make dinner. We only really watch Cbeebies so it's all educational right?! Like you we do loads of playing, reading, going to the park, different activities so hopefully it balances out.

[Fatas]

5.30 😬 My two have been trained to wake at 9.30 but it does mean a later bedtime. Whilst I’m on mat leave it suits tho. Congrats on your newborn, hope you’re enjoying the newborn stage again. We are now almost ten months in and it’s gone rest having two. I tend to b feed to sleep when he naps so he has tv on then and to break up the dark evenings a bit

[Mincepiehangover]

I used to be so precious about screen time but give yourself a break OP - we are in an unprecedented situation and we all have to do anything we can to get through this nightmare.so long was you balance it out which sounds like you are then l am sure it is fine x

[PatsyStone39]

Oh, OP! My two year old watches so much TV that i'm going to audition him for a part in Paw Patrol next year.

It's a crazy year. You're not frying his brain. I watched TV on tap as a kid and I don't have conduct issues, or any other issues (my partner may disagree.)

Before I became a Mum, I was adamant any crotch gremlins of mine would not be watching cartoons...and that soon changed the second they arrived. Do I feel bad? Meh. A little. But he loves them, and 95% of what I allow is educational. I'm sure his little brain is taking in lots of info from it. Plus, i'm almost 10 months into recovering from Covid. So, i'm cutting myself some slack, and you should too.

Don't feel bad. As other's said, it's unprecedented times. Don't give it any more headspace and go watch Cbeebies.

[Fatas]

Thanks for your replies. I just don’t want him to become too reliant, less likely to play with toys etc. But I spose they’re a bit rubbish at playing with toys for any length of time on their own anyway.

I think I’m just paranoid as read so much stuff that says it’s super bad for little brains. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I haven’t actually read through the findings of such studies tho, so presumably it’s oversimplified