TV in the morning - seriously????

[HaventSleptForAYear]

Another thing I learn from mumsnet.

Don't get me wrong, the DS are big Cbeebies/DVD fans, much more than I would like (especially DS2).

But it would never actually occur to me to turn the TV on at breakfast-time/before school.

Is this an old-fashioned parenting taboo/hang-up I have?

Do lots of people do this?

Am now at my own because I suppose TV in the morning is no different to TV at night.

[sagacious]

dc's (five and seven) watch Spongebob whilst eating breakfast (i'm either in the shower/getting ready or making packed lunches)

I don't know if its bad parenting but it makes mornings fecking easy.

[Rhubarb]

Once my kids have had their breakfast, I let them watch TV until it's time to go to school. When they get in from school, they are allowed 20mins/half an hour of TV to help them wind down, then it gets turned off and doesn't get turned on again until they are in bed.

If you've managed to get through your mornings without the TV then carry on! Just because others do it, doesn't mean to say that you have to.

[HaventSleptForAYear]

Yes I'm now wondering if I'm missing out on a parenting trick and making my life un-necessarily hard !

[dizzydixies]

mine sometimes have it and sometimes don't - depends on whether I'm on my own or not or need to feed DD3 or would like a shower etc etc etc

why does it bother you if other people let their kids watch tv? do it, don't do it - whatever gets you through in my book

[Galava]

No. I dont allow it.

Mine would never leave the house if I did.

[HaventSleptForAYear]

Cross-post - was responding to sagacious.

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

mine do but it really doesn't bother me and sometimes it helps calm them down and stop the constant scrapping. if it bothers you, don't do it.

[TrillianAstra]

My little brother was always a very early riser. (does getting up at 5.30 count as sleeping through the night?) Once he was old enough to sit quietly with the tv on for an hour it made everyone's lives muich easier.

[bumsrush]

DS 11 gets up before me and has his breakfast gets dressed while watching stuff he has recorded. he leaves it on to see the clock so he knows when to leave to get his bus. It then gets switched off as DD cannot function while TV is on, she grinds to a halt while watching. So no TV for her, but its not some sort of moral objection .

[Geocentric]

We turn it on for a bit because school starts so early here - we have to be out the door by 6.45 for a 7.10 school start!! I wake them at 6ish by sticking them into my bed and turning the TV on - they doze a bit and slowly wake up, it makes for a less harsh awakening. Its off by 6.30, though, otherwise they would never be dressed in time.

[PuppyMonkey]

I've been turning the TV on at breakfast ever since TVAM was invented about 25 years ago. DD2 watched a bit of CBeebies with her morning milk, it helps calm her down.

I don't see it as anything to be proud of nor anything to be ashamed of iuswim. It just is.

[Cakesandale]

Well speaking as someone who has never personally watched TV in the daytime, even when off sick with broken bones, I still put it on routinely for DD. She likes it, it helps the breakfast to go down, somehow, and where is the harm?

Also makes for a more peaceful start to my own day - no constant chatter!

[bigchris]

5 yr old ds gets up at 6.30 and turns tv on

I get up at 7am with dd and give them breakfast

they watch it until we leave for school while I get showered

saves them arguing while I'm trying to get organised

[Meglet]

I put cbeebies on for mine while I am getting everything ready to go out, it keeps them in one place so I can have a tidy and get organised. But we always have the news on first, i would go insane having kids tv on before breakfast. It does make the mornings calmer

[squeaver]

Oh no no no! Never ever happens in this house.

Dd is much too busy helping me grind the porridge oats, get the honey from the beehive and picking the wild strawberries for breakfast. Which is, of course, conducted to the strains of radio 3 or possibly an improving audio book.

[HaventSleptForAYear]

To reply to dizzy I only just found out that people did it (don't often have breakfast in other people's houses!).

Well, I knew that obviously some kids did but thought it was considered on a line with fruitshoots and Gregs!

(am not in UK - am genuinely out of touch with general consensus).

[GossipMonger]

As the kids get up at 7am and I dont get up til 7.30am it was easier to train them to put the TV on so I could have an extra 30mins in bed!

As long as they eat breakfast and get dressed I do not have a problem with it and they always turn it off when asked to as we leave the house.

Tis a goooooooooood thing!!

[HaventSleptForAYear]

at squeaver!

[bigchris]

exactly gossipmonger, I always tell ds that if he drags his heels about getting dressed for school the morning tv will be the first thing to go

[Meglet]

squeaver I do actually pick fresh raspberries for the dc's breakfast

[Cakesandale]

Even fruistshoots and Greggs have their place in life (and personally, I love a nice sausage roll but that may be another story entirely........)

[HaventSleptForAYear]

I think DH and I think it's a slippery slope

We put it off as long as possible because
a) we know DS2 will watch as much as he wants at the childminder's
b) it's hard to turn off once it's on (lack of will-power in this house)

[Bucharest]

T'is a feckin lifesaver....Dd has breakfast in front of the television every day.....She doesn't bleat when it's time to turn it off, even if it's in the middle of one of her favourites, because she loves school so much.....
I'm not in the UK either, and the only thing I am a bit meh about is that our children's tv is very much Japanese schoolgirl transforming into super-heroine thingies...

[HarryB]

I have bbc news on every morning from 6, and flick between that and babytv - DS loves pitch & potch. He is only coming up to 6 months.

BAD MOTHER OF SQUARE EYED BABY