To think a three year old can’t do this?

This would work with my current 3 year old actually, she is exhausted after pre school and would happily sit in front of the tv for a quiet hour, but my oldest would absolutely never have sat still for an hour at the same age- he would totally wreak havoc

I agree that it depends on the child, and you know him best. I have 4 children and could've done this with one of them, the other three would've constantly demanded attention at that age, especially if there was any hint that it was inconvenient/being ignored.

Hugely depends on the child, our son could happily play nicely and quietly for well over an hour at that age, to the point that on more than one occasion I thought I had forgotten to pick him up from nursery as he was in a corner behind the sofa quietly playing. Our daughter, no, completely feral.

Depends on the child. DS1 - yes absolutely, he’d love getting the tv to himself if he had a snack and a drink. DS2 - he’d be sitting on top of the cat tree trying to leap to the chandelier - so not so much.

Mine would've been fine. I used to put Lion King or Toy Story on, give them a snack and they would watch the whole film at 3.

My 3 year old gets home at 2, watches half an hour to an hour of tv (ideally low stimulating) while she recovers from nursery and then we go for a walk or do activities etc. Where she’s tired she’ll happily just chill for an hour with a snack or play with her dolls - on the weekend a whole other story she probably wouldn’t, but the mental and physical tiredness means she’ll sit quietly for a good hour!

Honestly my 3 and a half year old would be fine, a snack and the tv and she would be able to entertain herself (with a parent in the room working) But it completely depends on the child. Obviously wfh while looking after children isn’t ok but for the sake of one hour I suppose it’s worth giving it a go and seeing how it goes.

My 3 year will EASILY watch TV for an hour unsupervised - this wouldn't phase him at all. Never once has he tried to climb out of the window or set fire to anything. If he needs a wee he'll come find me but otherwise I think he'd be a champion at this.

I'm worried now that I let him watch too much TV...

Depends on the child, surely?

Kids don't need constant "entertainment", so a bit of "me" time for them isn't a bad thing if they can entertain themselves in some way, i.e. with toys, or looking at a picture book, etc.

I will add that I am picturing our setup which has DH working in the same room - I am not sure I would be so happy about the supervising adult being in a separate room and potentially with headphones on or feeling they could not pop in and out because of being on a call.

For one hour directly after preschool on a Friday (so, tired) with an adult there for emergencies?

100% my 3yo would do this. Make sure he has a wee when he gets in, provide him a snack and let him have the remote and he probably wouldn't move for an hour (which is why you get him to do a wee first!)

The main barrier that I have seen with one of my neighbours who for the last year has clearly been trying to do this is that there is a park directly outside the nursery, and his daughter was always wanting to stay and play at the park with the other kids while he tried to drag her home to work and clearly felt terrible about it. If I was staying with my kids, then I used to watch her and take her back (we were in the same block of flats) but he never returned the favour!

Mine would have been fine pottering. Teach the three year old to plonk the toys in a toy box, teach dh to put the breakfast things away if you can’t after you’ve used them, have a plonk in the oven meal on Fridays or takeaway, sit on sofa with cup of tea and teeny and put your feet up.

Who will collect him? My 3 year old dd was very calm and would have but it would depend on the child

Depends on the child and your partners job- if he has meetings etc then not likely to be able to work undisturbed but I've had wfh roles previously where was mainly answering emails, completing paperwork etc that type of role would probably be manageable for an hour

Mine too.

My firstborn would absolutely not move from the TV. We don't have much screen time so when we do he's absolutely enthralled. My 2nd born would get bored after 20mins and be emptying cupboards.

Also huge difference between just turned 3 and a nearly 4yo.

My eldest- 50/50 success rate with the right Disney princess movie on. But if she got a whiff of whoever was home on the phone/video call to someone the show off in her would have emerged and she’d have wanted to be involved straight away.

My youngest would have quietly skulked off and set fire to the house or flooded it or something.

So either way I wouldn’t attempt it, not at 3 years old.

I do this once a week for my 2 and 4 year old when I have an online class. For many many weeks I have done it and only once my 2 year old came in to ask for a piece of bread.

My children only see a screen twice a week so i agree with other posters that this might be a factor. But in the end I think it must be different for every child and only you and your DH will know if your child can do this

My youngest has just turned 4 and for well over a year would sit and watch her iPad and eat a plate of tea happily for about an hour after school. Ideally she would eat and watch iPad in my bed.
Not sure my eldest would have at 3.

An hour after a busy day at preschool? My dd would happily nap in front of the tv for an hour or so

I wouldn't do it because I don't want my son to spend an hour in front of the TV every week, but he's 2.8 and would happily stay on his own downstairs and watch TV for an hour (maybe 8 times out of 10).

That's actually why we decided to limit TV a lot!

Depends on the 3 year old, my eldest wouldn't move for several hours given the chance, my youngest would have redecorated the house with yoghurt in approximately 0.3 seconds.

This is obviously assuming there's an adult within ear shot and not upstairs/garden office etc.

All of mine would have been absolutely fine with this. My 4 year old does this every Friday for a couple of hours. If she needs me she knocks on the office door and knows to wait until I am off calls to speak.