No TV before school?!

Out of pure curiosity, can I ask why that is?

It was the same in our house when the children were young.

My daughter (10) often watches TV for 20-30 minutes in the morning before school once she's ready and we've had absolutely no complaints about her focus or her behaviour at any point in her life, just the opposite. She does often have a fairly decent gap between turning off the TV and starting school though ie a 20-25 minute walk to school and then 10-15 mins in the playground. So a good hour really before she's expected to start any school work.

She doesn't have her tablet before school in the morning and the reason for that is that I do actually think that affects her. I think it sets her up badly. There's something about content on iPads etc that is so frenetic and over stimulating. There are no exceptions to this rule for her.

What I do find weird is parents thinking everyone else should do what they do. This is what I do with my daughter. I wouldn't dream of telling anyone they should also do this as if I'm some guru.

Never had tv before school even with all six of them

I mean the less screen time, the better, right? Everyone knows that. If you don't put the TV on, they will find a way to occupy themselves - might be a few uncomfortable days but then it becomes the norm.

The number of people saying kids watch while they eat breakfast. What? They don't need a screen whilst they eat! Ever.

My kids listen to music in the morning. Much better than overstimulating their brains and sending them into school.

Apart from safeguarding issues, I think schools should leave parents to get on with parenting and parents should leave schools to get on with teaching.

My kids woke at 6 am every day. We didn't have to be at school til 8.55 am. In the 10 years I have been taking kids, we have never been late. But they did get to watch TV, a bit before breakfast / getting dressed and a bit afterwards before they left if there was time. They knew that any fussing and it would go off and wouldn't be allowed on again that day. We walked 20 mins to school, presumably enough time for any overstimulation to wear off. Sometimes they wouldn't bother and would play - actually this would be harder to get them to stop than TV which they knew they could always catch up on.

We have the radio on in the morning, our TV doesn’t go on until after dinner in the evening. If there’s a good song there’s a dance around the kitchen, but in all honesty the TV is far too big a distraction when there’s a time constraint so something had to give. We don’t miss it at all!

No knowledge is wasted.

I'm amazed anyone has the time. I've only got one (7 year old) who is a complete bumbler so it's like a military operation to keep her moving.

If I let her watch TV we'd never get there on time (and we only live 2 minutes down the road!). On the rare occasions we have time she might sit and read a book for 5 minutes but definitely no TV.

Briefly it was actually part of DD1’s school routine - if you are totally ready, you can watch Mickey Mouse Club House before school. I forget when it started but it finished at the perfect time to leave the house. Then the buggers changed the schedule and that was it for us and pre-school TV…

Because they wake up naturally between 6-630 and we leave at 8.20, except once a week when we do breakfast club. I never wake them for school.

Ironically, TV in our house makes our eldest more hyper and the behaviour gets worse so I limit it. Our youngest doesn't care about TV too much anyway.
No TV in the mornings ever, unless someone is ill. We get up, have breakfast around the table and get ready to leave.

My daughter rarely watches TV and never before school, although she does occasionally watch her iPad while she’s getting ready. She’s nearly 11 though. If I feel it’s slowing her down it goes off because we have limited time. Like others have said, something calm and sedate is probably fine but something with a lot of action, noise, lights, fighting, shouting etc probably not so much..

We don’t have screens on before school because it slows us down. It’s not a bad policy, at school age children can play independently while you get things done.

The amount of kids that I used to see being driven to school with off-the-chart loud music was ridiculous.
I wonder if emails ever get issued to parents about that?

We've always done TV on the mornings. Both kids are early risers so time to kill. We didn't let them until they were ready for school though (apart from shoes on), so they had to have had breakfast, dressed, clean teeth etc first. It helped stop them procrastinating with that stuff, and gave us time to do our own prep for the day. Went they were little and watching cbeebies live they even learn which programmes finishing was the signal to go to the toilet and put their shoes and coat on.

Neither have ever had any issues with learning or behaviour in school, and I've never noticed any behaviour changes as a result of TV either. I don't think it is schools business unless it is causing an issue for your particular child in school, and I'm not sure why some posters are being quite so judgy.

I wouldn't let them game before school though as I think that's much more addictive so could affect behaviour more.

There have been many studies done on it that show it overstimulates the brain and discourages children from actively engaging in thinking. Other activities become not as interesting because they aren't as visually stimulating so it makes them seem boring in comparison and negatively affects the thinking process. The brain does not calm down that quickly and hours later the effects are still there. It does the same thing for adults as well.

You may not see a problem but you are not there educating your child all day and don't see the issues first hand. Why make their jobs harder and your child's learning experience more difficult? It is absolutely true you can tell which kids were watching TV or on iPads first thing in the morning. It is overstimulation. Maybe try having them read a book instead or audiobook story.

we watch a small amount of cartoons before school, so i can get the final bits done.

However this advice from the school wouldnt sit well with me as they set homework to be completed on a tablets etc

We have a no tv rule in our house for mornings as everyone would get distracted and I need them to focus and get ready for school (ages 14 and 17) but that’s because it’s what worked for us. I’m usually supportive of schools but that feels like over stepping. Do what works for you and your family.

We don't have any TV before school, it turns my kids into zombies even if it's only on for 10 minutes. Mine do some colouring if they're ready early. I can understand why school don't want a load of kids whose brains aren't in learning mode when they arrive, but I also don't see how they can impose any sort of rules around what you allow at home, so if TV on a morning works for you then I'd carry on as you are.

We used to allow TV before school, and we stopped when my eldest went to Y1. The difference in his concentration at school is massive. Also the mornings are a lot less hectic now. Kids focus on their breakfast and if they finish early they find something to occupy themselves with. Eldest does a bit of homework or they play together. Kids are now 7 & 5. They still ask for TV sometimes but it’s a hard boundary for us. They watch in the morning on the weekends, and we get to sleep a little more. Sort everything that you can from the night before, so you don’t have much to do in the morning to need to put the TV on

I used to know someone that claimed to be "anti-tv" but would allow her kids to watch selected programmes via iPlayer etc.
The difference between her 5 year old and mine was hers would sit staring at a tiny screen watching 20 episodes of Peppa Pig in a row without pausing for breath (because it's was on auto play) and mine would switch on Channel 5, watch the ONE episodes as it's broadcast and that was that.

We have no TV, or other screens at all in the week.

School are asking for a reason, not sure why you think you are better than their advice.