No TV before school?!

Tbf it’s a good idea not to. Give it a try.

My sons are now in their 40s and thinking back they watched a lot of TV/videos during childhood and it did them no harm, but they never watched TV before school - and yes morning TV was around in the 80s!

They got up, washed hands and face, dressed, breakfast, brush teeth and we were out of the door to catch the Tube to school.

A screen-free start to the school day is a good thing, IMO, given the amount of time children spend in front of screens in one way or another.

Bit different here. We put the tele on while LO gets dressed and has breakfast after he brushes teeth. I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world for 10 minutes, although when LO came to us (adopted), he was used to a tv on 24/7 and we’ve worked to get that down a lot so I wouldn’t want it to be on for ages.

We watch TV in the morning and I dont think it affects my kids massively. Just 20mins of CBBC or something while they eat some cereal. I've had to ban YouTube until they are fully dressed and ready because they get sucked in and I end up having to nag at every stage. Their phones dont activate until 7.30 so that helps.

Just to add, mine were only ever allowed cbeebies or cbbc. I'm sure shoes had to be on for Octonauts or something.

Having something like GMB on isnt so bad is it? Kind of frames the morning imo

I listen to radio 1 in the mornings now but have had gmb on in the past

We dont have kids tv on though, and try to avoid giving dd the tablet (unless shes had an awful night's sleep and needs to be kept awake)

"Bad for their brains or something…"

I'm going to sound patronising/sarcastic, but I'm genuinely just wondering whether this is the first time you've heard anything about the effects of screen time on small children's brains and development?

TV once dressed and ready while I finished off sorting myself and the house out. It meant they were in one place and waiting by the door.

I have a 2 year old and 6 year old and we have never turned the TV on in the morning and don't really go into the living room much, but we have a big kitchen so space for them to play. They are able to entertain themselves and have never asked. Well the 2 year hasn't ever watched TV but the 6 year doesn't ask.

He is often quite hyper after watching TV, and he doesn't watch very over the top things, and I would imagine the walk to school would be impacted.

We never did, was just something that happened naturally rather than a 'right, that's it, no more tv'.

Helped that we just used to go from the madness of upstairs to breakfast in the kitchen without passing the lounge door. Kids didn't have TVs in their rooms either.

(It's been 13 years since my kids started school, I realised a lot more have TVs and devices on bedrooms nowadays so that it might be insanely hard to break that habit)

We don't do TV before school but I don't think it's the schools place to tell you what you can and can't do in the morning.

Do what works for you, I think a short time if fine if it helps mornings run smoother.

In our house TV tends to slow everyone down and so the rule is that it can only go on after everyone is fed and dressed and really to walk out the door so they usually get 5 mins before they leave if they've not been too slow!

I’m fairly chilled as a parent. But there are absolutely no screens before school or after dinner (except on school holidays & even then it’s rare).

Take their advice and try it? We didn’t do it and managed - kids might surprise you and read or play or something

We have never had TV on before school/work. We rarely put it on while eating dinner either.

No TV here before school. Getting ready and chatting only.

You’ve got to do what works best for you. TV would slow us all down because my kids (teens) are so easily zombified and nobody would get dressed. If everyone in your house is ready and you need 15 mins to do the last things on the list, I don’t see a problem with a bit of Peppa. Especially if you’ve got a walk or bike ride to school that blows the cobwebs away. Just depends - like most aspects of parenting!

FWIW we always watch TV while we eat dinner at the table. I’m sure it’s frowned upon but we enjoy either catching up on and chatting about something like masterchef or bake off, or communally playing a quiz or something while we eat. None of us have rotted brains…. I don’t think!

Depends. 10 minutes of something relatively calm, fine. An hour of hectic stuff and I can imagine that they wouldn't be in the best condition to learn.

Our school said they can instantly see which kids have watched tv before school. Apparently it takes them ages to get into school mode and concentrate. For that reason we have no tv before school ever.