to have let my toddler spend most of today watching TV?...

[makemineamojito]

It's so blinking freezing at the moment and we didn't have anything in particular to do today so we stayed in all day. There's one programme that my DS loves and he's watched it over and over again. I've watched with him but also got quite a lot of chores done...now I'm feeling guilty that he's spending too much time in front of the TV!

That's interesting. One of the reasons that other European cultures have so many English as a second language speakers is because so much TV, pop music, internet, radio etc is in English.

Well, in my house, we hardly watch tv. And my children are still pretty much pre-verbal. [Grin] Ain't anecdotes unhelpful, eh?

DS (4) is currently 'watching' Octonauts.

He's flying all around the room in his (imaginary) gup, chatting to Kwazi and Peso and making up his own storylines.

Midway through he stopped to ask me what trees were made of. Then we talked about clouds before he went back to his Octonaut world.

He has a fantastic vocabulary, or so his nursery teachers tell me.

I'm not going to worry about a few hours of TV or a few games on CBeebies website.

My almost 3 year old has spent most of today watching tv, except for a quick drive to the shop to buy cake ingredients, which we spent 30 minutes making. He's tired, I've got a cold and its the first day in months he hasn't had playgroup/nursery/ toddlers group on so I don't feel (too) guilty.

My three year old daughter and 18 month old son repeatedly watch the Barbie Nutcracker over and over. They dance around the room, laughing and smiling whilst listening to Tchaikovsky and they do it together.

No harm in that. It is a joy to watch.

We don't have TV.. I am single mum and don't have time to watch and preferred to spend licence fee money on other stuff.. My son is never bored, if I am ill he just plays around me and if he is ill he listens to tapes or watches me do stuff. Tapes/CDs are brilliant, children love to follow them with books or just sit and listen. He is doing well on all levels so I don't think he is missing out. He sees TV at other people's houses so it's not foreign to him, he just genuinely prefers doing other stuff. I do think silence and stillness is really healthy for them to have at some point in the day - not just when they are asleep.

Hi all - your messages have made me laugh a lot, and at the rather 'TV is inherently bad' views from some of you - though I know those people are trying to do the best for their children and lovely if you can spend all day crafting/playing/doing 'educational' stuff with your kids. But I agree that TV has come a long way since the seventies, and CBeebies is very educational, as are many of the programmes on Nickelodeon. My son generally hardly watches any TV (1-2 hours a day, max - many days he doesn't watch any) and I'm amazed at the stuff he comes out with - the vocab, knowledge, counting... it's amazing, and a lot of the subjects he learns about are subjects I would never have thought to talk to him about (no, not Rabbit TV - we are talking strictly educational children's programmes here!) So I've seen that even from the small amount he does watch, he finds it entertaining and learns a lot.

And for the record: I regularly watched about three hours' TV a day after coming home from school when I was at primary school (in the 80s) and some of my fondest memories are of the wonderful programmes I watched - and I went to Oxbridge...so ner ner ner-ner ner!!

Just as an aside...any ideas for what to do with a (not quite) 3-year old on days when we are stuck in the house, other than sing songs/read books/play with him/let him play with his trains on his own? I try constantly to get him interested in cooking/baking/crafty things but it just doesn't hold his attention. Maybe one day he'll do lots of writing and crafty stuff - perhaps he's too young at the moment? Thanks x

YABtotallyU
I should have spent the whole day at home watching TV rather than coming into work.

It's not fair! [stamps foot]

makemineamojito - I always get out of the house if possible. There has to be a gale for us to stay indoors.

And if there is a gale I steel myself for the horrors of the public swimming pool, indoor play centres, ice rinks etc.

All day spent inside is bad for anyone, but suicidal for a parent of young child

TV as baby sitter. I'm sure one day of it is fine but really how boring and unstimulating to have so much screen time. Can't he play instead and watch a bit of TV here or there?

My eldest was never crafty either by the way - but a complete book worm. My youngest likes to play with trains, cars and crafty stuff.

I'm after ideas for what to do as well. On Tuesday I took DS to the park across from our house, we literally got through the gate and he turned to me and said "home."

Even he doesn't want to be out when it's cold and wet!

adventure front room soft play/ stick him in the bath with his cars, garage etc/play dough/ torch with the lights out/ bubbles in the bath/washing dollies/playing with bubble foam, singing and clapping games/sorting washing/ building a den/ making a 'machine' out of cardboard boxes

Can you tell I live in a flat?

Santa you started the sarcasm so I responded to it. If you don't want me to be sarky, don't be sarky in the first place

Nah nah

In my experience (friends/family/my own kids) it seems to be the case that where tv is rationed by parents for whatever reason, when the tv is on the kids sit in front of it hypnotised until it goes off, whereas kids who have free access to tv are more able to take it or leave it. I've never been uptight about having the telly on when we're at home and my 2.5 yr old ds is never parked in front of it unless it's something he specifically requests like a film etc. The rest of the time he's playing, running around with the dog and his little bro. We have a very active life too though, go out to groups, see friends etc so he's very stimulated. Think it's easy to get hung up on worrying about kids and tv- I agree with most of the other posters on here, it's all about moderation. And OP think you can let yourself off just this once