To be annoyed by the smugness of some parents who have TV-free homes?

[marfisa]

A friend/colleague of mine boasted posted on her facebook (in connection with World Book Day) that her DC's imaginations "run free" because they have never been allowed to watch telly or play on games consoles. As a result (she says) they love to read! and they run round the house pretending to be ancient Egyptians!

It isn't the first time she has made comments like this and it always irks me. I have to refrain from posting a snarky response along the lines of, "My DS watches telly AND owns a Nintendo DS. Yet amazingly, his imagination still manages to run free!" In fact, we are a bookish household and he loves to read. Yet he has also been infatuated at various points with Ben10/Power Rangers/Dr Who/Club Penguin/Moshi Monsters/Pokemon and I see NOTHING wrong with this. How narrow-minded does a parent have to be in order to think that telly and computer games can't nourish a child's imagination as well? Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating UNLIMITED telly and gaming. I don't even have a problem with families not owning a TV (I know a number of families who don't, and I'm sure their DC are surviving just fine). I just think that fostering love of books is much more about having lots of books around than about banning TV and Nintendo altogether. And I'm sick of the implication that the more telly your DC watch, the less imagination they will have. Pop culture can be pretty damn amazing. If you want to restrict your kids' access to it, fine, but don't be all pretentious about it. Impersonating a Time Lord does not necessarily involve less imagination than impersonating an ancient Egyptian. end rant

YABU. You have decided that your way (having a mix) is right and hers is wrong, so you are being just as judgemental as her.

YANBU. How annoying! Hide her off your home page

How much time does she spend on Facebook? Those kiddies are going to notice that screen time's okay for some, and not for others.

Smugness is annoying, whatever the topic.

Yanbu!

Tv can be an excellent educational tool and fire the imagination.

Also what is wrong with just watching for pleasure too? Some parents seem to think doing things for r and r is a crime.

There are so many educational programmes now like "Little Einsteins", my dc has picked up a huge amount of information from shows like that.

Ha, Picnic, that is a good point! She loves facebook...

OK, Purple, I do think a mix is best, but as I tried to say above, it's not parents who deprive their DC of electronia media who annoy me. It's parents who maintain that their DC have EXTRA imagination due to being deprived of electronic media.

Maybe your friend's DCs do have extra imagination from not having a TV, maybe they don't. They're her children and that's what she believes so she might be right.

Has she said anything about yours watching TV/gaming? If not then I think YABU - she doesn't mean it to be about you.

Post underneath 'it is a shame they are missing horrible histories, my kids learn so much about ancient egyptians on that show, it really brings the people to life and adds new ideas for their games'.

I only know one and it's owner is not the smug competitive type. Just always lives her life her way. Also her DH works from home so I think the odd DVD and bit of iplayer slips through.

Personally I'd quite like to blow up CBBC, HH I can cope with most of the rest is seriously getting on my nerves.

We dob't get any tv channels. We just gave netflix. Not for smug reasons... I just hate adverts and don't want to pay to have my show interrupted a dozen times an hour.

God no. I know a mum who is such a fucking saint/ earth mother about every-damn-thing; nice enough lady but soon found myself thinking 'How did I miss this when I first made friends with her?'

On this matter she doubly annoyed me by bragging they didn't have a TV, then I went to her house one day and saw it was plastered with Waybuloo pictures that they'd drawn after watching it off her computer.

Booooring. What's wrong with telly? We follow my 1970s childhood model, come home, kick your shoes off, have a drink and a packet of Frazzles and lie down on the sofa and watch Grange Hill (or equivilent). As far as I know my family are as imaginative as they want to be, some book day stuff bores them crapless, others they enjoy. Is this the same competition I can join by discussing their birth and feeding methods?
I know I sound a bit rubbish but surely not everyone is the same on MN?

They dont have a tv??! How does she get any housework done? :o. My LO watches tv/dvds, reads books, dresses up and has an AMAZING. Imagination. Everything in moderation i say.

I was not allowed to watch Grange Hill. My imagination was fired by thinking of devious ways to watch it in secret . TV dodgers be warned.

This is pure snobbishness.

If you think that there aren't TV shows that are just as interesting and stimulating as books then I feel sorry for you.

I wasn't allowed to watch Grange Hill either. Or anything on ITV, really. Or Neighbours. Mostly just allowed to watch Blue Peter because that was "improving".

The children in the OP might not mind now, but how long is smug mum going to keep it up for?

YANBU

I have someone like that on my FB who is very smug with her statuses and thinks she is a perfect parent: 'Little Quentin had a few chocolate buttons today, he loved them, am so proud we got to 3 without him having any sweets' and that sort of thing. Really annoys me.

yabu.

She must have hit a nerve or something. Else, why would you care?

YANBU!

In my experience only people who believe they are superior don't have a tv.

YANBU if she is smug and boastful about it. YABU if you expect her to have one. We don't have one either for various reasons but I think it's poor form to think that gives you a reason to feel superior. Besides, we watch DVD's on the computer so no big deal really.

YANBU. I don't think purple read the OP

This is reason why I deleted my FB account. I found it full of smug people boasting about shite (on the whole). It's up to your friend how she chooses to live her life but personally I think it must be a bit boring!

YANBU , hide her.

We have no tv channels (will reconnect for olympics though) and just use the tv set for DVDs/wii, and the occasional online viewing on the laptop. So in the middle I guess.

I know loads of people who take a similar approach (and some who have no screens at all) and none of them are smug about it. They aren't smug about anything because they are nice people who just get on with parenting without needing to tell the world about it.

I would just roll my eyes at the blatant smuggery of your friend and post some more statuses on here :o

Do they also have an excruciatingly bad family string quartet? Usually goes with ostentatious absence of telly.

There are some excellent programmes on televsion on subjects for which there is very litle reading material accessible to, say, a 10-14 year old (BBC 4 has had the series on the Normans, one on Islam, one on Russian Art etc. etc.); and not all entertaining programmes are ipso facto rubbish. She is being smug and narrow-minded.