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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Plasma screened mounted on playroom wall

91 replies

northstrandee · 19/03/2014 17:42

To think that my SIL and her husband are utterly crass and stupid to mount a big plasma screen on the wall of their newly built playroom (about ten steps from the living room where there already is a big TV) so that their 20 month and 7 month old children can watch 'their favourite cartoons'.

House is full of noisy toys with flashing lights etc so surely to let children under 2 have non-stop access to a TV is unnecessary and irresponsible.

This has been annoying me for ages because my DS (10 months) sometimes plays there and when I pick him up they say 'Oh, he just loves looking at Peppa Pig.

He's a baby, it's just moving images and noise to him. ARRRRRRHHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

OP posts:

merrymouse · 19/03/2014 18:20

Just politely nod and do your own thing at your house. Honestly, children don't need television, but if they are loved, who cares? Different strokes for different folks.

Gorran · 19/03/2014 18:20

We have a wall mounted TV in our playroom/dining room. It's very much used as a family room these days and the sitting room rarely ventured into except once the girls are in bed.

JassyRadlett · 19/03/2014 18:20

YABU, really, and we have just the one TV, too.

First, is it relevant that it's a plasma screen or that it's wall mounted? Wall mounted is probably safer, TBH, and easier to control access to avoid the nonstop watching issue. Why do you just have a problem with it being a large flatscreen?

Second, their kids won't be toddlers/babies forever. Nothing wrong with planning a room for the long (or even the short!) term.

GinSoakedMisery · 19/03/2014 18:21

And this affects your life how exactly?

BoffinMum · 19/03/2014 18:23

I think the OP is right to moan on MN. You wouldn't say anything in RL but it's fucking bonkers, cognitively dodgy as far as their development is concerned, and definitely one for the judgypants.

hollyisalovelyname · 19/03/2014 18:23

YANBU I hate the tv being used as an unpaid babysitter for hours on end. It's ok if tv usage is being monitored.

MaryWestmacott · 19/03/2014 18:24

perhaps you shouldn't use them for free childcare for your 10month old, if you don't like the way they parent... (under the age of 5, most people stay with their DCs on play dates, anything else is childcare).

And if we could afford a playroom, it'd have a TV in it, not on all the time, but sometimes. Then I'd have a grown up drawing room that did not contain child things. tis on my lottery win wish list...

WorraLiberty · 19/03/2014 18:25

Don't drop your baby off there then

LadyRochford · 19/03/2014 18:26

I really don't get all the people who come on these threads just to say "none of your business". It's your inlaws, of course it is your business. Your DC will be spending lots of time there and their DC are your nieces/nephews. And even if it wasn't your business, where better to harmlessly sound off than an anonymous internet forum??

For what it's worth I think it's a great idea, they can pack all the kids off in there when they have parties and when they are older the kids can use it as a screen for video games.

LadyRochford · 19/03/2014 18:27

But, yes, when they are still toddlers agree with BoffinMum

Binkyridesagain · 19/03/2014 18:29

It must really chafe having your judgy pants pulled up that high.

BrianTheMole · 19/03/2014 18:30

Sounds like a good plan. Unless they have it on all day. Wish I had a playroom wall to put a big telly on.

MollyHooper · 19/03/2014 18:30

Crass, stupid, Irresponsible? Seriously?

It's just a TV for goodness sake, unless they permanently have the horror channel on? If not you're being really OTT and judgmental for no good reason.

As others have said, if you don't like it don't leave your baby there.

BoffinMum · 19/03/2014 18:31

Over 3, fair game. Under 3, not a good idea. Under 2, fucking bonkers and there is research data backing that up.

Nomama · 19/03/2014 18:42

Yeah, it's crass to have a humongous flat screen on the wall of a playroom. But they are getting cheaper every day and all sorts of telly/computer thingies are becoming 'essential' nowadays.

Not U for thinking it is a bit OTT.

Very U for letting it annoy you any more than an AIBU post.

Take your judgey knickers and give them a stern talking too. They are becoming too easily twisted.

foreverondiet · 19/03/2014 18:47

My kids no longer interested in tv. Prefer iPad!

Forgettable · 19/03/2014 18:50

Tv and v young children is crap

There was a bunch of research from ?canada a couple of years back saying 20mins per day tops for the under twos. /paraphrase ofc.

merrymouse · 19/03/2014 19:33

Television is definitely a double edged sword and in an ideal world I would save a million battles by not revealing to my children that screens existed until they were at least 21.

However, looking back to those sleep deprived early years of having a baby and a 3 year old there were definitely days when I stuck on cbeebies and just hoped for the best. Your SIL has 2 under 2 - sometimes you have to walk a mile in somebody else's shoes...

merrymouse · 19/03/2014 19:36

Also, with the best will in the world, a baby of 10 months old is not playing with a 7 month old and a 20 month old - the children are being looked after by the same adult.

littlewhitebag · 19/03/2014 20:02

My girls have watched a lot of TV since they were small. DD2 was born when DD1 was 5 so she saw loads of TV from birth. I am not sure how it was cognitively dodgy as far as their development is concerned.

At age 21 my DD1 is about to graduate with a 1st class degree and DD2 is on track for all A/A* at GCSE. They still both watch masses of TV and have flat screen TV's on the wall of their bedrooms.

As long as they get other stimulus and are also played with and spoken to i am sure the children in the OP will be just fine.

OhNoYouExpedidnt · 19/03/2014 20:10

We are having a playroom built and will be putting a flat screen tv on the wall in there. Our DC won't be little forever and they will need it with their friends in the future i'm sure!

HopelessDei · 19/03/2014 20:37

Why can't the OP be judgy? You're not obliged to join in. It's an internet forum - anonymous at that - it's the perfect outlet for judginess!

You'd shut MN down pretty quick if all threads were to be answered with: "None of your business."

innisglas · 19/03/2014 20:41

Mmm, I didn't have telly when my daughter was small, mainly because I couldn't trust myself not to use it as a babysitter, but I never stopped her watching if she was in someone else's house. And the children of my friends who did leave the TV on for their kids seemed to be able to play in front of the TV without paying it a blind bit of notice.

Fakebook · 19/03/2014 20:48

My DS loves Peppa Pig. How do you know yours doesn't? My dd could recognise Mickey Mouse's face and voice from 3 months on TV.

BoffinMum · 19/03/2014 23:08

Well the American Academy of Paediatrics thinks so

Journal Article from Acta Paediatrica

Another peer reviewed article In this one they say, "In a longitudinal study of early exposure to television and cognitive outcomes at school age, we found no evidence of benefit and in fact found detriment".

Another peer reviewed article Here they say, "These findings imply that habitual television/video viewing with characteristics that are not apt to elicit parent–child communication for long hours may affect delayed language development in young children".

I could go on and also cite the recent data from the Norfolk study, but I'm off to bed.

So there you go, littlewhitebag. The international research data, based on various studies since the 1980s, tell us that statistically it is cognitively dodgy to plonk under twos in front of the box, but hey, your sample of two little girls now doing degrees suggests otherwise. Perhaps you should write a paper on that.

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