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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

TV in 3 year old's bedroom

118 replies

bingobingo · 02/03/2015 20:55

My friend has brought her 3 year old a TV to have in his bedroom as a present. I think this is terrible! AIBU?

OP posts:
catlady1 · 03/03/2015 14:46

My almost-2 year old has a TV in her room, it's the only way I can have a shower or hoover upstairs in peace without worrying about her! She normally just has it on in the daytime but sometimes she will watch an episode of Peppa or Mr Tumble while she has her milk before bed. I do read to her in the day but I find at bedtime she kicks off terribly if I won't read the same book 8 times in a row, whereas she settles when I turn the TV off!

catlady1 · 03/03/2015 14:49

I always vowed DD wouldnt have a TV in her room too but it started when she was really poorly with a vomiting bug. She wasn't getting any sleep anyway but it kept her calm and entertained rather than just laying there feeling grotty. Then it just kind of stayed there Grin

WhereIsMyFurryHat · 03/03/2015 14:57

Call 101.

GooseyLoosey · 03/03/2015 15:01

I am a bit of a hypocrite here I think.

My instinctive response is terrible, I would never allow it.

However... my dcs to have fairly liberal access to IPads which all have Amazon Prime and ITunes on them so, in reality, they can watch things in their rooms if they want to.

In my defence they are some what older than 3 though and wouldn't ever even have considered watching television alone at 3 - it was always a family activity.

livsmommy · 03/03/2015 16:26

My daughter has had a tv and DVD player in her room since she was about 12 months old. My dad bought it for her. She doesn't sleep in there (more's the pity) It does NOT make me a rubbish parent!

EastMidsMummy · 03/03/2015 20:07

The problem for me would be children watching inappropriate content after the watershed.

CallMeExhausted · 03/03/2015 20:39

Nor something I would do, but also not my child or my place to judge...

StrawberryTot · 03/03/2015 21:26

I'm totally against TVs in bedrooms, but I'm a total hypocrite as both my DD (9) and DS (6) have one in their room. Neither has an aerial, my DD has an Xbox and DS has a DVD player and in all honesty they get used maybe a handful of times a month. Usually at sleep overs to watch a movie.
I however don't have one and refuse outright to put one in my bedroom, much to the DH's dismay. My bedroom is for sleeping and stacking clean clothes.

Royalsighness · 03/03/2015 22:11

YANBU! I had a TV in my room as a child and one sleepless night I happened upon EUROTRASH!Grin Now I can imagine there is much worse stuff out there

MrsDeVere · 04/03/2015 08:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IreneA78 · 04/03/2015 08:50

why do people assume that a parent will put a TV in a three yeer olds room and then just give them total free rein?

GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 04/03/2015 08:57

We had a thread on this just last week?

I had a TV in my kids' room for several years starting when they were about 5 and 8 because they have never spent any time in their room (still the case to this day). It wasn't my intention that they watch more TV or fall asleep to it, but rather that whatever TV they did watch could occasionally be in their room.

Anyway it didn't work, they never watched it because they're never in their room, we have a fairly big house and we're always all together in the same room (the kitchen which has an adjoining snug). We separated their big bedroom into two rooms about a year ago and put the TV in the basement, where it is still never used.

GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 04/03/2015 08:58

I'm not crazy about a three year old being on their own for long periods of time in any case, TV or no. I think it depends on how far the bedroom is from the main living spaces of the house.

Cliffdiver · 04/03/2015 08:59

Bored, op?

GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 04/03/2015 09:00

This reminds me of the debate over kids having landlines in their bedrooms back in the 70s/80s.

Idontseeanysontarans · 04/03/2015 09:20

Our 3 year old shares a room with her older sister and they have a TV. And a playstation Smile they alternate between the Lego movie and YouTube at the moment, the Sky multiroom needs an engineer but the girls and their brother usually have restricted access to Sky in the bedrooms.
DD1 has just introduced her little sister to the Pink Fluffy fucking Unicorns... I may ground her for that one.
I wonder what our children will get all angsty about when they grow up and have children themselves? Transporters in the bedrooms maybe? Talking online to friendly Aliens?

EastMidsMummy · 04/03/2015 11:13

MrsDeVere, have all of your children always done exactly as they are told 100% of the time? Is there no possibility that they could be watching inappropriate content without your knowledge?

Original poster
bingobingo · 04/03/2015 11:16

Also doesn't it just give them the wrong impression, i.e. that it's normal to sit in a room on your own and watch TV? But I guess the point is so many people think that is normal. I hadn't realised it was so widespread - so maybe not as unusual as I originally thought.

Why would a toddler have a landline in their room? Don't think that (in its historical context) was a good idea either!

OP posts:
Original poster
bingobingo · 04/03/2015 11:18

I also didn't realise that so may people had multiple TVs and watched them for so long. This friend I mentioned (in my OP) is the only person I know with a TV in each room including a TV in the living room the size of a whole wall which she keeps on in the 'background' basically all day.

Seems bonkers to me but perhaps it is the norm.

OP posts:
Canshopwillshop · 04/03/2015 13:15

Blimey Mrs De Vere - a tv in every bedroom but they can never watch them without asking permission every time! I couldn't be arsed with the ensuing inevitable arguments this would create in my house so think it's best for me to not put the temptation there to start with. However, my kids are allowed to put the tv downstairs on when they want (up to their bedtime then the remote is mine!).

JohnCusacksWife · 04/03/2015 13:17

YANBU. I hate TVs in bedrooms.

morethanpotatoprints · 04/03/2015 13:20

I don't like tvs in bedrooms and haven't done this.
Each to their own, you don't have to do it if you don't want to.
Mine always used to complain that friends did, but i just used to say, well we don't.
They soon give in and see it as one of your values.

sourdrawers · 04/03/2015 13:51

I think it's fine, mine both had a Telly in their room at that age...They read books, played games ,drew pictures, and regularly throttled each other as well.

MrsDeVere · 04/03/2015 16:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DinoMight · 04/03/2015 16:28

My kids both have TVs in their bedrooms, they've never once switched them on without first asking.

They mostly use them for playstation and watching DVDs, and so far always together even though they have separate rooms.

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