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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to wonder what non-tv parents do when they're ill?

89 replies

minoandolphin · 26/02/2016 13:14

Been wondering about this for some time and can't find an answer anywhere. What do parents who don't let their kids watch any TV do when they (the parent, I mean) are feeling horribly ill and have a very active toddler to somehow keep entertained (assuming it's just them alone with them for most of the day). I manage with YouTube peppa pig on a loop whilst I quietly dissolve in a puddle of my own snot on the sofa; but I am genuinely curious how people manage if they won't allow telly at all.

OP posts:
JeanGenie23 · 26/02/2016 13:17

They probably don't ever get ill Hmm hahahah

I'm with you, sometimes the box is a lifesaver!

PennyHasNoSurname · 26/02/2016 13:18

I find the "we dont have a tv" brigade usually have tablets, phones, etc that all play basically everything on tv.

So they dont have a TV set

luckiestgirlintheworld · 26/02/2016 13:20

Are there still parents who don't let their children have tv?

Katastrophe13 · 26/02/2016 13:20

I am currently dissolving in a pile of snot on the sofa and CBeebies is what has made this possible. I can't answer your question but am interested in the answer in case there's a more wholesome alternative I can't think of.

CooPie10 · 26/02/2016 13:21

'but I am genuinely curious how people manage if they won't allow telly at all.'

Haha. I'm certain that they are liars.

Permanentlyexhausted · 26/02/2016 13:22

I do have a TV and my children watch too much really but I can only think of a couple of times when I've been feeling so poorly I really couldn't have faced entertaining them myself. Do people really get that ill that often?

jimpam · 26/02/2016 13:22

Someone recently told me (pretty smugly) that they don't have a tv, in response to me explaining DS's obsession with Bing. She then told me that she lets her DS watch 45 mins of Little Einstein on the laptop every day Hmm How is that different?!

OneMagnumisneverenough · 26/02/2016 13:24

Aww - I thought this was going to be about people on TV who are parents.

No idea but then I was never ill or at home when mine were little. DH was a stay at home Dad and he had a timetable of activities - he ran the house a bit like circuit training :) e.g. 9-10 toy boxes out, 10-10.15 snack, 10.15-11 everybody tidy. 11-12 Play room or outside, tent out, ball pit etc. 12-12.30 Lunch. 12.30-1 story time. 1-2.30 Nap. 2.30-3.30 Toys/Activity time. 3.30-4.30 TV time (while he prepared dinner) and then music/wrestle time or out for a walk/play in the garden with sand pit. he also had a toy box rotation system where he split stuff into separate crates and changed them every week so they didn't get fed up with the stuff in them. As far as I know when he was ill, they just did more of the quiet stuff, storied on the sofa, playing with toys and less of the wrestling, outside play stuff but for all I know they sat and watched dvds all day - they survived!

Buttons23 · 26/02/2016 13:26

i really do have no idea. Usually I manage pretty good while ill and so my son doesn't watch too much but today I have such a painful throat I can barely talk. That and little sleep means my ds has had Nick junior and Disney junior on for the last 3 hours. I figure once in a while isn't going to harm him.

Jw35 · 26/02/2016 13:27

I grew up without a TV! I can remember my mum being ill a few times, once she lost her voice and was writing things down for us to do! We just played! TV isn't a necessity. It's ok for kids to watch a bit of TV though.

Jw35 · 26/02/2016 13:28

Oh and no computers or games consoles when I was a kid!

amysmummy12345 · 26/02/2016 13:30

During this pregnancy/hypermesis saga Bing bunny has been my lifesaver... If nothing else, the tv has distracted my DD from having to watch me wretch/vomit/wee myself more times than I care to remember!!

SunnySomer · 26/02/2016 13:31

I was one of those types (until he got chickenpox aged 2.5 and I relented). I think I put toys on the floor, music on the CD player and watched him play. Lots of reminders to "be kind to mummy".
He had no screens at all until 2.5 because he was part of a psychological study into the effects of screens on babies and young children

AlpacaMyThings · 26/02/2016 13:31

they probably have numerous friends and relations to call on

dumbbelle · 26/02/2016 13:32

The kids play.

Or I call in the cavalry to take them out.

Humans survived before TV.

GunShotResidue · 26/02/2016 13:33

I generally didn't let DD watch TV until she was almost 2, but I made an exception when I was ill or had only had 3 hours sleep which was fairly often as she is a terrible sleeper

SunnySomer · 26/02/2016 13:35

Jimpam- it specifically related to that Baby Einstein stuff; the study concluded that babies do not learn from stuff that they are shown on TV but do learn when they are shown how to do tasks by real human beings

Atenco · 26/02/2016 13:36

We didn't a have a tv when was my dd was small and I honestly can't remember ever having that problem, maybe I just didn't get sick.

catsinthecraddle · 26/02/2016 13:39

If the kids never watch tv, then they don't miss it. They just play (explore the house, empty cupboards, empty bookshelves).

bakeoffcake · 26/02/2016 13:40

"Humans survived before TV"

Yes they did and they probably lived in a very close knit community and near their parents, who could be called upon to help out with children if needed.

I didn't live near relatives at all when DC were younger. We moved around a lot also, so never felt close enough to neighbours to ask them to help out.

Caring for young children, with very little money to spend on activities, on your own, day in day out is bloody exhausting, so yes the TV went on for a bit every day. Why should anyone care?

dontcryitsonlyajoke · 26/02/2016 13:40

We have been a no-screen family. When my older 2 were 6 and 4, they had too much tv (I had a newborn...) and their behaviour deteriorated hugely. One day when they refused to come to the table for tea, I snapped, literally pulled the tv from the wall in the middle of a programme while they stared open-mouthed (I think this will be a key memory from their childhood!), and didn't let them have tv/screens for around 6 months. It came back, controlled (around 30 mins a day midweek, 60 mins at weekend) and also gets taken away now if behaviour is poor. I'm pretty strict about screen time.

However when I'm so ill that I can't function, they get whatever screen time they want... Grin

Not really, but I do lighten up. We just revert back to the screen time rules once I'm well enough. Because I've shown I will take it away if pushed, they just accept the increased time as a treat. It's obviously easier than with preschoolers as I'm only likely to be home alone with them ill during school hols really. I also print off loads of colouring pages of their interests from the Internet (I save things on Pinterest so they're read to print) and put out Hama beads.

The baby is now almost 2. He's only just getting interested in screens. I'll have to see how it goes, but will try to manage it the same with him. I pop him in his high chair with play dough or paper and crayons if I'm suffering from his bad sleep and get 20 mins to sit down and relax. That works when I'm ill too.

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 26/02/2016 13:46

I find the "we dont have a tv" brigade usually have tablets, phones, etc that all play basically everything on tv.

So they dont have a TV set

Exactly what Penny said. My Sis doesn't have a TV - she used to love watching rubbishy, TLC type TV and will come to mine to watch it on my TV Hmm Yet on BIL's insistence they dont have an "idiot box" why have an idiot in box form when you can marry one They get really snooty about us letting our DC watch the TV, yet DN will watch all manner of kids cartoons on their iPhone, Mac etc Hmm

chocorabbit · 26/02/2016 13:47

I agree with PPs that they either use computers, or their children have learnt to entertain themselves without TV. I have no problem with mine running around but occupying themselves. Before we used to use the computer too but now that we have got a TV our children seem to whine more for it "can we please, please, please" so it's not always a blessing.

JeanGenie23 · 26/02/2016 13:49

I think play time/drawing/sensory play works well. However when I've been vomiting and have been rushing in and out of room, the tv is the best thing to keep child routed in one spot, I feel crappy about it afterwards though . If I had family who lived close or friends with more flexible jobs, or a garden that was safely enclosed, perhaps I could use those, but I don't so tv it is. I think I've only been that I'll once or twice though and DH is usually around to take over

Witchend · 26/02/2016 13:50

We don't have TV, but as others have said, I usually follow this up by adding we have 3 computers and all can play DVDs so they get as much screen time as any other child.

However until ds was about 2yo we only had one computer that didn't do much. (dd1 would have been 9/10 and dd2 3 years younger than that)

Because we weren't used to having TV we didn't miss it. They read. colouring, Hama beads, puzzle books, card games, board games that sort of thing. I would lie on the sofa and make odd comments/help. Amazing how well three children can do something together when every now and then you open one bleary eye and make a positive remark. Grin
It helped that dd1 was very responsible and was quite capable of organising them into a quiet activity for half an hour.
TV would have been easier to set up and tidy away, but actually the time in the middle, as long as it interested them they would be fine.