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

[minoandolphin]

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.

[TooMuchOfEverything]

I reckon they get the home made play doh out and glue the children in one spot

[Want2bSupermum]

My dear sister and BIL are no TV parents. They have a nanny and two surface tablets. My elder nephew loves Thomas the tank engine and sings the theme turn to me. No TV my arse!

[VapourRub]

I don't have a TV but my kids do watch TV. I'm certainly not snooty about it.

They can watch things on the computer/ Amazon etc or for short periods they watch papa pig/ Thomas etc on my phone.

They probably watch about a couple of hours of TV on a weekend usually a film. During weekdays they hardly watch anything and thats mainly because we are so busy.

Of course, if I am ill they can I am a lot more lax as an on day of lots of Tv isn't going to harm anyone!

[Want2bSupermum]

Oh and when I was sick during hurricane sandy and we had no TV because of the 8 day power outage I got sick. To keep DD occupied I gave her a roll of 3M easy remove Sellotape while I dozed on the sofa. She was occupied for a good 2 hours.

[VapourRub]

Yes. i would that agree parents who brag that they don't have a TV actually don't have a zero screen time policy. It's near impossible in this technologically advanced time we live in!

[minniebear]

My daughter's never got used to watching TV-we have a TV/tablet/laptop in the house but she's never used them (she's 20m, the baby's 4m). She just plays with her toys and reads books...it just wouldn't occur to me to put them on when pregnant/ill etc because I never used it before. I got really ill after having DD2 (infected C section scar plus the flu...bleurgh) and she survived just playing with her toys. I'm not evangelical about it, it's just what works here.

[ivykaty44]

DD is 17 so if I'm I'll she can entertain herself if I'm I'll/sick

We just don't have live TV, the aerial broke about 6 years ago and I never got it fixed. Don't have any TV sets in the house but lots of other screens.

Consequently we watch programs we want to watch but if I was ill I would resort to iPlayer and try and find a series to watch - tbh there isn't a lot on I like. I do like happy valley, call the midwife that's about it.

Films or reading

[Owllady]

I don't think my older two used to watch much the (I'm not sure cbeebies existed as such, I think it used to be on for a few hours a day on bbc2) but we had lots of video (yes video) tapes. They used to love Dave Benson Phillips stuff and beauty and the beast. They used to love my chill out CD s too :o we had a den in the back room and they were quite close in age and they used to just amuse themselves tbh. Gosh where has the time gone :( my youngest is 8. I honestly just winged it with him, he watched tv, anything to make life more bearable.

We are now a family that watches far too much tv. My eldest has autism and is obsessed with watching specific comedies and musicals. Plus train stuff. I know everything there is to know about Katie the sheepdog in Thomas the tank engine

[SirChenjin]

We had a TV when I was little but back in the 70s there was v v limited kids TV. When mum was really ill we wee looked after by neighbours or we played - it was just as well I was a v quiet, placid kid who was happy pottering and she never knew the horror that was my first born as a toddler and child

[Thurlow]

"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 definitely agree with this. There have been a lot of changes to society over the past few decades and this is one of the biggest. Not that everyone stayed in their home town three decades before, of course they didn't. But it seems more common now. Plus I get the impression people are more paranoid about children and childcare now. Maybe before telly was common kids were sent to play outside or to spend the day with a neighbour, in a way many parents wouldn't do now?

I couldn't cope when ill without a telly or tablet in the house.

[growinghumans]

Hi disclaimer we now have a telly!!!
I got rid of my TV when dd was 12 months because when I turned the thing off my dd had an almighty temper and would scream and shout and be badly behaved when turning it off. Had friend who had older children who I really respected her childrearing who got rid of hers (ha, ha and she worked on TV) who reported much better behaviour. I found children's TV over stimulates them, and when you turn it off they expect you to entertain and be as energeytic as the television. That the no TV thing is hard at first but they will soon learn to entertain themselves and are more likely to play by themselves imaginatively. After a few days I actually found parenting much, much easier. As your child is not over hyped. Also I was a SAHM(redundancy and small age gap between kids). I reasoned that I wouldn't want nursery/cm to put the TV on all day so I shouldnt afford myself the same privileges. I've since been a cm and I would never have the tv for the children in my care. As they got older I introduced films and then some TV. Which they really enjoy but they will still play by themselves and together for hours at a time. Always tried to get the children outside if possible every day , would also do a lot of mother and baby groups. Tried to carry on as normal if I was ill, just do things slowly and at home. Luckliy was never very ill.

[Owllady]

Yes, we were regularly sent to gran s or other relatives too. My mum has NEVER had mine for me when I've been ill. I sometimes feel a bit resentful of her tbh as she's never helped me but had tons of help herself but it's not very nice to feel resentful and she has no actual obligation, it would just be nice occassionally I suppose.

[NewLife4Me]

We didn't have a tv for a few years when the dc were little, we didn't miss it.
There was no virtue involved we just couldn't afford one, wasn't getting into debt for one and saved up like we did for everything else.
We didn't have tablets, phones, computers as they weren't invented and internet was only just starting and was more for businesses than in the home.

I just gave them their box of toys to play with, music from cd or tape, we managed.

[Armi]

Years ago, most women (certainly from my middle class background)with small children didn't work, so there would always be someone about that you knew fairly well to take the kids for you for a bit. My mother airily declared she didn't know what was the matter with me and my sister not having any casual childcare, as when we were small she could just leave us with her friends and their children. It took her a while to understand that all of us now go out to work and the days of leisurely afternoon sherry parties and dumping your kids on each other to go and get your hair done are long gone.

[Owllady]

Armi, my mums suggestion is always to put the children in the back garden and lock the door as 'they'll just amuse themselves'
:o
Mine would ring 101 and say their mother was having a breakdown and she'd locked herself in the house

[nowahousewife]

We had no TV until ours were 6 and 4 (now 16 and 18) and in those days there were no iPads, tablets etc. Mine just played, helped me with housework etc, they didn't know any different. I do remember being sick once so just lay on the sofa and let them play around me. Nearest family are several thousand miles away so no help. If that's all they know then it's not a problem.

Disclaimer there are now 2 TV's, 3 laptops and numerous iPhones in our house now😁

[TheWordOfBagheera]

I wonder if sometimes just stating that you don't have a TV comes across as smug from the obvious inference that the kids therefore don't watch TV (and that that must be superior), without that being what the parents meant.

I've told people before that I don't have a TV but literally meant we don't have a television, not that we watch nothing. It came about from a year of paying for it but being unable to actually receive any signal. We watched catch up TV on the computer and DVDs and realised we missed nothing, so just carried on like that (minus the paying for TV package). The kids watch far too many YouTube videos and films and it's not said in a remotely self-righteous way, but I guess could be interpreted as such without the follow-up explanation of other screen time.

[redskytonight]

I realised the other day that my DC actually watch very little TV.

Plenty of time watching Netflix, DVDs and playing on laptops and tablets (especially Minecraft and YouTube).

Very little actual tv

[minoandolphin]

Want2beSupermum - LOVE the sellotape idea! I've curled up snoozing on the sofa whilst letting Dd (2)empty all the bookshelves. She does play by herself for a bit, but because normally I will play with her she keeps wanting me to join in, and can't understand why mummy's being so boring. She's taken to bringing me her wellies and saying 'nana's' very firmly...

[diddl]

We had a telly when I was young but there was probably only "Watch with Mother" for kids!

I actually don't remember my mum ever being ill!

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

My dd won't sit and watch tv. It involves sitting still (ish).

She won't play on iPad.

She will happily play on the garden toys while I watch from sofa. Or play with her toys near to the sofa. We manage.

[splendide]

Mine isn't that interested, i don;t think there's anything that makes him sit still and quiet for any amount of time except eating. He's only 16 months though so I guess it'll come.

[Salzundessig]

We didn't have a TV until a year ago and it is never on when my ds (18 months) is awake, except if I do a pregnancy yoga rhing on YouTube and he does it with me. He's not bothered and doesn't know what he's missing so just amuses himself with Lego or books. In my first trimester with this baby I used to leave him to it and have a sit down (or puke) and he would bring me stuff he wanted me to read to him etc. Worked fine! Might get a bit harder to resist TV when he starts kindergarten and school though but at the moment it is pretty easy.

[Notso]

The children just play. That's what DD did when children's TV wasn't an all day thing unless you had a subscription to Sky or similar.

[Quoteunquote]

We didn't really have screens when the children were little, some of the time by choice, some of the time because we didn't have a signal, some of time because we didn't have electricity.

I grew up in a no TV house(we lived in a country with no TV, followed by living in very rural places, I left home before my parents had a TV), never noticed apart from the odd punishment at school for not being able to write an essay about last night TV.

Children are good at keeping themselves busy, mine have unlimited screens now, but they still prefer keeping busy in other ways.