To hate but still be guilt tripped by stuff like this..

[Happyhappyveggie]

We are having a couple of TV days as I have been ill and then I see this picture on Facebook

Aibu to hate it but still feel the guilt...

Oh, it's a meme for all those 'screens are the Devil' people. As the parent of one child with high-functioning autism and one child with dyslexia, I fucking love screens! Technology has made their lives so much easier in so many ways. Hurrah for the fucking telly, the smart phone, the smart television, the tablet, the dual laptop/tablet and all that goes with it. Hip fucking hurrah! If you want yours to play with wooden bricks, good on you, but fuck off thinking you're a better parent than I am or your kids are somehow better.*

I agree. My ASD toddler only learns language through her favourite TV show. It's been a Godsend.

Thanks Italiangreyhound, that certainly bought a lump to my throat. Realised I've got confused over programme titles though - it was of course called 'The White Horses'. Belle and Sebastian had the classical theme with the choir boy singing in French (?), much loved by my Mum (who never worried too much about whether we were spending our school holidays in a worthwhile fashion).

Saturday morning TV was great. You could channel hop between TISWAS and Swap Shop then Dr Who at tea time with Blue Peter twice a week.

I have fond memories of feeling nearly sick with excitement when a new series of Knightmare or Gladiators or Crystal Maze was about to start. Of lounging around with DSis eating biscuits watching Saturday morning tv. Bloody great times.

Dynasty. We loved that. Sparkly dresses and fights in hot tubs. Thankfully a lot went over our heads.

Zorro

I have very fond memories of a few days of TV and toast when he was just 3, I was too pregnant to move and the weather was hideous.

FB can be horrible, don't be manipulated by it!

On the contrary, I remember hating the kids at school discussing tv programmes on the (long) list that I wasn't allowed to watch. Still bugs me now when people my age reminisce about tv I never saw may over compensate and let my kids watch too much

I have loads of happy memories of watching tv as a child. Watching Top of the Pops and my (late) DDad saying things like "Is that a boy or a girl?" in disapproving tones. My (late) mum always sending me to bed as the 9 o'clock news came on.
I loved Grange Hill- we all loved to talk about it at school- like kids bond over computer games and YouTube stuff now.
Loads of people love to reminisce about television adverts as well as programmes.
Your kids will come to no harm and those FB memes are sanctimonious shite.

Like Bearsinmotion, my strict parents wouldn't let me watch most of the programmes and films or read most of the books, mags and comics that were cool among my peer group. School was miserable as I was either excluded from conversations or bullied for being "only allowed baby things".

And yes, I do have a big gap in my knowledge when people are reminiscing on childhood. So again I don't feel part of the group.

Surely a healthy lifestyle includes some loafing in front of the telly days now and again!

I absolutely loved Bagpuss when tiny. All the puppets and music and stories. I remember when I was older watching the Roald Dahl, Jackanory, George's Marvellous Medicine read by Rick Mayall. I was an avid watcher of Grange Hill, Chocky, Dramarama. There were some fantastic children's dramas. I have enjoyed rewatching whole series on YouTube.

With family, we watched Top of the Pops, as a teen Black Adder, a The Young Ones, Tenko, Tales of the Unexpected. Loved them all, they were discussed at school, at home. TV was a big part of the culture.

With having few channels made for mass playground viewing even when the shows were a bit naff. Love boat and hart to hart a bit rubbish but everyone watched. My DCs if the first episode is rubbish then do not continue whereas no matter how rubbish with such little choice once invested my family was gripped.

I have very fond memories of watching Buster Crabb as Flash Gordon and also watching Robinson Crusoe in the holidays.

I used to love spending Sunday afternoons after a big lunch, watching a film with The Parents (we didn't get a tv until I was 9ish though,).

Some of my worst school holiday tv memories was blooming Why Don't You guilt tripping me about watching TV during the school holidays, I was used to love doing it!

When my DD was about seven I idly asked her what would be the thing she would like to do more than anything else in the world. She didn't have to think, she was absolutely certain that the best thing she could ever do (and remember, she was seven and we were poor, so horizons were limited) would be to stay up late, watching grown up television and eating chocolate. With some careful negotiation and ground rules about when I would turn the sound down/picture off with no questions asked we established a very happy tradition of occasional night Friday viewing in our pjs. And those late night sessions of carefully edited BB etc paved the way for some very interesting discussions.
She is grown up now and moved away but she still comes home for the odd night of staying up late and grown up tv but now we have gin as well as instead of chocolate.

That's because they don't have Saturday morning TV!

I don't remember much about my childhood, but I do remember watching the Bionic Woman every Thursday with my Dad eating chips, cosy and warm in front of the fire.

Boulshired

You are so right. When we only had a few channels and no DVDs I watched everything FOMO. Nowadays something has to be absolutely amazing for me to watch past the first episode. Quite often I will tape a series and later realise it has been on the Sky box for a couple of months and I haven't been interested enough to follow through. Greater choice has definitely made me more discerning.

I am so old that the best summer I remember was the one where Elvis died and they played one of his movies every morning of the summer holidays.

My brother and I watched them avidly.

Some of my fondest families memories are us all sat around watching TV together, a tradition that still continues with both my parents :)

Some of the fondest memories of my late dad are of watching tv with him - Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Monty python, the Young Ones - the episode when the washing machine spits out their laundry is one of the funniest things I've ever seen and I remember my dad almost crying with laughter at it.

When he was very ill, I sat and watched Despicable Me with him. I was 46 and he was 71, both of us chuckling away at Groot and the minions

I watched plenty of TV when I was young, and I was still a voracious reader, bold outdoorsgirl, and well rounded kid.

My siblings and cousins and I all used to climb down from the trees, wade out of the creeks, and drop our sticks and frogs to sprint indoors right at 4pm every day, for two (children's) programmes back to back. Then it was straight back out into the wilderness - to act out the characters, re-imagine the story, and use our imaginations along with the TV - until we were called in.

TV isn't always poison. Even bad, stupid programmes can spark imagination, introduce new ideas, teach proper lessons, AND keep the kids quietly entertained for a bit. There is nothing wrong with a bit of TV. The problem only comes when people utterly trade parenting for television and the kids don't get anything else.

Another one here that fondly remembers some of the great shows I used to watch as a kid.

Gogglebox is back on next week. The main part of its charm is how bonding TV is and how central (in a good way) watching TV is to modern familylife. I love Gogglebox.