Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU wanting the Tv on less in front of the baby?

57 replies

Angelacarter · 06/01/2018 22:46

Got a young baby and a darling husband. Our evenings are spent watching films and TV (DH way of relaxing after work). I admit, I do have it as background noise during a long day with a crying baby but doing best to change it to music at the least!
I really want to get into the habit of when the baby is around / when shes growing up to cut down to certain amounts of tv etc. To not get too reliant on it etc.
Now I told my suggestion to my husband who got very huffy about it and stated how his relax time is tv. To which I said it wouldn't effect him too much because by the time he's home the baby is in bed! But he had none of it (what about weekends he said!!) and now he's sulking downstairs in the living room (watching tv). AIBU to want less tv time in front of the baby? Xxx

OP posts:
eastwest1234 · 06/01/2018 22:50

YAB a bit U.

It's a TV not crack. My son isn't the least bit interested in the TV unless it's a kids programme

Sparklingbrook · 06/01/2018 22:52

It's just TV. How old is the baby?

LagunaBubbles · 06/01/2018 22:52

Yes you are being unreasonable and precious. But this is MN, sure someone will be along in a minute to tell you exactly how TV is the devil.

19lottie82 · 06/01/2018 22:53

Is this your first born, per chance? Grin

Fueledwithfairydustandgin · 06/01/2018 22:53

We never have the tv on unless it's a kids show for DS. I think there's way too much inappropriate things on

SwimmingIsMyLife · 06/01/2018 22:53

Well if you don’t have it on in the week then it being on a bit more at the weekend won’t hurt.

Mumof56 · 06/01/2018 22:55

I agree with cutting the amount of tv down as the child gets older. There is a tendency among some to use children's tv programmes as a babysitter and not interact much. When the child is in bed/not there though, the adults can regulate the amount of tv they watch themselves

MimiSunshine · 06/01/2018 22:55

It’s not something you need to announce surely? YOU just need to turn the TV off during the day.

Sparklingbrook · 06/01/2018 22:56

People have funny attitudes towards TV.

Is the baby actually watching it even?

RemainOptimistic · 06/01/2018 22:56

YANBU. TV draws the eye, for adults and children. It's distracting. Not good for children's development to be constantly distracted, regardless of the reason for the distraction.

GammaDelta · 06/01/2018 22:58

YANBU at all.. hubby suggested the same at home when I had my Dc1 though I enjoy watching tv much more than him and it had been more difficult for me but i agree it affects their habit of watching tv as well.. joint effort as the baby belongs to both of u

DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 06/01/2018 23:00

So don’t face the baby towards the tv then? Confused

I don’t really get why you think this is a problem. Have it off all day when you’re alone with her and let husband have it on when he wants? It sounds like you don’t want it on ever.

Original poster
Angelacarter · 06/01/2018 23:00

I wasn't sure if I WBU because it was a suggestion for when she's older. Not right now! Hence why I was surprised at him getting annoyed! It wouldnt effect the evenings for him. It was more seeing how he felt about weekends. X

OP posts:
HappyLollipop · 06/01/2018 23:02

YABU, I too was idealistic about how much screentime my baby would have, now 5 months later we've got the TV on practically all day and he's not even bothered unless cebeebies or football is on. I'll probably limit the TV more when he's older as there is a lot of inappropriate stuff shown but whilst they're a baby I wouldn't worry about it!

Original poster
Angelacarter · 06/01/2018 23:03

I guess because DH gets distracted by tv when with the baby I thought it would be a good habit to make so he doesn't use it to baby sit x

OP posts:
beyondreasoning · 06/01/2018 23:03

I think people are becoming very reliant on technology as a whole. I understand why you want to cut down on tv, and I'm trying to do the same. YANBU in my opinion, but you'll definitely get mixed opinions on this.

PrincessoftheSea · 06/01/2018 23:07

We never have the TV on during the day or as background. For some reason I find thag depressing.

Sparklingbrook · 06/01/2018 23:10

I had the TV on in the day when the DC were babies. They seem to be completely unscathed by it though.

GaspingGekko · 06/01/2018 23:11

YANBU. This isn't a discussion I had with DH but we both actively try to limit how much the TV is on around our DC.
Nothing wrong with watching some TV IMO, but while they're young I prefer to get them in the habit of being entertained by other things.
Generally if we (DH and I) are watching anything in front of the DC it will be the news, sport or wildlife shows.
Wait till your DC is old enough to start quizzing DH on what is happening, why that man did that, what's her name, why is that car there......etc. and he may be less eager to watch stuff in front of DC.

MoodyTwo · 06/01/2018 23:13

We have the TV off from when we get home from work (5:30) till our DS bedtime (6:30), he is so much easier to settle since we've done that!
Also we have the tv on first thing to watch Mr Tumble and RaaRaa while we all wake up, but during weekends we don't have it on much ,'or if we do it's just in the background and we are running around after DS x

PuppyMonkey · 06/01/2018 23:13

I don't understand what you think is worse for a small baby from a TV than just looking and hearing other stuff in RL.

comfortandjoy · 06/01/2018 23:14

YANBU
I find that life's busier with a child/ baby so by the time you've got all the jobs done after clearing up after dinner, done the bath we're not ready to watch a TV show until about 8 at the earliest so, child is asleep by then. It is nice to relax at the end of the day with a good Netflix series etc. l don't think i'd choose to watch a programme during the weekend when child is still up as it'd be hard to follow as you'd get interrupted. ) I'm happy to not expose kids to all the ads on live TV . I agree , it's nice to have music on the background while you do stuff around the house.
I would get annoyed if my partner decided to start watching a show when I was still doing jobs. We usually wait so we can watch episodes together .

ElBandito · 06/01/2018 23:28

I used to listen to the radio a lot. Also when DC were really, really little I and I was breast feeding in the middle of the night I would watch funny programs rather than stressy, loud miserable shows even if the funny prog was inappropriate on the grounds that babies don’t understand innuendo.

PasstheStarmix · 07/01/2018 07:12

I think you need to relax a little for now and make necessary changes when your baby is older. It's hard enough having a baby; cut yourself some slack. I'd go crazy on my own all day with a baby with no background noise and music only works for so long. I think everything in moderation is fine .

HoppingPavlova · 07/01/2018 07:24

I would not be impressed if I was your DH either. As another poster said it’s TV, not crack. As a baby I don’t think it matters, when they get older as long as they are not in front of it all day and what’s on is not inappropriate then meh.

Just wait until they are teens, trying to control content. We still don’t allow them to watch stuff like GoT but in school hols when they have free run of the house while we are at work they probably watch stuff like that (and the DVDs they are not allowed to match) in marathons for all we know Grin. We don’t have TV controls/lock DVDs away etc but rely on the trust rule but who knows.

Seriously, I would not sweat the small stuff and make mountains out of molehills. Leave your DH to it without going at it with him on this one, not worth it imo.

Swipe left for the next trending thread